Millennials getting Bella Hadid-inspired ponytail facelifts

October 27, 2023

They’re young, beautiful — and getting facelifts.

Cutting edge millennial New Yorkers are going under the knife for “ponytail facelifts” — a cheaper, less intense pick-me-up than a traditional facelift that still achieves dramatic results.

“This is a procedure that was essentially made for women in their late twenties and early thirties,” said Ari Hoschander, a Manhattan-based, board-certified plastic surgeon who has seen a massive uptick in requests for the trendy operation since the COVID-19 lockdown.

“The ponytail facelift offers way less swelling, there’s minor pain and you’ll look ‘normal’ much quicker.”

Unlike a standard facelift, during which doctors make incisions all around the head and neck, surgeons performing a ponytail facelift achieve a tightened look by making only a few cuts along the hairline and behind the ears, extracting excess tissue from the forehead and tugging the skin back to create a firm finish. It transforms a patient’s face in the way that an extremely snug ponytail might, hence the name, but it’s most effective for younger patients who don’t have as much sagging skin as their older counterparts.

Those who opt for the surgery, first popularized by Los Angeles-based plastic and reconstructive surgeon Chia Chi Kao in the early 2000s, can expect to resume daily activities — such as going grocery shopping or out to a restaurant — sans bandages, bleeding or bruising in just a week.

With a traditional facelift, folks are typically given a recovery time of four to six weeks.

Ponytail facelifts are also far cheaper. In NYC, surgeons can charge as little as $10,000 or as much as $100,000 for one, while a traditional facelift can range anywhere from $20,000 to $200,000.

Gabi DeMartino, a Manhattan tastemaker and rising pop princess with a YouTube following of more than 3.1 million subscribers, got a ponytail lift at the onset of the pandemic, at the tender age of 25.

She’d noticed the skin around her forehead and eyes beginning to sag and felt insecure about it.

For the haute hoist, which was performed by Upper East Side plastic surgeon Ramtin Kassirshe, she shelled out approximately $14,000 and said it was well worth it.

“The procedure made a subtle but positive difference,” said DeMartino, now 28. “I’m super happy I did it.”

But, Hoschander tells The Post that the ponytail lift, while great as a quick alteration, isn’t a cosmetic cure-all. The surgery can’t effectively treat common issues on the upper third of the face, such as crows feet, the ‘eleven lines’ between the eyes and the horizontal lines across the forehead.

“To the erase them,” the cosmetic specialist of more than 12 years insisted, “a patient would still need Botox.”

For her revamped visage, DeMartino drew inspiration from 27-year-old supermodel Bella Hadid’s taut visage, as well as that of Grammy-winning ponytail enthusiast Ariana Grande, 30. Both have been rumored to have undergone the transfiguration. Neither representatives for Hadid nor Grande immediately responded to The Post’s request for a comment.

Social media is helping to fuel the treatment’s popularity. On TikTok, the #PonytailLift hashtag has amassed over 28 million views. And, it’s not just buzzy in New York and LA.

Samuel Lin, a board-certified Harvard-affiliated plastic surgeon based in Boston told The Post he’s noticed a 25% increase in demand for facial rejuvenation operations such as eyelifts, lip augmentations and, of course, the ponytail facelift, from younger woman since 2020.

However, he warns that a ponytail facelift isn’t a permanent fix. Patients get a tightened look for about 5 years, compared to a decade with traditional facelifts.

“This doesn’t necessarily offer the same lasting results,” said Lin of the lift, ‘but people are seeking this procedure as away to age gracefully [with treatment].”

Olivia Molina Avellaneda, 34, a model and mother-of-five in Tampa, Florida, travelled to Los Angeles in September 2021 to undergo the luxe lift with Dr. Kao, paying just over $50,000. Two years later, she’s still loving the results.

“It is the best surgery I ever did in my life,” Avellaneda, told The Post. “I look younger than 20-year-old girls.”