Between a single injection and a facelift lies everything else. Which step is right depends less on your age than on what has actually changed — a line, a lost volume, a contour that has slipped, or skin that has genuinely become too much.
Medically reviewed by Dr. med. Juliane C. Finke and Dr. med. Stephan Frantzen · Last reviewed:
Book a personal consultation — we will talk openly about what is possible, where the limits are and what result is realistic for you.
Also available: eyelid surgery for excess skin on the upper or lower lid, a bullhorn lip lift where the distance between nose and lip has grown, and FaceTite for contouring under the chin and along the jawline.
A first indication only — the binding recommendation always follows examination in the consultation.
| Treatment | If … | How | Downtime |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wrinkle treatment | … individual lines and small hollows bother you, and the contour is still where it should be. | botulinum toxin, hyaluronic acid, own fat | none to 2 days |
| Thread lift | … the contour has slipped slightly and you want to avoid an operation. | absorbable barbed threads | about 2 days |
| Eyelid surgery | … excess skin on the upper or lower lid makes you look tired, or narrows your field of vision. | upper and/or lower lid tightening | about 1 week |
| Bullhorn lip lift | … the distance between nose and upper lip has grown and the lip looks narrow. | removal of a narrow strip of skin under the nose | about 1 week |
| FaceTite | … fat under the chin and along the jawline combines with mildly loose skin. | radiofrequency under the skin | 3–7 days |
| Facelift | … face and neck have clearly descended and smaller measures no longer reach. | tightening of skin and the SMAS layer | about 2–4 weeks |
Facial aesthetic treatments cover everything from injectable wrinkle treatment through thread lifting, eyelid surgery and lip lift to a surgical facelift. They differ mainly in three things: how invasive they are, how long you are out of circulation, and how long the result lasts.
Before choosing a procedure, it helps to name the problem precisely. Almost every finding falls into one of three groups:
Most faces show all three at once, in different proportions. That is why a good plan usually combines two small things rather than doing one big one.
It would be easy to recommend the largest procedure to everyone. We do the opposite, for a simple reason: a result that looks obviously done is a bad result, however technically clean it is.
In practice that means we will often suggest treating one thing and seeing you again, rather than doing four things at once. It also means we will sometimes tell you that nothing needs doing at all — and we would rather say that than take a fee.
The reverse applies too. Where a face has genuinely descended, filling it with volume makes it heavier, not younger. If a facelift is the honest answer, we will say so instead of selling you three rounds of injections first.
There is no flat rate — the range runs from a single injection appointment to a full operation. Injectable treatments are billed according to the German scale of medical fees (GOÄ) and depend on the product and the quantity used; surgical procedures are quoted individually.
You get a binding quote at the end of your consultation, in writing, with nothing hidden. We will also tell you when a smaller and cheaper option would do the same job.
Will insurance pay? As a rule, no. The one common exception is upper eyelid surgery where excess skin measurably restricts the field of vision, confirmed by an ophthalmologist’s visual field test. Treatments take place at our practice in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg; a facelift is performed as an inpatient at the MEOCLINIC, Friedrichstraße 71.
Board-certified plastic surgeon (plastic &
aesthetic surgery), Fellow of EBOPRAS
Board-certified plastic surgeon and
board-certified general surgeon
Dr. Juliane C. Finke and Dr. Stephan Frantzen are full members of the German Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (DGPRÄC) and the German Society of Senology (DGS). Dr. Finke is also a Fellow of EBOPRAS and passed the European board examination in 2010; Dr. Frantzen operates on a voluntary basis for INTERPLAST in South America. The jameda seals lead to the independent physician profiles with patient reviews of Dr. Finke and Dr. Frantzen.
Medically reviewed by Dr. Juliane C. Finke and Dr. Stephan Frantzen
Look at your face at rest. If the lines are only there when you move, it is muscle and injections are the answer. If hollows are visible when your face is still, it is volume. If the contour itself has slipped — jawline, mid-face, neck — no injection puts it back, and lifting is what is needed. We go through this in front of a mirror with you.
There is no age. Botulinum toxin is often used preventively from the mid-thirties; a facelift is rarely sensible before the mid-forties. What matters is the finding, not the year of birth — we have declined to treat people in their fifties and treated people in their thirties.
That is the whole point of the dosing. Done properly, you look rested rather than different. Frozen foreheads and over-filled cheeks come from too much product, not from the product itself. If you want a dramatic change, we are probably not the right practice.
Yes, and it is often the better plan — a small amount of botulinum toxin plus a little volume usually beats a large amount of either. Surgical procedures can also be combined, for instance eyelid surgery with a facelift.
Botulinum toxin four to six months, hyaluronic acid nine to eighteen depending on the product and the area, a thread lift six to eighteen months, eyelid surgery many years, a facelift typically eight to twelve.
Only for upper eyelid surgery where excess skin measurably restricts your field of vision, confirmed by an ophthalmologist. Everything else is a private fee.
Yes. Consultations and treatments are available in German, English and Spanish.
Injectables and day-case surgery at our practice in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg. A facelift is performed as an inpatient at the MEOCLINIC, Friedrichstraße 71 — the private hospital in Quartier 206.
Book a personal consultation. We look at what has actually changed, and we start with the smallest measure that will get you there.
Related treatments: Wrinkle treatment · Facelift · Eyelid surgery · Thread lift · For women
Medically reviewed by Dr. Juliane C. Finke, board-certified plastic surgeon (plastic and aesthetic surgery), and Dr. Stephan Frantzen, board-certified plastic surgeon and board-certified general surgeon.
Last medically reviewed:
The content of this page is for general information and does not replace medical advice. A binding assessment is only possible after a personal examination.
