What problems are corrected with a face-lift?
No matter how diligent you are about skin care and sun protection, you can’t escape the effect of time. Your skin loses strength and elasticity, skin thins and dehydrates, and the natural layer of fat that adds healthy volume begins to shrink or drop into unwanted pockets. Ultimately, what starts as barely noticeable lines progresses into deeply ingrained wrinkles.
A face-lift, or rhytidectomy, reverses some signs of aging in your face and neck by:
- Eliminating loose and sagging skin
- Smoothing wrinkles around your nose and mouth
- Reshaping or replacing fat to restore lost volume
- Tightening or removing jowls
- Reducing fat in your chin
Since face-lifts focus on your midface, you may want to combine your face-lift with procedures that target other problem areas. Dr. Elias often customizes each patient’s treatment by performing a neck lift, eyelid lift, brow lift, fat grafting, or other cosmetic procedure at the same time as their face-lift.
What happens during a face-lift?
The first and most critical step in a face-lift is repairing the underlying muscles. These muscles support your skin, so they must be properly lifted and tightened to reinforce your skin and ensure your face-lift looks natural.
After tightening your muscles, Dr. Elias removes excess skin and pockets of fat, then repositions the remaining skin. Then he closes the incisions and your face-lift is finished. It’s normal to have swelling and redness, but it goes away in about 10-14 days. It’s also important to avoid strenuous exercise while you heal.
What different types of face-lifts might I receive?
Dr. Elias customizes your face-lift based on your desired goals. He offers minimally invasive face-lifts that can often be done under local anesthesia. A few examples include one-hour and mini-face-lifts, which use small incisions to perform more limited but effective procedures such as lifting your jawline or tightening muscles.
Non-surgical face-lifts produce excellent results and give you other options to a surgical face-lift. These procedures are often called liquid face-lifts because they use injectables to diminish the appearance of wrinkles, tighten and lift your skin, and eliminate fat under your chin.
Dr. Elias individualizes your liquid face-lift by choosing from among numerous injectables that target specific cosmetic problems, including Botox®, Dysport®, and dermal fillers such as Juvéderm®, Radiesse®, and Restylane®.
To learn more about your options and the type of face-lift that’s best for you, call Southern California Center for Surgical Arts or book an appointment online.
