A plastic surgeon’s reflections on growing older

This edited account distinguishes personal experience, laboratory research and clinical studies. Individual suitability requires clinical assessment.

In this 2018 column, the author considers facial change and the personal experience of growing older as a plastic surgeon. Lifting becomes a metaphor for dialogue with gravity, alongside reflections on gray hairs and changing stamina.

The source mentions research about telomeres, stress, sleep, coffee and appearance. Associations do not establish that a particular action lengthens telomeres or that looking younger diagnoses health. Exact populations and outcomes need confirmation.

High-dose vitamin C, coffee and a fixed sleep duration are not offered as anti-aging prescriptions, and claims of reversing aging through procedures were removed. Language equating age with loss of beauty or love was reduced to avoid stigmatizing readers.

The later questions concern life as much as medicine: recognizing accumulated skills, enjoying books and music, trying postponed activities and defining one’s own happiness. This is a historical philosophical column, rather than a review establishing current treatment effects.