As we age, the signs of a life well lived start to show on our face. Time spent in the sun leaves freckles and sunspots on our face. Years of smiling and laughing can cause lines and wrinkles to develop. And with time, gravity takes hold of our skin and slowly pulls it down. It’s inevitable that as we age, daily stress, gravity, and sun exposure takes its toll on our skin.
But a facelift can help turn back the hands of time and help restore our youthful appearance. A facelift can tighten and lift muscles while redraping sagging skin, help smooth wrinkles and fine lines, tighten the skin, and remove excess fat in the neck.
Types of Face Lifts
A rhytidectomy, or facelift, can significantly improve signs of aging on the face and neck by removing excess skin and wrinkles, along with tightening the facial muscles. This procedure allows patients to achieve a more youthful appearance, almost as though time has turned back. A facelift removes excess sagging skin, smoothes deep folds and wrinkles, and lifts and tightens facial tissues to help patients feel and look better.
There are several types of facelifts to choose from, depending on your needs. Our surgeons perform the Skin-only lift, the Dual Plane facelift, the Composite lift, the Subperiosteal lift, and the Short-Scar lift.
What to Expect with a Facelift
Each type of facelift is performed to meet different patient needs. Our surgeons will discuss your personal expectations of a facelift to determine which is right for you. Here is what you can expect with each type of facelift.
- Skin-only Lift: The surgeon lifts the skin layer only, along with the fatty layer of the muscles, removing excess skin. Incisions are made behind the ear and in the hairline. Once the excess skin is removed, the remaining skin is stretched to the incision points and sutured.
- Dual Plane Facelift: The face is lifted under the muscle tissue, never separating the tissue from the muscle. This type of facelift focuses on the movement of muscles and fat layers, rather than pulling and removing skin. This prevents the patient from looking too tight or pulled back.
- Composite Lift: This procedure involves elevating the skin and deeper tissues simultaneously. While traditional facelifts have the skin pulled in a horizontal direction, the composite facelift pulls the skin both horizontally and vertically for the most natural-looking outcome.
- Subperiosteal Lift: The surgeon goes deeper into the tissues to reposition muscle and fat. This procedure significantly improves the appearance of aging in the cheek area.
- Short Scar Facelift: This type of facelift achieves similar results of a full facelift, but with minimal scarring. The incision scar is hidden inside the ear, rather than behind the ear. The vertical lift of the tissues allows for more focus on the cheeks.
Benefits of Facelifts
Patients experience many positive benefits of facelift surgery. A facelift reduces the following signs of aging: the appearance of sagging cheeks, excess skin around the jowls, deepening fold of skin from the side of the nose to the corner of the mouth, and sagging skin/extra fat in the neck. Your face and neck lift specialist in Houston can discuss your goals for the procedure and which type is right for you. Specific issues that a facelift will not address include superficial wrinkles, sun damage, creases around the nose and upper lip, or skin discoloration.
Widely recognized for their excellence in aesthetic and reconstructive surgery, our surgeons perform the procedure on an outpatient basis. Slight bruising and swelling may occur and will last for approximately ten days. However, most patients are able to return to their normal activities within one to two weeks. Before choosing the type of surgery, our doctors will review your condition and listen carefully to your cosmetic goals so that they can personalize the procedure to your needs.