How do I know if I need a Facelift? What is a facelift?

Patients often ask me "Do I need a facelift ?" This then goes into the second phenomenon that I describe in the aging process, namely the loss of ligamentous support.  As we age, along with losing volume as I have described before, the tissues that "hold up" our face begin to lose strength as well.  Take a look at the image below to understand how the face ages.

This is where you begin to notice deeper lines and wrinkles around the naso-labial folds and jowls.  This is also very evident in the neck region as the tissue gets loose and just cannot « stay up » any longer.  The platysma muscle in the neck, which is contiguous with the SMAS (muscle soft tissue of the face), begins to droop and patients will notice banding of the muscle ( the so-called turkey gobbler neck).  It is at this point that the patient will likely need some surgical intervention to reverse these changes.

Once these changes begin to occur, a patient needs to consider facelift as a solution.  Facelifts have many different connotations for patients.  I think this is because there are so many different techniques and approaches that you all have heard about.  Mini-Facelift, Short scar facelift, LifestyleLifts (strong TV marketing), SMAS facelifts, Twilight lifts, Smartlifts, Deep Plane Facelifts just to name a few and I probably missed a couple in there !  The main goal of any of these procedures should be to restore the laxity that  and ligamentous support.  When I evaluate a patient, I take all these factors into consideration before deciding which technique fits that patient.  It is a mistake to try and fit one technique to all patients that walk in.  I try to be versed in all these techniques to assure natural results and long term results.