The operating room on a surgical mission looks nothing like a Manhattan suite on Park Avenue. The lighting is different, the equipment is older, and the patients are children who have never seen a facial plastic surgeon. For Dr. Andrew Jacono, those rooms feel just as important as any other.
A dual board-certified facial plastic surgeon known internationally for developing the extended deep-plane facelift technique, Jacono has spent more than a decade channeling his surgical expertise into free reconstructive care for patients who lack any means to access it. The contrast between his Park Avenue practice and a field hospital in South America is not a contradiction in his career; it is the point.
Children Without Access to Specialized Care
Dr. Jacono has served as Plastic Surgeon Director for Healing the Children Northeast Cleft Lip and Palate Missions since 2008, leading annual trips to Colombia, Thailand, and Belize. He also serves as a volunteer surgeon with the HUGS Foundation for microtia repair missions to Ecuador. Altogether, he has completed surgery on more than 750 children through organizations including Healing the Children, the HUGS Foundation, and T.H.A.I. Children, operating on cleft lips and palates, ear deformities, facial tumors, and burn scars across Southeast Asia, Central America, and South America.
He is also a volunteer surgeon for Beyond Our Borders, an organization that brings children from abroad to the United States for reconstructive procedures they cannot receive at home. The range of that work, spanning continents and surgical disciplines, has drawn notice from colleagues worldwide.
London-based facial plastic surgeon Dr. Gregor Bran addressed the surgical community directly on Instagram, speaking about Jacono’s influence: “He is the reason everybody’s talking about Deep Plane facelift surgery. He has taught everybody who is good everything he knows. We all owe him so much.”
Domestic Work on Behalf of Abuse Survivors
Jacono’s philanthropic record extends well beyond international missions. He has served as Senior Advisor of Face to Face Domestic Violence Outreach for the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery since 2010, a national program that provides pro bono consultation and reconstructive surgery to survivors of domestic violence. To date, he has performed facial reconstruction for more than 100 women who sustained disfiguring injuries from abuse.
For nine years, he also chaired About Face: Making Changes, an annual benefit dedicated to survivors of domestic violence. That sustained commitment has reached beyond the operating room into advocacy and fundraising that reinforces the program’s work across the country.
His efforts drew formal recognition. U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy commended Dr. Jacono in the Congressional Record for his contributions to women’s welfare. The Center for the Women of New York honored him with its “Good Guy” Award. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Coalition Against Domestic Violence since 2005.
A Surgeon Who Raises Funds at Altitude
Raising awareness has, at times, required climbing. Jacono has summited Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Cotopaxi in Ecuador, and Mount Elbrus in Russia as part of campaigns to generate funds and attention for domestic violence victims and children awaiting reconstructive surgery. The ascents, undertaken in partnership with fundraising initiatives, have helped offset the logistical costs of surgical missions.
The full scope of that commitment sits alongside an academic and clinical career of its own weight. Jacono serves as Fellowship Director for the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, one of only 70 surgeons in the country holding that designation. He has trained Fellows from the AAFPRS in advanced techniques throughout most of his career. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and maintains his position as Chief of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Northwell Health.
That range, from the precision of approximately 250 deep-plane facelifts per year at his Manhattan practice to reconstructive work in field settings abroad, is what defines Dr. Andrew Jacono’s career. The accolades and rankings follow naturally. But the surgical missions, the domestic violence work, and the years on volunteer rosters across three continents suggest a surgeon who has never viewed expertise as something to be kept on Park Avenue alone.