A single bus ride helped set the direction of a surgical career. Long before he earned a medical degree, Dr. Andrew Jacono sat beside a classmate born with a cleft lip and palate. Other children mocked her and kept their distance. Then she had reconstructive surgery, and the teasing stopped. Her peers began treating her as a person instead of a condition.

That shift left a lasting mark. According to a January 2026 profile, the experience gave Dr. Andrew Jacono a clear sense of purpose: repairing faces as a way to change lives. Dr. Andrew Jacono is now dual board-certified and known internationally for pioneering the extended deep-plane facelift.

Turning a Childhood Lesson Into Training

His formal path started at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, which awarded his medical degree in 1996. He then completed an Otolaryngology residency at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary and served there as administrative chief resident. A fellowship in Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, accredited by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, followed.

Keeping an Early Promise

The girl from the bus has stayed with him. Through groups such as Healing the Children, he has operated on more than 750 children with cleft lips, cleft palates, and other facial deformities. Closer to home, he has provided reconstructive surgery to over 100 survivors of domestic violence through the FACE TO FACE program. That work was featured in Facing Trauma, a series on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Those efforts have been recognized. He received the Most Compassionate Doctor Award every year from 2012 through 2022, an honor given to fewer than 3% of physicians.

His practice now spans Manhattan and Great Neck, and his patients range from celebrities to trauma survivors. The profile frames his career around one belief: faces influence how others see us and how we see ourselves. For Dr. Andrew Jacono, that idea began with a classmate who simply needed someone willing to sit next to her. Refer to this article for more information.

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