Dr. Alejandro Quiroz · Facial Plastic Surgery
Every case below is a patient of Dr. Quiroz, photographed with consent, most with the time since surgery printed beside it, some deliberately early. Before you scroll, this page teaches you how to read a before and after honestly, anywhere, including here. Then it answers the question every gallery raises and few pages do: how long the result actually lasts.
From the archive
How to read
A gallery is an argument, and most are argued dishonestly: different light, different angles, a smile doing the surgeon’s work. Four checks make you a harder reader of any gallery on the internet. Apply all four to this one.
When skin does the lifting, the evidence hides at the edges: an earlobe pulled forward, a sideburn migrated upward, a hairline that moved. In a structural lift the edges stay quiet, because the skin was redraped, not recruited. Check every gallery you visit at the ears first, including this one.
An honest pair keeps the same angle, distance, and light. And one more thing, said plainly because most galleries hope you will not notice: a smile lifts a face. A few afters here smile where the before is neutral, and you should read those pairs knowing it, the way you should read every gallery.
2 weeks and 1 year are different photographs of the same operation. Early photos still carry swelling; a 1-year photo is the honest one. The time since surgery is printed on nearly every case below, including the early ones, shown early on purpose. Distrust any gallery with no dates at all.
The result to want is your own face, rested. The results to fear read as wind, tension, or someone else entirely. In every pair below, the standard to hold us to is recognizability: the person after should be the person before, minus the weight of the descent.
The gallery
Filter by what was done alongside the face and neck lift. Cases with several angles carry thumbnails; the surgeon’s own note travels with each patient.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Timeframe not recorded
In this gentleman I performed a deep plane facelift together with a neck lift and a brow lift. The brow was lifted off the eyes, the jawline and neck rebuilt in the deep plane, and the whole face carried back as one unit rather than pulled at the skin. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Timeframe not recorded
This patient had a deep plane facelift with a neck lift and a brow lift. The heavy brow was raised, the midface and jawline repositioned in the deep plane, and the loose neck redraped over rebuilt structure. Shown from the front and in three quarter view. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Timeframe not recorded
This gentleman had a deep plane facelift with a neck lift and a brow lift. The brow was lifted off the eyes, the deep structure of the face and neck released and repositioned as one unit, and the skin redraped without tension. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Shown at 10 months
In this patient I performed a deep plane lower face and neck lift, nothing else. The deeper structure was released and carried back as one unit, and the skin settled without tension. Shown at ten months, when swelling no longer flatters the result. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Shown at 1 year
In this patient I combined the deep plane face and neck lift with a brow lift and fat transfer to the lips, so the upper face and the mouth kept pace with the new jawline. Shown at one year. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Shown at 9 months
In this patient I paired the deep plane face and neck lift with upper eyelid surgery. The lift repositions structure, and the eyelids open the gaze. Neither can do the other's work. Shown at nine months. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Shown at 9 months
In this patient I performed a deep plane face and neck lift with a brow lift. The brow had descended along with the midface, and lifting one without the other would have left the face out of balance. Shown at nine months. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Shown at one month
In this patient I combined the deep plane face and neck lift with a brow lift, lower eyelid surgery, and dermabrasion, structure and surface in one setting. Shown at one month, with swelling still settling. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Shown at 2 months
In this patient I performed a deep plane face and neck lift with eyelid surgery and CO2 laser resurfacing. The lift cannot change the quality of the skin itself. The laser does that work. Shown at two months, still early. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Shown at 4 months
In this patient I performed a deep plane face and neck lift with upper eyelid surgery. At four months the deeper swelling has mostly settled and the jawline is holding its new line. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Shown at 2 weeks
In this patient I performed a deep plane face and neck lift with lower eyelid surgery. Shown at two weeks, deliberately, because this is what an early recovery actually looks like before the result refines. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Shown at 2 weeks
In this patient I performed a deep plane face and neck lift with fat transfer to the lips and dermabrasion. At two weeks the redness of resurfacing is still present, and that is expected. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Shown at 2 weeks
In this patient I combined a deep plane face and neck lift with a brow lift and CO2 laser resurfacing. Shown at two weeks, before the skin has finished healing from the laser. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Shown at 1 month
In this patient I performed a deep plane face and neck lift alone. One operation, no additions. Shown at one month, with some swelling still present. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Shown at 1 month
In this patient I performed a deep plane face and neck lift together with rhinoplasty, a lip lift, fat transfer to the lips, and dermabrasion. The more that is combined, the more judgment matters about what a face can carry in one setting. Shown at one month. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Shown at 5 months
In this patient I performed a deep plane face and neck lift with dermabrasion of the upper lip. The lift does not erase the vertical lines of the mouth. The dermabrasion addresses those. Shown at five months. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Shown at 3 months
In this patient I performed a deep plane face and neck lift with lower eyelid surgery. The jawline and the neck carry the structural change, and the eyelids soften what the years did around the gaze. Shown at three months. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Shown at 3 weeks
In this patient I performed a deep plane face and neck lift. Shown at three weeks, when most patients are socially presentable but the final shape has not arrived. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Shown at 2 months
In this patient I performed a deep plane face and neck lift with a brow lift, planned together so the upper and lower face would come back in step. Shown at two months. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Timeframe not recorded
In this patient I performed a deep plane face and neck lift. The neck sets the line the jaw is read against, which is why I so often treat them as one. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Timeframe not recorded
In this patient I combined the deep plane face and neck lift with a brow lift, lower eyelid surgery, fat transfer to the lips, and dermabrasion. Structure first, then surface, in a single plan. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Shown at 1 month
In this patient I performed a deep plane face and neck lift with lower eyelid surgery. Shown at one month, the midface still settling into place. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Timeframe not recorded
In this patient I performed a deep plane face and neck lift. An older case, photographed in the standards of its day, and kept in the archive because it argues across the decades: the jawline rebuilt, the neck cleaned, and unmistakably the same woman. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Shown at 3 months
In this patient I performed a deep plane face and neck lift with lower eyelid surgery. In profile the change is easiest to read: the fullness under the chin is gone and the angle beneath the jaw is back where her bones always meant it to sit. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Shown at 2 weeks
In this patient I performed a deep plane face and neck lift with lower eyelid surgery. Two weeks is early, and I show it on purpose: some swelling remains, and the line from chin to neck has already been rebuilt. What settles from here is refinement, not correction. Individual results vary.
BeforeAfter Dr. Quiroz, on this case
Shown at 1 month
In this patient I performed a deep plane face and neck lift with a brow lift, planned as one operation so the upper face would keep pace with the new jawline. Shown at one month, with the deeper swelling still settling. Individual results vary.
No cases under this filter yet.
Want to know what your own before and after could look like? The surgeon studies your photos first, then explains what is realistic for your face. Request a consultation.
How long it lasts
A facelift that relies on tightened skin is commonly described as holding 5 to 10 years, because a tightened surface relaxes. A deep plane facelift, which releases the facial unit beneath the muscle and repositions it as one piece, is commonly described as holding 10 to 12, because the skin is never the thing holding the result. Neither number is a promise. 2
A facelift resets where you are aging from. It does not stop aging.
No number is a promise, and any surgeon who guarantees one is not being honest with you. How a result holds depends on your tissue, your bone structure, your skin quality, sun exposure, and how you live. What the operation controls is the foundation: 10 years on you will be 10 years older, but from a structurally better place than if you had never had the surgery, without the pulled look that gives a poorly done lift away.
Common questions
Yes. Every photograph on this page and on this site is a patient of Dr. Quiroz, photographed and published with consent. There is not a stock photograph anywhere on this site, and the time since surgery is printed on nearly every case, including the early ones.
It depends on what held the result. A lift that relies on tightened skin is commonly described as holding 5 to 10 years, because skin relaxes. A deep plane lift, which repositions structure instead, is commonly described as holding 10 to 12. These reflect the technique literature rather than a guarantee for any one face. Individual results vary.
Yes. A facelift resets where you are aging from, but it does not stop aging. 10 years later you will be older, though from a structurally better foundation and without the pulled look of a poorly done lift. Individual results vary.
No, and any surgeon who guarantees a number is not being honest with you. Longevity figures reflect what the technique literature commonly describes. How a result holds on your face depends on your tissue, bone structure, skin quality, sun exposure, and how you live.
Sutures are removed on day 7, and social recovery is near 14 days for most patients. Swelling continues to settle over the following months, so the most honest picture of your result is at about a year rather than at 2 weeks. Individual recovery varies.
On purpose. An early photograph, labeled honestly, teaches you what recovery actually looks like: the structure already rebuilt, the swelling still settling. Galleries that show only their most flattering 1-year pairs are curating; a gallery that shows its early cases with dates is documenting.
No, and be wary of anyone who promises otherwise. These photographs show what the same hands did with other faces, each with its own tissue, bone, and starting point. What they honestly demonstrate is a standard: rested, not pulled, still recognizably the same person. What your face can do is a consultation question.
Generally, yes. A surface or SMAS lift relies on tightened skin, which relaxes over time, so it is commonly described as holding 5 to 10 years. The deep plane carries no tension on the skin, so it tends to hold longer, commonly 10 to 12 years. Individual results vary.
Four checks, from the reading lesson on this page: look at the ears and hairline for signs the skin did the lifting; confirm the angle, distance, and light match between the pair; ask when the after was taken, since 2 weeks and 1 year are different photographs; and confirm the person still looks like themselves. Apply all four to every gallery, including this one.
No honest fixed number exists, and this page will not invent one. What is measured: at about 5.5 years after surgery, roughly three quarters of patients in published data still looked younger than they had before the operation. The goal here is a rested version of your own face, not a number. Individual results vary.
No. He has performed more than 3,000 facelifts across 37 years; this gallery is the consented sample of that record, the patients who agreed to be shown, with their timeframes printed. The full credential record, with the registries to verify it, lives on his profile page.
A facelift is planned so its incisions follow the natural creases in front of and behind the ear and up into the hairline, where a settled scar is difficult to see. A neck lift adds a small hidden incision under the chin. In a gallery, the ears and hairline are exactly where you should look: in a well-planned lift the edges stay quiet, because the skin was redraped rather than pulled. Individual results vary.
Age by itself does not decide who is a candidate. What matters is your general health and the quality of your tissue and bone structure, which are assessed before anything is planned. Patients in their 60s and 70s are common in a facelift practice; the honest question is not your age but whether the tissue can hold the result, and that is a consultation question. Individual results vary.
The surgeon, and the place
The surgeon
Board certified in plastic and reconstructive surgery since 1984 (CMCPER No. 293), an active California physician and surgeon license held since 1986, and fellowship training under Bruce F. Connell. 37 years, more than 3,000 facelifts. The surgeon you consult is the surgeon who operates.
The full record, with registries
The facility
The first Quad A (formerly AAAASF) accredited surgical facility in Mexico, licensed by COFEPRIS, 15 minutes from the San Diego border. Dra. Nadiezhda Garcia Bonilla, a board-certified anesthesiologist, is present for every case, and recovery happens in the on-site Recovery Boutique with nursing around the clock.
The facility and anesthesiaIf the cases above read the way you want your own to read, rested, unmistakably you, the next step is a conversation with the surgeon whose notes you just read.
A remote conversation first. Nothing is scheduled until you have seen the plan, the quote, and the timeline.
Prefer a voice first? Call or text +1 (619) 738-2144. A coordinator answers, not a phone tree.