The Rise of the Over-40 Nose Job
With toddlers wearing sheet masks, tweens buying wrinkle serums, and 30-somethings booking facelifts, it may seem like the beauty industry itself is aging backwards—its rituals and treatments getting younger along with its consumers. But there’s one procedure that’s flipping the script on the trend, appealing to a far older crowd than it has in the past. Rhinoplasty, long viewed as an operation for high-schoolers and college kids, is gaining popularity among midlifers. For the past two years, 40- to 54-year-olds have gotten roughly as many nose jobs as patients in their 20s, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, with each age group accounting for 26% of the total number of nose jobs performed in both 2023 and 2024.
Still, some of those approaching rhinoplasty later in life do so with trepidation, notes Melissa Doft, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City. They’ll commonly say, I should have done this when I was younger. Or ask, Is it ridiculous that I’m thinking about doing this now? While the stigma around plastic surgery has faded in certain circles, nose jobs are still strongly associated with the awkward toll of puberty. Dr. Doft puts patients at ease by explaining that midlife rhinoplasty “is actually more common than you think,” as a lot of adults are now pairing it with other procedures, like facelifts and eyelid lifts, in the name of facial rejuvenation.