“What are the options for a facial lift?”
I want to get a facelift procedure. What are the options for a facial lift?
3 Answers
PlasticSurgeonPlasticSurgeon
Depending upon your age and degree of aging, your options include a mini facelift or full facelift. My favorite technique is the MACS short scar Mini-Facelift. Developed in Europe, it is the ideal approach for the younger patient, not ready for a full facelift, or patients who desire a less invasive procedure with a shorter recovery time. It addresses both the mid face area (especially the jowls) as well as the neck, if needed. Come see me or another board-certified plastic surgeon in your area to explore the best options for you. Good luck
Hi It depends on your age and degree of laxity. There are many choices for facial rejuvenation. These range from non invasive ulthera and RF microneedling and fillers, to thread lifting which is minimally invasive. Traditional facelifts come in many forms. The latest trend is deep plane face lifts which I personally would never do or get due to increase risk to facial nerves. Some manipulation and tight of the SMAS and muscles is needed for a longer lasting outcome. Sent from FirstClass with my iPhone Patient Question <answers+1828882_1247664_2ae820b88b16b3d83c34ecdc6b287f96@expert.findatopdoc.com> writes:
Thank you for your question!
Just a note: I have not posted an answer here for a few weeks now. Any of you are still waiting for your my reply, please read my other posts for your similar question. I am apologizing for this!
You are asking the options for a facelift. There a quite a few of them. You know, we, aesthetic surgeons, have been learning to apply our knowledge and use our skills to provide our clients/patients with the services that you want. You know, we all recognize and appreciate it when we are looking at a youthful and attractive face. Some may do but most of us do not want to look different; we want to look younger and to have a more pleasing appearance.
As we are aging, our facial expressions will show all these signs. And, here are the options for facial rejuvenation with some lifting effects:
Some people may want to tighten their facial skin. Yes, you may get a treatment or two with a radiofrequency or an ultrasound medical device to shrink the loosing skin a little bit, and hopefully stimulate the skin fibers to grow. This gives you some limited lift since you cannot shrink the skin so much_you know, these devices generate energy and deliver it as heat to the skin, and sometimes to the underlining soft tissue. Another limit is you can only shink the skin as a whole covering sheet over your facial structures underneath. But your skin is loosing at different degree in separated parts of your face.
Some people may want to have a slimmer and oval facial face, or more of a V-shape. So, you may want to remove the subcutaneous fat, fat under your skin and above your facial muscles, in your lower face and chin's areas, sometimes also your neck's, to have a more defined jawline and oval face. We can achieve this with liposculpting since it is not just where and how much fat we remove but also how much we leave behind in the surrounding areas. Yes, your are contouring you face!
Some people may want to add volumes to their face. Since in addition to loosing skin and sagging soft tissue at some parts, we are losing volume in other parts of our face, mostly the subcutaneous fat. And, it shows more at some areas such as your cheeks, your chin, your temporal areas, and around your eyes (your upper and lower eyelid area). I have used fillers for augmentation at these areas; but as I said in my other posts, I rarely use them now. I have less problems and better results with fat grafting. I always plan to do a follow-up procedure if I am not successful at my first try and my client wants a bit more of an improvement. You know, we should be prepared for this happening since you can hardly predict how much fat will survive. Still I think it is worth the effort since it will rejuvenate the skin at the area that you inject fat and you can always fill up the deepest part with time. You know, you cannot put too much fat there, fat needs blood supply to grow.
I have mentioned about sagging soft tissue. Some people may want to lift it with threads. Yes, threading may work for some people but you should know its limits. Since you lift soft tissue under the skin, you have no way to know for sure what direction you should pull, at what point, on what structure, from the puntured holes you have made. There is always a chance you distort a structure with one of the threads you pull on. And, this is the problem with the direction, or vector, that you pull; you also need also pay attention to the relative tension of each thread you pull on not to distort this whole mass. Then there is a problem with the depth. You don't want to place your thread too shallow, too superficially, you may pull on the skin and make a dimple. You don't want to place your thread too deep either, you may have entered some soft tissue structure at multiple points and distort it when pulling. So, you want to enter at that anchored point and place the thread above it but under the skin, or subcutaneously, and pull and fix it to a point up again gravity. You know, I have tried thread lift. I did not have good and long lasting results. I think the whole area of soft tissue just comes down since nothing holding its weight up from the fixing to the anchored points. It may last six months or so.
I just want to say one thing about Botox. I currently use more Xeomin for this purpose. It does help with the wrinkles and make you look more relaxed, so a bit younger? I use it on the forehead, mostly the frown lines, and the crow feet.
And now a "real" facelift. You know, there are masters out there; whatever they do, they get the results. I have learned from them, more on how they think than what their techniques are. You may want to read my other posts that I gave some discussion about my facelift procedure. Yes, I need to look at your face and listen to your concerns before I may tell you what options, that I think I can recommend for you to make your face look younger and more attractive. You may choose from the above options, or you may want to have a partial or a full facelift. My facelife procedure is more of a combined one of the above options but here I do remove the redundant skin, lift the soft tissue, and liposculpting and/or fat grafting when needed, along the incisions, where I can make all the changes from.
You know, we just work on what we have in our hands with our senses to form a pleasing face to look at. And, you know, your face is unique just as a person you are. As physicians, we have the privilege to be trained to perform our work safely. And, there is a limit on what I can do with the time I have for the procedure, but more important is what your condition at the time and how you want to look...
Thank you for listening. I hope I have answered some part of your question.
Khiem Lai, MD
Aesthetic Physician and Surgeon
Just a note: I have not posted an answer here for a few weeks now. Any of you are still waiting for your my reply, please read my other posts for your similar question. I am apologizing for this!
You are asking the options for a facelift. There a quite a few of them. You know, we, aesthetic surgeons, have been learning to apply our knowledge and use our skills to provide our clients/patients with the services that you want. You know, we all recognize and appreciate it when we are looking at a youthful and attractive face. Some may do but most of us do not want to look different; we want to look younger and to have a more pleasing appearance.
As we are aging, our facial expressions will show all these signs. And, here are the options for facial rejuvenation with some lifting effects:
Some people may want to tighten their facial skin. Yes, you may get a treatment or two with a radiofrequency or an ultrasound medical device to shrink the loosing skin a little bit, and hopefully stimulate the skin fibers to grow. This gives you some limited lift since you cannot shrink the skin so much_you know, these devices generate energy and deliver it as heat to the skin, and sometimes to the underlining soft tissue. Another limit is you can only shink the skin as a whole covering sheet over your facial structures underneath. But your skin is loosing at different degree in separated parts of your face.
Some people may want to have a slimmer and oval facial face, or more of a V-shape. So, you may want to remove the subcutaneous fat, fat under your skin and above your facial muscles, in your lower face and chin's areas, sometimes also your neck's, to have a more defined jawline and oval face. We can achieve this with liposculpting since it is not just where and how much fat we remove but also how much we leave behind in the surrounding areas. Yes, your are contouring you face!
Some people may want to add volumes to their face. Since in addition to loosing skin and sagging soft tissue at some parts, we are losing volume in other parts of our face, mostly the subcutaneous fat. And, it shows more at some areas such as your cheeks, your chin, your temporal areas, and around your eyes (your upper and lower eyelid area). I have used fillers for augmentation at these areas; but as I said in my other posts, I rarely use them now. I have less problems and better results with fat grafting. I always plan to do a follow-up procedure if I am not successful at my first try and my client wants a bit more of an improvement. You know, we should be prepared for this happening since you can hardly predict how much fat will survive. Still I think it is worth the effort since it will rejuvenate the skin at the area that you inject fat and you can always fill up the deepest part with time. You know, you cannot put too much fat there, fat needs blood supply to grow.
I have mentioned about sagging soft tissue. Some people may want to lift it with threads. Yes, threading may work for some people but you should know its limits. Since you lift soft tissue under the skin, you have no way to know for sure what direction you should pull, at what point, on what structure, from the puntured holes you have made. There is always a chance you distort a structure with one of the threads you pull on. And, this is the problem with the direction, or vector, that you pull; you also need also pay attention to the relative tension of each thread you pull on not to distort this whole mass. Then there is a problem with the depth. You don't want to place your thread too shallow, too superficially, you may pull on the skin and make a dimple. You don't want to place your thread too deep either, you may have entered some soft tissue structure at multiple points and distort it when pulling. So, you want to enter at that anchored point and place the thread above it but under the skin, or subcutaneously, and pull and fix it to a point up again gravity. You know, I have tried thread lift. I did not have good and long lasting results. I think the whole area of soft tissue just comes down since nothing holding its weight up from the fixing to the anchored points. It may last six months or so.
I just want to say one thing about Botox. I currently use more Xeomin for this purpose. It does help with the wrinkles and make you look more relaxed, so a bit younger? I use it on the forehead, mostly the frown lines, and the crow feet.
And now a "real" facelift. You know, there are masters out there; whatever they do, they get the results. I have learned from them, more on how they think than what their techniques are. You may want to read my other posts that I gave some discussion about my facelift procedure. Yes, I need to look at your face and listen to your concerns before I may tell you what options, that I think I can recommend for you to make your face look younger and more attractive. You may choose from the above options, or you may want to have a partial or a full facelift. My facelife procedure is more of a combined one of the above options but here I do remove the redundant skin, lift the soft tissue, and liposculpting and/or fat grafting when needed, along the incisions, where I can make all the changes from.
You know, we just work on what we have in our hands with our senses to form a pleasing face to look at. And, you know, your face is unique just as a person you are. As physicians, we have the privilege to be trained to perform our work safely. And, there is a limit on what I can do with the time I have for the procedure, but more important is what your condition at the time and how you want to look...
Thank you for listening. I hope I have answered some part of your question.
Khiem Lai, MD
Aesthetic Physician and Surgeon