What made you specialise in facial plastic surgery?

Facial surgery asks a lot of a surgeon. You need precise technique and a detailed knowledge of anatomy, but you also need an eye for what will suit a particular face, and I enjoy using both. The face is also where people notice change first. A small adjustment to the nose or jawline can change how someone feels when they look in the mirror. During my training I was drawn to facial procedures such as rhinoplasty and facelifts, where the anatomy is complex and a millimetre here or there makes a visible difference. That is still the work I find most satisfying.

How do you get natural-looking results from facial surgery?

By planning around the face the patient already has. Most people’s biggest worry is looking ‘done’, and that tends to happen when an operation ignores someone’s existing features. With rhinoplasty, a smaller or straighter nose isn’t automatically a better one. It has to sit in proportion with the chin, forehead and cheeks. With a facelift, I want the patient to look rested, not tight or windblown. Technique matters too. Repositioning the deeper tissues, rather than simply pulling the skin, gives a softer result that lasts longer and avoids the stretched look of older methods.

Why is rhinoplasty considered such a difficult operation?

The nose sits in the middle of the face, so even a change of a millimetre or two shows. It also has a job to do. Every adjustment to the cartilage and bone has to improve the shape without compromising the airway, and a good rhinoplasty should leave breathing at least as good as it was before. That is why experience in both cosmetic and reconstructive nasal surgery matters. Healing is the other challenge. Swelling settles slowly, particularly at the tip, and the final result can take up to a year to show. I make sure patients know this before surgery, so they don’t judge the outcome too early.

How have facelift techniques changed?

The biggest change is where the lift happens. Older facelifts mainly tightened the skin, which is where the pulled, overdone look came from. Modern techniques work on the deeper layers instead. A SMAS facelift lifts and repositions the layer of muscle and connective tissue beneath the skin. A deep plane facelift goes further, lifting the deeper structures of the face while keeping natural volume and definition, and suits patients with more sagging in the midface and jawline. Both last longer and look more natural than a skin-only lift. Ageing also takes away volume, so I often combine a facelift with fat transfer to the cheeks or under the eyes.

What can eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty) correct?

Mainly heavy or drooping upper lids, puffiness and under-eye bags. These can make someone look tired or older than they are, and a very heavy upper lid can even get in the way of vision. In the upper lids, blepharoplasty removes excess skin and fat to open up the eye. In the lower lids the aim is usually to smooth out bags. People often assume that means removing fat, but repositioning it is frequently the better option, as taking too much can leave the eye looking hollow. Whichever lid I’m treating, the eye should keep its natural shape. Patients should look more awake, not different. My training includes oculoplastic surgery, which focuses on the eyelids and the area around the eye.

What should patients know about otoplasty (ear pinning)?

Otoplasty reshapes the cartilage of the ear to correct ears that stick out or are an unusual shape. It’s often done in childhood, but at Centre for Surgery we treat adults, and many of my patients have been self-conscious about their ears for years before deciding to go ahead. It is a relatively straightforward operation with a short recovery. The main thing is not to overdo it. Ears pinned too tightly against the head look just as unnatural as prominent ones, so I aim for a position that looks as though it was always there.

What advice would you give someone considering facial cosmetic surgery?

Choose a surgeon who specialises in the face and performs these operations regularly. Facial anatomy is complicated, and small changes call for careful judgement. Then be realistic about what surgery can do. It refines; it doesn’t create perfection. A good surgeon will tell you honestly when a change won’t suit you, and will always favour a natural result over a dramatic one.

Mr Shehab Jabir

About Mr Shehab Jabir

Mr Shehab Jabir is a Consultant Facial Plastic Surgeon holding five board and fellowship certifications across the UK, Europe, and internationally — FRCS(Plast), FEBOPRAS, FEBHS, IBCFPRS, and EBCFPRS. He holds double board certification in facial plastic surgery, reflecting his facial subspecialisation. He is also a substantive NHS Consultant Plastic Surgeon at the Lister Hospital in Stevenage.

Mr Jabir graduated from St George’s, University of London in 2010 and completed specialist training at some of the UK’s leading units, including the St Andrew’s Centre for Plastic Surgery, St Thomas’ Hospital, Nottingham University Hospitals, and the Pulvertaft Hand Centre in Derby. He has trained and taught internationally across Europe, North America, and the Middle East, and has received several national and international academic awards including the Hackett Memorial Prize, the BAPRAS-RSTN Prize for best clinical trial proposal, and the Craniomaxillofacial Trauma Award from Duke University in the USA.

His clinical practice is focused exclusively on the face. Mr Jabir performs the full range of facial surgery including rhinoplasty, facelift and neck lift surgery, eyelid surgery, brow lift, ear surgery, and facial rejuvenation procedures. He is particularly known for complex and revision cases, and for developing several named techniques in facial surgery.

In consultation, Mr Jabir is known for being thorough and direct. He explains all options clearly, is candid about limitations and realistic outcomes, and does not use pressure tactics. His approach is patient-led — he supports people in making fully informed decisions at their own pace.

He is a member of the European Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery (EAFPS), BAPRAS, BAAPS, and BSSH. GMC number: 7083880.

Registration and qualifications

GMC registration: 7083880 (opens in a new tab)
GMC Specialist Register: Plastic surgery
Registered qualification: MB BS, University of London (2010)
Professional memberships: British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS)
British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS)
British Society for Surgery of the Hand (BSSH)
European Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery (EAFPS)
Sees patients at: Centre for Surgery, 95–97 Baker Street, London W1U 6RN

Research and publications

Selected peer-reviewed papers by Mr Jabir. Each title links to its record on PubMed.

Glomus tumours of the upper limb and hand: a clinicopathological review of cases over two decades. Journal of Hand Surgery (European Volume), 2022.
A short introduction to clinical photography for the plastic surgeon. World Journal of Plastic Surgery, 2016.
Microvascular free tissue transfer in acute and secondary burn reconstruction. Injury, 2015.
A systematic review of the applications of free tissue transfer in burns. Burns, 2014.
Assessing improvement in quality of life and patient satisfaction following body contouring surgery in patients with massive weight loss. Plastic Surgery International, 2013.

Procedures performed at Centre for Surgery

Videos

Mr Shehab Jabir

Rhinoplasty FAQs: Candidacy, Ultrasonic, Open vs Closed, Recovery

Introducing Rhinoplasty Surgery at CFS

Facelift FAQs with Mr Shehab Jabir

Introducing Face Lift Procedures at CFS

Blepharoplasty FAQs

Introducing Eyelid Surgery at CFS

Introducing Facial Feminisation Surgery at CFS

Shorts

Rhinoplasty: Mr Shehab Jabir's Favourite Operation
What is a “SMAS” layer when discussing facelifts?
Face lift myths that need to be addressed
Three important mistakes people make before having a Facelift
How to spot the difference between a subtle vs over done facelift
Signs of a bad facelift
Facial Feminisation Surgery (FFS) Explained
What is facial feminisation surgery and what can be done?
Facial Feminisation discussed with Mr Jabir
Tracheal Shave (Adam's Apple Reduction) Explained
What is a Tracheal Shave Procedure?

FAQ

Facial surgery asks a lot of a surgeon. You need precise technique and a detailed knowledge of anatomy, but you also need an eye for what will suit a particular face, and I enjoy using both.

The face is also where people notice change first. A small adjustment to the nose or jawline can change how someone feels when they look in the mirror. During my training I was drawn to facial procedures such as rhinoplasty and facelifts, where the anatomy is complex and a millimetre here or there makes a visible difference. That is still the work I find most satisfying.
By planning around the face the patient already has. Most people’s biggest worry is looking ‘done’, and that tends to happen when an operation ignores someone’s existing features.

With rhinoplasty, a smaller or straighter nose isn’t automatically a better one. It has to sit in proportion with the chin, forehead and cheeks. With a facelift, I want the patient to look rested, not tight or windblown.

Technique matters too. Repositioning the deeper tissues, rather than simply pulling the skin, gives a softer result that lasts longer and avoids the stretched look of older methods.
The nose sits in the middle of the face, so even a change of a millimetre or two shows. It also has a job to do. Every adjustment to the cartilage and bone has to improve the shape without compromising the airway, and a good rhinoplasty should leave breathing at least as good as it was before. That is why experience in both cosmetic and reconstructive nasal surgery matters.

Healing is the other challenge. Swelling settles slowly, particularly at the tip, and the final result can take up to a year to show. I make sure patients know this before surgery, so they don’t judge the outcome too early.
The biggest change is where the lift happens. Older facelifts mainly tightened the skin, which is where the pulled, overdone look came from. Modern techniques work on the deeper layers instead.

A SMAS facelift lifts and repositions the layer of muscle and connective tissue beneath the skin. A deep plane facelift goes further, lifting the deeper structures of the face while keeping natural volume and definition, and suits patients with more sagging in the midface and jawline. Both last longer and look more natural than a skin-only lift.

Ageing also takes away volume, so I often combine a facelift with fat transfer to the cheeks or under the eyes.
Mainly heavy or drooping upper lids, puffiness and under-eye bags. These can make someone look tired or older than they are, and a very heavy upper lid can even get in the way of vision.

In the upper lids, blepharoplasty removes excess skin and fat to open up the eye. In the lower lids the aim is usually to smooth out bags. People often assume that means removing fat, but repositioning it is frequently the better option, as taking too much can leave the eye looking hollow.

Whichever lid I’m treating, the eye should keep its natural shape. Patients should look more awake, not different. My training includes oculoplastic surgery, which focuses on the eyelids and the area around the eye.
Otoplasty reshapes the cartilage of the ear to correct ears that stick out or are an unusual shape. It’s often done in childhood, but at Centre for Surgery we treat adults, and many of my patients have been self-conscious about their ears for years before deciding to go ahead.

It is a relatively straightforward operation with a short recovery. The main thing is not to overdo it. Ears pinned too tightly against the head look just as unnatural as prominent ones, so I aim for a position that looks as though it was always there.
Choose a surgeon who specialises in the face and performs these operations regularly. Facial anatomy is complicated, and small changes call for careful judgement.

Then be realistic about what surgery can do. It refines; it doesn’t create perfection. A good surgeon will tell you honestly when a change won’t suit you, and will always favour a natural result over a dramatic one.

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“The service is excellent, all the staff and doctors are very professional and friendly. […] The clinical procedures and risk management practices are excellent, to minimise any risks.”
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“Felt very welcomed the whole time and both before and after my procedure all the staff were lovely and brilliant at making sure I was as comfortable as possible.”
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