A school bus seat decided the course of a medical career long before medical school ever entered the picture. Dr. Andrew Jacono sat beside a classmate born with a cleft lip and palate, watching other children keep their distance and tease her for a condition she never chose. When she underwent reconstructive surgery, the reaction from her peers shifted almost overnight. Classmates who once avoided her began treating her like anyone else, and that transformation stayed with him.
That early exposure to the power of facial reconstruction eventually pointed Dr. Andrew Jacono toward otolaryngology and then facial plastic surgery. He earned his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1996 before completing a residency in otolaryngology at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, where he served as administrative chief resident. An advanced fellowship in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery, accredited by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, rounded out his training.
The lessons from that bus ride never faded once he entered practice. Dr. Andrew Jacono developed the Minimal Access Deep-Plane Extended facelift in the early 2000s, a technique that lifts skin, muscle, and fat together rather than simply pulling skin tight. The approach produces results that can last twelve to fifteen years, and Town & Country described the outcome as patients who “look like refreshed versions of themselves.”
His commitment to reconstructive work extended well past his own operating room. He has performed more than 750 surgeries on children with cleft lips, palates, and other facial differences through Healing the Children, carrying forward the same instinct that made him sit beside a classmate everyone else avoided. Awards followed, including recognition as one of Newsweek’s top facelift surgeons for 2025, but the throughline traces back to a single school bus seat and the moment a face changed how a room saw a person. Refer to this page, for related information.
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