When Andrew Jacono sat next to a classmate with a cleft lip and palate on his school bus, he witnessed something that would define his career. Other children teased the girl relentlessly, avoiding her because of her facial deformity. After she underwent reconstructive surgery, everything changed. Classmates suddenly saw her as a person rather than a condition, treating her with newfound acceptance.
That moment crystallized Dr. Andrew Jacono’s purpose: to repair faces and transform lives. Today, he stands as one of America’s most accomplished facial plastic surgeons, dual board-certified and recognized internationally for pioneering the extended deep-plane facelift technique.
From Medical Training to Surgical Innovation
Dr. Andrew Jacono’s academic foundation began at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he earned his medical degree in 1996. His training included a rigorous residency in Otolaryngology at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, where he served as administrative chief resident. He completed an advanced fellowship in Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery accredited by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
What sets Dr. Andrew Jacono apart extends beyond credentials. He developed the Minimal Access Deep-Plane Extended (MADE) facelift in the early 2000s, addressing fundamental limitations of traditional facelift techniques. Rather than simply pulling skin taut, his approach lifts skin, muscle, and fat as a unified structure, creating natural results that can last 12 to 15 years. Town & Country noted his technique produces outcomes where patients “look like refreshed versions of themselves” rather than obviously altered.
The technique’s reputation attracted high-profile patients. Fashion designer Marc Jacobs publicly revealed in 2021 that Dr. Andrew Jacono performed his facelift, praising the natural outcome. Even fellow plastic surgeon Dr. Paul Nassif chose Jacono for his own deep-plane facelift, underscoring the trust within the surgical community.
Academic Leadership and Global Impact
Dr. Andrew Jacono maintains his connection to medical education as Associate Clinical Professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Section Head of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at North Shore University Hospital. He serves as Fellowship Director for the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, training the next generation of specialists.
His prolific research output includes more than 70 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Aesthetic Surgery Journal and JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery. He has presented at over 100 international conferences and published multiple books, including his 2021 medical textbook on extended deep-plane facelifting.
Humanitarian Service Rooted in Childhood Promise
That girl on the school bus never left Dr. Andrew Jacono’s mind. He has performed more than 750 surgeries on children with cleft lips, palates, and other facial deformities through organizations like Healing the Children. His domestic work includes providing reconstructive surgery to over 100 survivors of domestic violence through the FACE TO FACE program, chronicled in the television series Facing Trauma on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Newsweek ranked Dr. Andrew Jacono as the third-best facelift surgeon in America for 2025. Harper’s Bazaar named him among the 24 best plastic surgeons nationwide. He has earned the Most Compassionate Doctor Award consecutively from 2012 to 2022, an honor given to fewer than 3% of physicians.
From that school bus seat to operating rooms in Manhattan and Great Neck, Dr. Andrew Jacono has built a career defined by technical mastery and unwavering commitment to changing lives through facial reconstruction. His childhood instinct to sit beside someone others avoided evolved into a practice that serves everyone from celebrities to trauma survivors, always guided by the principle that faces matter because they shape how the world sees us and how we see ourselves.
