Things To Know Before Having A Face-lift

A Face-lift is technically known as a meloplasty (face-plastic) or rhytidectomy (wringle removal). The object of the Face-lift operation is to remove enough skin to make the face look younger. The skin is usually removed from the sides of the forehead, in front of and behind the ears and the upper back of the neck. Although Face-lift have been done for about 50 years in Canada, Face-lift was originally not much more than a "skin-lift". Face-lift has really only been in the last decade or so that asvances in surgical procedures have enabled people to have a more natural, less stretched look. Surgeons say that today Face-lift offers better longer-lasting results.

Eash Face-lift is highly individual operation, and the focus of the surgeon attention will vary with each person. The three basic areas that come in for attention are the upper face or brow area; the mid-face area, including the lines (or crow's feet) around the eyes and the nasolabial fold, which is the deep crease between the cheek and upeer lip; and the lower face, including a slack or jowly jawline and the fatty deposits and folds around the neck.

One of two important structures to play a major role in Face-lift surgery is the subcutaneous muscular aponeurotic system (SMAS). This layer, a combination of muscle and fibrous tissue, lies immidiately below the fatunderneath the skin of the face and neck. Underneath the SMAS is a space that aloows the facial tissues to gravitate downward with age, giving the face a jowly look. Until about 15 years ago, the space below the SMAS was never entered during Face-lift; then it was discovered that this area could be dissected to pull back the anchor of the muscles. Unfortunately a lot early SMAS surgery was overdone, resulting in a conspicuously tight look. Cosmetic surgeons today are more cautious but more tighten the SMAS to a degree , an operation they call a SMAS-lift.

The other important structure that forms the muscular parts of the SMAS is the platysma. This is the thin sheet of muscles extending from the collar-bone up the neck. The platysma is responsible for the cords that may show up in the neck and thay may also make the Adam's apple prominent.

Loss of elasticity in the sides of the brow stops the skin from recoiling after muscle contraction. This aloows the brows to droop at the sides, giving them an arched appearnce rather than the relatively straighter lines of youth. Extending a Face-lift high into the temple can compensate for the drooping side of the brow, providing the temporal hair can be aesthetically lifted.

The wrinkles on the lips and the ingrained ones at the corners of the mouth cannot be removed by a Face-lift, although the corner of the mouth can be helped by what is called an extended (or super) SMAS-lift, and some cosmetic surgeons use synthetic implants to smooth out lip wrinkles. Wrinkles around the eyes, or crow's feet, can be lessen to some extent by a separate procedure. A brow-lift can ease the wrinkles on the brow. However, some wrinkles will appear naturally when muscles move to animate the face. A Face-lift cannot restore elasticity, so it is impossible to eliminate wrinkles completely.

Some people, particularly those with active and strong pltysma muscles, may end up with "rearranged" neck skin. Muscles contraction causes a bow-stringing effect in which the skin is stretched across. When the skin is stretched in one direction, it automatically shortens in the other (like bias binding). But when the skinhas lost elasticity, it cannot spring back, shortening the dimension diagonally and lengthening it vertically. This results in a band of skin running from the chin to the lower neck. A Face-lift can reduce loose skin in the neck but cannot remove the creases in the neck, which are normal and present from childhood.

A Face-lift is often done in conjunction with other cosmetic procedures such as rhinoplastu, brow-lift, blepharoplasty, chin or cheek implants or liposuction (particularly in the neck area). However, there is a limit to the amount of time you can be kept comfortable on an oparating table, so the procedure of Face-lift may have to be done in two or three stages. The decision will depend on the complexity of the operation.