What is a facelift?

Facelift is literally lifting the skin on the face. The whole procedure of sculpting is done beneath the skin, and the skin is laid comfortably on the top. The excess skin is removed, but it is not pulled tight and it is not held up by tightening the skin. The whole work is beneath the skin with permanent sutures that hold it forever.


What are the benefits of a facelift procedure?

You will look 15 to 20 years younger with facelift. If you are in a job, or if you are public limelight like a performer or a movie artist, it can be very important for your career. When you do not have a job or you are retired, but you get up in the morning and you look up in the mirror, and instead of seeing a tired, saggy face looking back at you, you find a younger and more energetic looking face, that gives you the extra energy for the day. You will go out on things like kayaking and hiking and other things that you would not have done before.


Are there significant risks associated with facelift surgery?

No, not when it is done at the hands of an expert. The plastic surgeons that are always trying to push the limits, keep trying to find more long lasting procedures. But such procedures are associated with incurable complications, may be just 1% or 2% of the patients have such complications. But these 1% or 2% would have droop of the eyelids or droop of the mouth, and that is unacceptable. At our clinic we will not perform any surgery that has a possibility of any irreparable complication. The worst than can happen with the things that we do are all fixable. I don’t recommend the facelift where the entire facial structure is taken right off the bone and even though it may last longer, but 1% or 2% failure rate makes it not worthwhile.


What are the objectives of facelift?

The objective is to make you look and feel younger. And you do feel more energetic when you look in the mirror and you see a younger face looking back at you. So it is not just for the people, it is for yourself. It is disappointing to see if you are looking old in the mirror. You don’t feel energetic, you don’t feel like going out and doing active things. But if you see a younger person in the mirror, you go out and do active things that help to keep the rest of your body healthy.


What is the basic procedure of Facelift?

You elevate the skin in a facelift, and loosen the skin from the underlying structure. The lifting is done on the underlying structure, volume is added to the sunken cheeks, all the smoothing and contouring is done beneath the skin, and then the skin is just laid back down on top of that. So it is not the tightening of the skin, but the work that is done underneath the skin that makes it last longer.


Can I expect permanent results from a facelift?

No. There is no such thing as permanent results. What the facelift can do is turn the clock back by 10 years, sometimes 15 or 20 years. So if you are 60, you will look at least as good as you did at 50.  10 years later when you are 70, you look into the mirror, and you look like you did at 60. But if you do not like it the first time or the second time, you can always go back and have a touch up again. So you can have 3 or 4 facelifts over a period of 15 or 20 years. There are patients who had their first facelift 30 years ago, the second facelift 20 years, and a third facelift 10 years ago. Each time you turn back the clock by 10 years. If you start at 60, the facelift makes you look like 50. It is not necessary to have facelifts, but it depends upon your job, or your public profile. But even otherwise, it depends upon your outlook towards life. The facelift makes you feel younger, and you need not become a couch potato. You see a younger face in the mirror, and you feel like going for mountain biking.


Is there a common technique for facelift procedures?

The answer is yes and no. All plastic surgeons elevate the underlying structures, both the skin and the muscles. Then they lay the skin back, try to make a very fine line to make a hidden scar out of it, which usually is imperceptible. But some plastic surgeons tend to go deeper in an attempt to make the results last longer. Even though it is a laudable objective, but the deeper you go, the more likely the chances of having permanent, unfixable problems. It may happen only in 1 out of a 100, but that makes it not worth it. So we do not recommend the deeper dissections. But there are other less invasive procedures such as the string lift procedure. So there are very individualized procedures available, depending upon the needs of the patient. Everybody goes for what is actually the best for them.