FACELIFT & NECK LIFT

The goal of the face-lift and neck-lift is to restore the facial appearance to match our body image. Facelifts can also give visual impact to a face that never had it. When performed well, the face-lift looks more like a well-deserved vacation than a tropical windstorm.

As in any medical intervention, we begin by identifying the problem. Your opinion is what ultimately counts. You need to say what bothers you. Sometimes, the cause of a given feature might not be obvious to you. That’s when the knowledge, experience and critical appraisal of a plastic surgeon helps define the problem. We analyze feature by feature, beginning at the top of your head and working down the neck. We look for the continuity of features. Restoration of the neck could be performed while only addressing the neck. More commonly the best solution involves the face too. An isolated cheek lift might sound like a good idea, but we have to consider what happens to the neighboring structures such as the lower lid and the jawline.

Restoration is more than skin deep. A facelift is not a skin operation. We have to consider the underlying muscles, fat, and bone. How does one tissue sit on another? The best corrections require a creative application of various techniques. Some fat is removed, some fat is rearranged, and some fat is reintroduced. We refer to the movement of tissues as vectors, or directed forces across an area. We want to stabilize our tissues so that relapse is uncommon. We may augment some tissues to simulate what was once there but went away, or to reinvent some feature that we never had.