What a Facelift Can & Can't Do
In this set of videos we are going to talk about what can and can not be achieved through facelift surgery, we're also going to discuss the keys of getting a great result.
The typical age related changes to facial features include the following, in a lower face jowl formation, poorly defined jaw line, an obtuse or mento-cervical angle and marionette lines.
In the neck, certainly skin laxity in the neck which contributes to a poor neck angle as well as fat deposits. In terms of the neck, we're usually seeing skin laxity or laxity of the platysma muscle and sometimes accumulation of small amounts of fat in the neck as well.
I think it is important to mention the things that are not improved by a face lift surgery. These include areas of skin laxity or descent of some of the tissues around the eyes and that's addressed through blepharoplasty or a brow lift surgery if needed.
Also, dynamic wrinkles around the eyes are not improved with facial surgery, but these are well treated with medications like Botox. Some of the skin folds in the face, particularly the nasal labial folds are probably addressed well with filler materials and are probably not improved that much with a face lift. The marionette lines however, which are further down are often nicely improved with a face lift.The surface layer of the skin can appear wrinkled and this is usually skin that has been damaged by sun damage. This is not addressed by a face lift but is improved by chemical resurfacing or laser resurfacing of the skin.
Patients having facelift, browlift or eyelid lift surgery will often have botox and fillers in conjuction with skin resurfacing to achieve the optimal improvement.