Does Facelift surgery really work?

A real facelift really works but a fake facelift never works. So, in today’s plastic surgery world, there are a lot of alternatives to facelifting. And, many of these alternative techniques do not work in reality. What really works is a real facelift surgery or a combination of mid facelift, lower facelift or neck lift in the hands of a surgeon who knows how to perform a real facelift. Other than that, some alternative treatments such as thread lifting, is only a temporary solution to a sagging face. Only real techniques give real results.

Will facelift surgery help getting rid of the wrinkles around the face?

This depends on what type of wrinkles we are talking about. If we’re speaking of some fine wrinkles and mimic related crow’s feet, frown or forehead wrinkles facelifts generally are not capable of getting rid of these wrinkles. Even after a facelift, the patient might need some touch ups.

The facelift surgery generally does not completely get rid of these kind of wrinkles however there are some type of wrinkles that facelift procedures can get rid of. For example, wrinkles around the neck, wrinkles around the mid face or the nasolabial folds can improve with facelift procedures. After performing a facelift surgery, I genereally prefer to employ some additional fine-tuning procedures in order to get rid of the the fine wrinkles in the face.

Another area of wrinkling which does not benefit a lot from facelift is the lip. So the lip wrinkles, which we call the ‘barcode lines’ (the vertical lip lines) generally don’t heal with facelift procedures and then they necessitate some other additional procedures like fillers or fat injection or lasers. So, if we’re talking about a complete facial rejuvenation, facelift is of course the main part of it all, however we need the complementary applications like injectables, lasers and mesotheraphy in order to end up with perfect results rather than good.

Can facelift surgery go wrong?

Of course, just like any other surgery, facelifts have a probability of ending up with complications. In order to avoid these complications, the surgeon should select the patient very carefully and as long as the correct patient is matched with the correct techniques, the risk of complications decrease.

What can go wrong during or after a facelift surgery?

Depending on the depth and extent of the procedure, nerve injury and wound healing problems are the most common complications of face lifting. In order to avoid nerve damage, a surgeon can prefer to stay above the nerve level can perform a mini or superficial facelift, however in many cases, this mass layer should be elevated and the level underneath this mass should be exposed for obtaining a proper lift. This area is where the facial nerve branches are present and the surgeon should have a vast knowledge of anatomy in order to master the correct surgical dissection planes in this area.

Another complication that needs to be mentioned is wound healing and/or skin circulation issue. Skin circulation problems are generally caused by extensive subcutaneous dissection or can patient related such as smoking or some vascular diseases. Smoking is a very important negative factor in facelift and smokers should be very careful and think twice before going for a facelift surgery. There is one more problem that needs to be highlighted is the insufficient results of a facelift surgery. Generally this is due to limited dissection of the layers of the face (mass) which can jeopardize the outcome.

On the other hand, the facelift complications can be related to the surgeon’s skills as well. For example, if the the operation ends up with a pixie ear deformity or the loss of tragus, we can simply tell that the certain phase of this surgery has not been done properly. The best thing you can do to avoid complications is discussing whatever you’re going to go through in depth with your surgeon and optimizing your health, such stop smoking&drinking etc and of course you should have very good control of your blood pressure in the early post-op. This is something that can be done at the hospital but if you already have an existing high blood pressure problem you should have it checked once again before going through facelift surgery.

Can injectable fillers complement a facelift?

Injectable fillers can be complementary after facelifts. Fillers are very versatile while correcting some minor deformities and little depressions and it helps doing some fine tuning after a facelift procedure.