A facelift is modern medicine’s most comprehensive treatment for the natural sag and wrinkling that comes with age. While there are a multitude of facelift options employed by skilled plastic surgeons across the worldwide marketplace, there are a few things each procedure has in common: all facelifts are designed to reposition the skin of the face, tightening existing skin against underlying structures and muscle.
Common applications
The facelift (medical term: rhytidectomy), is most often considered by patients who meet one, or more, of the following criteria:
- Facial aging with continued skin elasticity
- A feeling of separation from self – that your face no longer reflects who you are
- Encountering career or social obstacles as the result of aging
- Feeling youthful and energetic, but frustrated with aging facial skin
If you’ve noticed sagging eyes, (including hooded eyelids), dark circles and shadowing, lines across or under the eyes, or puffy areas around the eyes, you may be a candidate for a facelift.
Other candidates include those with loose skin or excessive fatty deposits under the jaw line, giving the appearance of a double chin, or a reduction in skin tone in the jaw region, causing the appearance of jowls.
The Procedure
In order to provide the best possible face lift results, your surgeon will select from a number of customizable methods for restructuring the lines of the face, reducing excess skin, and restoring the contours of youth.
Depending on the area targeted, your surgeon will make incisions in your skin. Then, via those incisions, the surgeon will separate muscle and tissue from skin. Finally, the surgeon will reposition skin to maximize a taut, natural appearance. In some cases, liposuction may be necessary to remove fat deposits, and that procedure will be performed in conjunction with the facelift.
Types of Facelifts
Each surgeon specializing in facelifts has developed a preferred procedure, but the best outcome will depend primarily on the patient’s goals, facial structure, skin type, genetics, and underlying medical conditions.
Regardless of the type of facelifts you've seen portrayed on television or in magazines, your surgeon will make an individual determination based on those factors, and will talk with you about what types of procedures present the best options for you.
Vanguard Aesthetic Plastic Surgery
At Vanguard Aesthetic Plastic Surgery in Ft. Lauderdale, Dr. George Dreszer and Dr. James Fletcher are board-certified plastic surgeons that care about their patients inside and out. Please contact us for more information about facelifts and other treatments to help you look and feel your very best.
