What
Areas Are Improved?
Many areas of the face are improved: sagging, loose tissues
of the mid-face, deep folds of loose skin at the sides of the nose and mouth,
jowls or loss of definition of the jaw line, and excess fat or loose skin
causing loss of definition and “hanging” of the tissues in the neck area. Dr.
Morris will discuss your areas of concern during the consultation and
demonstrate the degree of correction you may be able to achieve in each area.
You'll notice some loosening within a few months following a
facelift, but you may never regain the degree of your original aged appearance.
On average, patients may request a less extensive tightening procedure in 7-10
years to maintain the best possible appearance.
A facelift is often combined with other procedures for
simultaneous correction of other areas of the face such as the forehead or eyelid
regions. This gives you a balanced, more youthful appearance of the entire
face.
Limitations
and Risks
Facelift procedures can be limited by certain
characteristics of your tissues. Some examples are:
- Thick,
heavy, oily skin
- Sun
damaged skin
- Excessive
fatty tissue
- Changes
in the tissues from previous procedures
- Natural
asymmetries of each side of your face
The goal of a facelift is to make you look as good as
possible for your age, not necessarily to make you appear a certain number of
years younger. Dr. Morris will discuss any specific limitations with you at the
time of your consultation. We have techniques available to deal with most
limiting factors.
Facelift procedures involve markedly more risk in smokers.
Nicotine and carbon monoxide cause constriction of the blood vessels that
supply the skin, reducing blood flow and increasing the risk of skin loss. If
you are a smoker, Dr. Morris will require that you stop smoking and completely
avoid exposure to smoke for a minimum of three weeks prior to surgery, and
three weeks following the procedure. (Ideally, you would quit forever!)
If you have hypertension (high blood pressure), it must be
properly controlled prior to surgery to reduce the risk of bleeding. We will
coordinate this with your internist or family physician. There is a very small
risk of impairing nerves that control facial movement during facelift surgery,
depending on the extent of procedure necessary to correct your deformities. Dr.
Morris will discuss this in more detail with you during your consultation. The
incidence of this is exceedingly rare.
The
Operation
Incisions for facelift are carefully concealed within the
hair in the area of the temples, in skin creases in front of and behind the
ear, and along the hairline behind the ears. Dr. Morris will discuss specific
incision locations with you during your consultation.
To reposition your facial tissues, skin and deeper tissues
of the face are first very carefully mobilized. The deeper tissues and skin are
then repositioned in a generally upward and backward direction to reposition
them into a more satisfactory location. In the neck area, banding or separation
of neck muscles is corrected to provide better support and optimal contour of
the neck.
In the face and neck areas, excess or malpositioned fatty
tissue is removed or sculpted using small suction tubes or direct removal to
further improve the result. After re-draping the skin and soft tissues, excess
tissue is removed and the incisions are very carefully closed.
All of your incisions will be carefully closed with sutures
to hopefully produce very fine line scars. Most patients have scars that are
undetectable when covered with make-up. The quality of the scars depends on
each individual’s healing characteristics.
Recovery
You will feel some tightness in the neck area following
surgery. This assures that you'll have the best possible long-term result. Most
of the tight feeling resolves in the first two weeks.
The amount of bruising and swelling one has and the rate at
which these disappear is different for each person. We have many patients
who experience almost no swelling or bruising, and others who have significant
amounts of both. Usually within 10 days, with proper application of
make-up, you will be able to function comfortably in society. Patients
generally feel fantastic about their new look around 6 weeks following surgery.
Stages
of Recovery
For face and neck procedures, the average....
