Facelift-when, how?

Facelifts are a topic that will pop up whenever we talk about cosmetic surgery.But actually how many people really know what type of procedure it is? Some patients that I examine think that it's a procedure where you change the skin of the face or lift the whole skin and replace it. All of this sounds quite scary and complicated. In actual fact it's just a procedure where the lax skin around your face is tightened by surgical means. In the past it was a procedure which was very elaborately done and the patient had to take days off from work to recuperate. Nowadays, it has become a very simple procedure.

With aging there are a lot of changes happening to our body. Specifically there are changes to our face, which if too drastic, affects us all. The skin starts to become lax and fine wrinkles appear on the forehead, around the eyes and on the lip area. There are also changes around the eyes as there may be bagginess on both upper and lower eyelids. All of this happens due to redistribution of fat and reduction of collagen in our skin. For those of us who don't like this change, there are procedures to correct these.

When a patient comes for anti- aging treatment, we will assess each part individually and suggest the options available. Facelift is usually done in patients who have laxity around the jaw line, prominent folds on the sides of the nose, lips and neck. These can be corrected by a simple procedure known as mini facelift, where work is done on the lower part of the face. This is a minimally invasive procedure and can be done by local anesthesia. An incision is made in the folds in front of the ears and the muscles along with the covering being tightened. The excess skin after tightening is taken off and stiches are given in such a way that they are usually not visible. The skin around the neck is also pulled up. The patient can go home the same day. Resting at home for a few days is needed. As it is a minimally invasive procedure, there is almost no bruising.

Some patients may have bulges or bagginess of the lids and will need to get that fixed to get an overall rejuvenated look. Blepharoplasty of both lids can be done where the excess skin from both lids is reduced and if fat is present that is also reduced. Again all of this is done by local anesthesia and needs no hospital stay. As for the wrinkles on the forehead and laugh lines around the eyes, Botox is a simple answer. If all these procedures are done simultaneously, a very good result can be seen. As all of these procedures are done under local anesthesia, there is no hospital stay and the patient can go back to their normal life within a few days.

For patients who have laxity on the cheeks as well as other areas of the face, they will need a proper facelift which involves more undermining and needs to be done under general anesthesia. There may be some bruising and swelling around the face which goes away in a few days. Botox can be given to beautify the forehead. Also some people have fine wrinkles around the lips which can be reduced by fillers.

So facelifts are not such a complicated procedure as before but can be done using very short and simple steps.