Is It Time for Facelift Surgery?
At a certain point, non-surgical methods may no longer do the job. Sydney plastic surgeon Dr Darryl Hodgkinson shares his approach to surgical rejuvenation of the face. Before and after facelif...
Continue ReadingTop 5 FAQs About Facelift That My Patients Have Asked Over The Last 30 Years
Today more women and men are considering a facelift surgery or mini face lift to help restore their face to a more youthful appearance. No longer do you have to worry about having a “plastic” or pulled look that was one of the concerns of the facelifts of old times. Having performed so many facelift surgeries, Dr Hodgkinson’s facelift patients tell us that their family and friends say they look like themselves, just more youthful, refreshed and more vibrant!
Facelift surgery restores a more pleasing contour to your face and neck. A mini-facelift can be done alone, or in conjunction with other procedures such as a forehead lift, eyelid surgery, or nose reshaping. Ask Dr. Darryl Hodgkinson and the specialists at The Cosmetic & Restorative Surgery Clinic about the facelift procedure that is right for you, they are the leaders for facelift surgery Sydney.
If your face and neck have started to sag, you may be a good candidate. Dr. Hodgkinson can assess your skin’s elasticity, your complexion and help you determine the appropriate procedure for you. Remember, facelift surgery has been successfully performed on patients as young as 40 years old and as old as 80 years old.
Your general health will be assessed prior to any anticipated surgery. You should bring your medical records with you at your consultation.
How Long Does a Facelift Last & How Can I Extend Facelift Results?
A facelift procedure aims to improve the appearance of sagging or loose skin, wrinkles, and deep creases. The tightening and removal of excess facial skin creates a youthful and rejuvenated look via a very common cosmetic surgical procedure.
The primary benefits of a facelift include;
You should be in good health with normal exercise tolerance and blood pressure to be the ideal candidate for the operative procedure.
It is quite common to combine a facelift with another procedure to achieve or enhance certain results. A facelift will focus on the lower two-thirds of the face, however, if the forehead or eyes also require attention, you may wish to consider one of the following options;
Eyelid surgery and brow-lifts are considered complementary to each other. Drooping brows can cause a fold of loose skin to hang beyond the lid margin. If gravity has been the cause of fullness in the upper lid, however, then a brow-lift surgery may be more appropriate. Eyelid surgery often has longer lasting results when done in conjunction with a brow lift.
Blepharoplasty will not necessarily remove all crow’s feet or wrinkles from around the eyes, in which case injectable fillers may be required. It is important when undergoing these procedures, to not remove too much skin and fat from the upper and lower eyelids as it can cause a gaunt hollow look. If the brow is lifted too much, the patient can end up with a more startled looking appearance. Dr Hodgkinson experience ensures you will not have those problems.
The full facelift is a comprehensive procedure that addresses the entire face and neck. The areas of focus of course, will depend on the individual’s condition and desired outcome.
The facelift operation elevates and re-drapes the facial skin and underlying musculature to eliminate laxity and sagging. The operation can be designed to correct problems in the neck, under the jaw and/or chin and in the cheeks.
The midface lift (addresses sagging in the cheek or middle third of the face) tends to be popular in the younger facelift patient whereas the older patients tend to require a full facelift to address ageing in the lower two thirds of the face.
Mini-facelift is a poor term but is used to describe a moderate tightening of the cheeks and jowls and neck usually with a smaller incision and no incision under the chin. Best usually at about 40-50 year of age.
“S”Lift, just tightens the cheeks, nothing is improved in the neck. There are very few patients who just require an “S”lift without some improvement to the neck”. “MACS” lift is similar, a combination of a Mini and S lift.
Facelifting has come a long way from the old style of operation that gave patients a ‘pulled’ or a ‘stretched’ look, which created a stigma or aversion to the procedure among the general public and still does.
Correctly performed facelifts by an experienced surgeon offer longer-lasting rejuvenation, restoring a more natural appearance without the stigma of an operation. It is critical, however, that the procedure is carefully individualised for each patient. Dr. Hodgkinson uses photographs of patients from their early 30s as a guide for achieving the most realistic and suitable result possible. This can also vary depending on the age of the patient as to which style of the procedure will be performed.
Dr. Hodgkinson, aims to achieve a more natural looking aesthetic, that is not overdone and works naturally with the contours of your face. The primary goal is to restore the tissues to where they were previously, which is why the use of past photographs during consultations is very important.
Some practitioners offer a different range of facelift procedures which could include the use of threading, a technique which lifts the structure of the face with sutures under the skin. The results are transitory and rarely satisfy Caucasian patients.
The “silhouette” lift is a newer thread lift procedure which includes the use of absorbable sutures. These absorbable sutures are said to cause fewer problems than the permanent varieties; however, the results from this procedure still don’t last more than a year to 18 months, limiting its cost-effectiveness.
After being trained by the leaders of the ‘New Age facelift’ in Newport Beach, California in the SMAS technique, Dr. Hodgkinson has expanded on his skills with the help of the French plastic surgeon Dr. Alain Fogli’s ‘Lore’s fascial lifting’ method. This procedure results in a more dramatic neck and jaw rejuvenation, making the neck appear longer and more defined. Dr Hodgkinson has written several papers and presented several chapters in the textbooks of his technique.
The major complication to avoid postoperatively is a haematoma or having blood collect under the skin flaps of the face. We offset this risk with a specialised clinical nurse who stabilises the blood pressure of all facelift patients to reduce anxiety or discomfort. This nurse can detect if hematoma has formed, in which case it can be quickly averted without any negative effect on the results of the facelift surgery.
Along with this, there is the risk of bruising and swelling in all patients which are quite normal and will vary from patient to patient based on the extent of the surgery. These bruises and swelling can also be minimised by early ice application and bandaging, with most patients returning to work after about two weeks.
Some patients may also feel depressed during the postoperative period; however, confidence will be restored with time as your rejuvenated and more youthful appearance settles in.
When many people think of facelift surgery, they tend to think about processes that were used in the earlier days of the surgery, in which wrinkled skin was stretched to create a smoother surface. These days however, there are more advanced modern techniques which are used to reshape the layers of connective tissue under the skin, which don’t involve similar stretching techniques.
While the process for this procedure will vary between patients based on their needs and how their tissue will be manipulated, trimmed, folded and then fixed in place, the aim of the procedure is uniformly to achieve a natural, youthful appearance usually with discreet incisions to minimise scarring. For a facelift operation, patients will be placed under general anaesthetic and twighlight anaesthesia.
Everyone heals differently, so whilst there is no one answer to this question, there are of course guidelines to help you plan for your surgery and an uneventful recovery.
The less invasive nature of today’s facelift procedures means that most people can be back at work after two weeks. There will be bruising and swelling after the operation but even the most severe swelling should be gone by the third week. Heavy work, stress and sudden movements should be avoided for the first ten days so as not to aggravate swelling or put any stress on the stitches.
Before and 3 Months After Facelift by Dr Hodgkinson
With any surgical procedure, there will likely be a certain amount of scarring. In the case of a facelift, natural creases or hairlines are used to keep incisions discreet and easily concealable with time all scars fade to being impeccable.
Jowls are commonly associated with ageing in the lower half of the face. Everyone ages differently but jowls are a common complaint of patients that present at the clinic to find out what their options are and what is the best procedure to correct their sagging jowls. As we get older, not only does our skin lose elasticity but the underlying tissues and fat pats atrophy as well. This ageing process creates this sagging, loose appearance, wherein the jawline loses its definition and often there is also a laxity of the tissues under the chin, giving the person a double chin.
The best procedure or treatment for sagging jowls usually involves a facelift of just the lower two-thirds of the face, which is enough to elevate these tissues combined with some fixation of the tissues underneath (not just a skin lift or S-Lift). It is not possible to create natural looking results when the skin is stretched and tightened like cling wrap to hold the sagging tissues in place. The advantage of the facelift combined with the fixation of the underlying tissues over more traditional procedures is that there is less scarring and “down-time” while still providing for a long lasting and more natural result. This is referred to as a SMAS lift.
Before and After Face Lift and Neck lift Surgery
No-one wants a double chin (or “turkey neck”) but regardless of your age, you can usually do something about it. From late teens some people notice the hereditary feature of a chubby fat neck. Just looking at your relatives gives you the clue that diet and exercise are not going to fix the problem. Liposuction is generally very effective for these fatty accumulations up to the age of about 40. After 40 years, men and women who are ageing relatively normally, note a laxity of skin and sagging muscles under the chin. A mini-lift is the treatment of choice at this age and can result in a marked “firming” and tensioning of the underlying muscles of the upper neck. After about age 45, fat and sagging skin combine to make the problem more severe and at this stage a neck-lift or a facelift is a better option. To find out the most suitable procedure for you, be sure to consult a surgeon with extensive experience in facelifts. Beware of the “latest”, the “newest”, the “L”, the “S” or “the turbo”! These procedures may have a nifty name but liposuction, a mini-lift and neck-lift have a proven track record of more than 20 years.
Before and After Face Lift & Neck Lift Surgery by Dr Hodgkinson
Whilst a facelift can be done at any time, it is important to time your surgery so that you have ample time off (at least a few weeks) to fully heal before returning to the rigours of daily life. That said, facelifts and other procedures, such as eyelid surgery, brow-lifts, neck-lifts and skin rejuvenation techniques like chemical peeling, laserbrasion and dermabrasion, are especially popular in winter. These procedures require the patient to reduce their exposure to the sun and this is easier to do in the cooler months. This exposure to the sun, however, if controlled does not preclude other seasons. Winter is also traditionally socially quieter than summer when holiday parties tend to take over.
Before and After Facelift Surgery by Dr Hodgkinson
Good results cannot be achieved at any age. Facelift surgery and its results are more dependent on the individual patient rather than the age. There is no more powerful tool than surgery to rejuvenate the ageing face. A facelift can give a dramatic reduction in your apparent age and make you look more energetic and enthusiastic.
A facelift can give you back your Mojo.
Many patients ask this. The S-Lift is a re-invention of a very antiquated technique of facelifting; one that was abandoned because it did not address the major problems of ageing which include laxity of the soft tissues of the neck and fat accumulation. The S-Lift is described as surgery for beginners and a technique which merely approaches the laxity of skin issue. It is commonly known that tightening the skin alone leads to unacceptable scars and extremely short-term results. Before and after results most often published show patients after only a few days or weeks. The plastic surgical community abandoned the initial facelifting techniques (which were introduced in the 1920s and 1930s and continued into the 1950s) to perform more thorough procedures.
With these early techniques, patients were dissatisfied with the fact that they underwent a surgical procedure with subsequent visible scarring and very temporary results. In the 1970s and 1980s, with the introduction of the more thorough procedures, it was established that by working first on the fat and the loose tissues underneath the skin to re-establish a youthful contour and then redraping the skin, a longer lasting, more natural and hence cost-effective result without the unwanted scars could be achieved. Dr. Hodgkinson states I am still following up the first facelift I did for a patient upon my return to Australia in 1990. This patient is still satisfied with her result almost 30 years later, because the issues and tissues of the ageing face were dealt with properly at the outset. I hope this explains to you what the S-Lift is and why I would never revert to a procedure which I know is a waste of a patient’s time, energy and money.
My interactive assistant will walk you through everything you should know about facelifting. Plus, you'll receive a special gift valued at $150!