Face Lift (Rhytidectomy)

Click here to see Face Lift Before and After photos.

WHO IS A GOOD CANDIDATE FOR A FACE LIFT?

• Patients with loose and sagging skin of the face.
• Patients with loose hanging skin especially in the jowls and neck.
• Patients with a double chin or loose neck.
• Patients with excess fatty accumulation in the cheeks, jowls, and neck.
• Patients with sunken cheek pads.

THE PROCEDURE

• Local or general anesthesia can be used and it takes about three to five hours.
• A thin incision that extends from within the hairline above the ear, continuing in front and inside the ear, around the earlobe, in the crease, and into the back of the hairline. No hair is shaved.
• Excess skin is removed and the face is lifted and tightened.
• Deep layer surgery on the underlying tissue (SMAS) which is separated from the skin and lifted for important internal support that makes the facelift result last longer.
• Excess fat removed from under the chin.
• Small drains are in place for one day and are removed painlessly.
• A bulky dressing is removed on the first post-operative day.
• This can be combined with the eye lift, forehead lift, or other procedures.

THE RECOVERY AFTER A FACE LIFT

• You can go home after several hours.
• You can shower on the second day after surgery.
• Minimal pain that is mostly gone by the second or third day and easily controlled by medications.
• Swelling is mild to moderate for the first week, and rapidly disappears thereafter.
• Minimal bruising which peaks at two days then disappears rapidly by seven to ten days.
• You are able to apply make-up in three to four days and comfortably appear in public at that time.
• Resume many activities within the first week, and most by three weeks.
• Stitches removed first at four days and the rest at ten days.
• Able to return to work in seven to ten days.

THE RESULT FROM A FACE LIFT

• Very natural, rested, younger appearance.
• Lasts for several years and always looks better than if you did not have surgery.
• Beautiful and graceful, not a wind swept look.
• Natural and presentable appearance in the first week that continues to improve over the next six to nine months.