Facelift / Face Lift
The face is a strong indicator of a person's age. As you get older, you develop wrinkles around the eyes, nose, and mouth and the skin around your chin and neck begins to sag and fold. Unfortunately, this is brought on by everyday experiences, such as sun exposure, stress, and gravity, which can't be avoided completely.
A face lift, or rhytidectomy, can "turn back time" by adjusting the fat, muscle, and skin on your face to make it appear smoother and more youthful. Face lifts work really well in conjunction with other procedures, including forehead lifts, brow lifts, and eyelid surgery.
There are three basic types of facelifts:
- Traditional Facelift - This is the basic facelift in which incisions are made from the temples to the lower chin, fat and tissue are repositioned and sculpted, muscle is lifted, skin is tightened, and excess skin is removed. This minimizes wrinkles, making you look years younger.
- Limited Incision Facelift - This is also called a mid-face lift and uses the same technique as the traditional facelift but it does so using smaller incisions. This focuses much more on the middle of the face and less on the chin and neck area.
- Neck Lift - There are multiple reasons why you may have extra skin or fat under your neck. One main cause is that over time, gravity simply pulls on your skin so that it loosens and stretches, leaving you with extra skin beneath your chin. Also, if you have recently lost a lot of weight, there may still be extra skin left over. In either of these cases, a neck lift will tighten up the area under your chin, removing excess skin and making you look younger and thinner.
A neck lift is best for those with a little bit of excess skin or fat on the neck. If you have a double chin, a neck lift alone will not solve the problem. Instead, it is recommended that you get tumescent liposuction to remove the extra fat. Then, if there is loose skin remaining, a neck lift or face lift can be done.
Of course a facelift cannot permanently eliminate the aging process. However, after you receive your initial facelift, you can later get a mini facelift procedure to freshen and touch up your face. This is a fairly quick procedure, and you can be back at work within a matter of days. When you schedule a consultation with a surgeon at California Surgical Institute, your doctor will help you determine which type of face lift will be best for you.
What Should You Know About Face Lift Surgery
Regardless of whether you are a man or woman, getting a face lift can help boost your self-confidence by rejuvenating your face and giving you a more youthful appearance. Although face lifts are most commonly performed on patients in their forties to sixties, individuals in their seventies and eighties can still have a successful face lift. The key to a successful facelift is having skin that, while it may be sagging around the face or neck, still possesses some elasticity. Having a bone structure that is well-defined and strong is the other important factor for being able to undergo a successful face lift.
Complementary Consultation
In order to find out if you will be a good candidate for a facelift, you will need to schedule a consultation with a board certified plastic surgeon. By having a one-on-one discussion and evaluation with an experienced plastic surgeon, you will not only be able to find out if you qualify as a candidate for this procedure, but you will also receive all the details of the operation, which will allow you to make an informed decision about whether or not you want to have the surgery.
When you go to your initial consultation, your surgeon will first talk to you about the reasons you want to have a facelift. After getting a thorough understanding of your goals for this procedure, your surgeon will evaluate your facial bones and skin, along with your overall health.
General health factors that will be taken into consideration include smoking, medications you are taking, uncontrolled high blood pressure, tendency to form excessive scars and blood clotting problems. It's important to be honest with your surgeon about any of these conditions that may apply to you, because your surgeon will need to be aware of them in order to minimize the chance of complications arising during or after your procedure.
Face Lift Complications
Although your surgeon will talk to you about all the specific risks that could arise as a result of your facelift, there are several that you can already take into consideration. While the risks of these conditions occurring can be minimized by working with a board certified doctor and following all of the guidelines you are given, potential risks associated with getting this procedure done include infection, temporary damage to the nerves that control facial muscles, poor healing of the skin (found most commonly in smokers), hematoma and adverse reactions to anesthesia.
In addition to discussing the procedure itself and the potential risks it could present, your surgeon will also talk about the facility they will use for the procedure, the type of anesthesia that will be used, how long the healing process will take and the total cost of the procedure. If you have any additional questions about the procedure, you should ask your surgeon during the consultation so you will have all the information you need to make an informed decision about your surgeon and the procedure itself.
Preparing for Facial Plastic Surgery
Once your evaluation has been completed and your surgeon has approved you for this procedure, you will be given specific directions about how to prepare for the operation. These directions will instruct you in the areas of drinking, eating, taking medications, and refraining from smoking. Following these directions will ensure that you minimize the chances of encountering complications with your facelift.
One preparation you may want to consider for your facelift is growing out your hair. Since the scars left from the incisions around your hairline will need time to heal, if your hair is currently short, you may want to let it grow so that the scars will be hidden as they heal. Additionally, it's important to have someone commit to taking you home from the hospital and helping you out in the early stages of your recovery process.
Face lift Surgery
Before your surgery begins, you will be given general anesthesia or local anesthesia with a sedative. You and your surgeon will decide during your consultation which type of anesthesia is the best for you. When the surgery begins, your surgeon will make the necessary incisions on your face and neck. The facial incisions normally run from the hairline at the temple to the front of the ear, while the incision for the neck is usually made directly under the chin. After the incisions have been made, your surgeon will separate your skin from the fat and muscle. Excess fat can be suctioned or trimmed to improve the contour of your face. After the underlying membrane and muscle have been tightened, the skin is pulled back and any excess is removed. Stitches are used to close the incisions, while metal clips are used on the scalp. Because you will have excess blood collecting, a small tube will most likely be placed behind your ear to help drain. Bandages will also be loosely wrapped around your head to help reduce swelling and bruising.
Face Lift Recovery
When you get home from the hospital, you will want to keep your head elevated for the first couple of days. You will be able to walk around after a day or two, but it's important to only engage in low impact activities for the first week of recovery. If you are feeling pain during this time, you can take the medication your doctor prescribed you to help control it.
Your drainage tube will be taken out after two days, while your bandages will be removed in one to five days after your surgery. The stitches in your incisions will also be removed in approximately five days, but the metal clips will be left on for a few more days.
At the beginning of your recovery, your face will probably look bruised, pale and puffy. Your facial movements may also seem more stiff than usual. However, over the course of approximately three weeks, your healing will continue to progress, and you will begin to look and feel much better than you did at the beginning of your healing process.
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