Table of Contents:
Choosing the Type of Facelift for Your Aesthetic Goals
Using Dermal Filler and Fat Grafting for Facelift-Like Effects
Kelamis Plastic Surgery: Northwest Arkansas’ Foremost Facelift Surgeon
Facelift procedures are experiencing a surge in popularity as more people seek to rejuvenate their appearance and combat the signs of aging. With advancements in surgical techniques, achieving a natural, youthful look has become more accessible than ever. However, a facelift’s success depends heavily on the plastic surgeon’s skill and expertise.
Choosing the right surgeon is crucial to ensure optimal results and minimize risks. Kelamis Plastic Surgery, the premier provider of various types of facelifts in Northwest Arkansas, offers a range of facelift options tailored to each patient’s unique needs.
From traditional facelifts to other options like brow lifts and dermal fillers to achieve a lifted appearance, Kelamis Plastic Surgery is dedicated to delivering outstanding results.
Choosing the Type of Facelift for Your Aesthetic Goals
Facial plastic surgery has evolved significantly over the years, now offering more sophisticated and targeted solutions to address various excess skin and facial aging concerns. Modern techniques allow for greater precision, reducing the risk of complications and ensuring more natural-looking results.
Any facelift procedure should, by definition, always include lifting of the submental area (the area below the chin) and the remaining neck. With various types of facelifts, some techniques are designed to lift the lower face and neck, while others are more extensive and will also target the midface, upper face, forehead, and eyebrows.
Deciding which facelift technique is best for you depends on your goals. Some of the deeper, soft facial tissue starts to fall downwards as we age. Our skin loses elasticity and becomes lax. There is also a loss of volume to our deeper facial tissues. Proper facial rejuvenation involves restoring any volume loss, resuspending/lifting the deeper facial tissues, and addressing skin laxity by removing excess skin.
Full Facelift: Comprehensive Rejuvenation
Sometimes referred to as a “standard facelift” or “traditional facelift,” a full facelift addresses aging signs in the lower face and neck. By targeting the lower face and neck, as well as the corners of the mouth, mid-cheek area, and cheekbone area, this procedure will not involve lifting anything above the corner of the eyes.
The incision used for this cosmetic surgery must be extended above the crease in front of the ear by continuing the incision upwards into the temporal hairline or along the front edge of the temporal hairline; both provide very inconspicuous facelift scars.
Recovery from a traditional facelift typically involves some downtime, with most patients returning to normal activities within two to three weeks.
This facelift surgery will lift the lower face as well as provide lift and rejuvenation to the cheekbone areas, cheeks, and corners of the mouth, resulting in a smoother, more youthful appearance with restored volume in the cheekbones and a reduction in jowls and sagging skin. This is a useful facelift procedure to restore volume loss to the cheekbone areas, lift the corners of the mouth, and flatten out the nasolabial folds.
A full facelift is a generalized type of facelift. Still, terms such as superficial musculoaponeurotic system or SMAS facelift, deep plane facelift, biplanar facelift, and extended hike facelift are synonymous with a full facelift.
Lower Facelift: Targeted Results
A lower facelift, sometimes referred to as ‘mini facelift’ or ‘necklift’, is performed for patients whose concerns include their jawline, jowl formation along the jawline, and the neck and submental regions. It will not address anything at or above the corners of the mouth, making it an excellent option for patients whose primary concerns are sagging skin and loss of definition in the targeted areas.
A lower facelift will use an incision that spans from the crease in front of your ear and continues just below the earlobe and along the crease behind the ear. Liposuction is frequently used for additional contouring of the neck. This procedure may be combined with other facial procedures, such as eyebrow lifts, blepharoplasty, fat grafting to the face, laser skin resurfacing techniques, or chemical peels.
This procedure is ideal for younger patients with early signs of aging, such as mild sagging in the lower face and neck, but who do not yet require a full facelift. The ideal patient has experienced some deeper soft tissue descent into the lower face but has very good skin quality with no skin laxity.
Patients who undergo a lower facelift at Kelamis Plastic Surgery often experience a dramatic improvement in their facial profile, with a more defined jawline and smoother neck. The recovery period is similar to a traditional facelift, with most patients returning to normal activities within two to three weeks. The lower facelift is an effective solution for those looking to rejuvenate the lower third of the face and restore a more youthful appearance.
Minimal Access Cranial Suspension Facelift
Among the different types of lift surgery, the Minimal Access Cranial Suspension (MACS) facelift is a highly specialized surgical procedure that offers significant facial rejuvenation with minimal scarring and downtime. This facelift technique involves making small incisions in the hair-bearing scalp, through which the surgeon can lift and resuspend the deeper facial tissues without removing any skin. This approach is particularly beneficial for patients who do not have significant facial skin laxity but require a lift of the facial tissues.
During this cosmetic procedure, small incisions are made in the scalp. A special instrument is used to dissect the strong SMAS tissues overlying the facial muscle (the SMAS is the tissue layer that is lifted during any facelift). Special sutures are then passed from the incisions in the scalp into the areas of the face needing lifting, and the sutures are suspended down to the deep scalp tissue just above the bone. This is a very powerful way to resuspend the face and neck. However, no skin can be excised with this technique.
The MACS facelift is ideal for patients who have undergone a facelift in the past and are looking for a touch-up and those who want to avoid more extensive surgery. This procedure provides a powerful lifting effect for the face and neck, resulting in a natural, youthful appearance with less recovery time than traditional facelifts. At Kelamis Plastic Surgery, Dr. Kelamis is highly skilled in performing the MACS facelift, ensuring patients achieve excellent results with minimal disruption to their daily lives.
Other Facelift Techniques
Lifestyle Facelifts
In the 2000s and 2010s, a type of facelift marketed as the trademark “Lifestyle Facelift” (additionally referred to as an S-Lift – as in suture lift -, Quick Lift, and others) became popular.
It involved making several short incisions along the ear creases, with each incision being no more than ¼-inch long. Suture was passed into the soft tissues and tied, providing an immediate lift. These procedures are performed under local anesthetic and take about an hour to perform.
The good news is the results are immediate, and there is no downtime. The bad news is that the results only last about six weeks. These techniques fail because there is no tissue dissection and, therefore, no anatomic resuspension. The only method that provides excellent results, while only using small ¼-inch long incisions or smaller ones, is the minimal access cranial suspension as described above.
Eyebrow and Forehead Lifts
For clarity, the terms eyebrow, brow lift, and forehead lift are considered synonymous for the sake of this article. While not typically considered a facelift, a forehead and brow lift is a type of facelift—it lifts the uppermost part of the face, addressing skin laxity, repositioning the eyebrows, and smoothing the forehead contour. While not all patients will require a forehead or brow lift, those who show signs of eyebrow descent must have this procedure performed if undergoing a facelift.
Using Dermal Filler and Fat Grafting for Facelift-Like Effects
It is absolutely possible to use fat grafts and/or dermal fillers to achieve nonsurgical facelift results that lift the face. Dr. Kelamis will use fat grafting to the face during all types of facelift procedures to help replace any volume loss that occurs from aging. Again, as we age, our skin loses elasticity and becomes lax (as in loose skin). The deeper fatty tissues in our face start to descend downward (which is why we “lift” the face). Those deeper fatty tissues also begin to lose volume. Sometimes, it is not enough to only lift those deeper tissues. If they are volume deficient, volume needs to be replaced to truly rejuvenate the face. Fat grafting works very well during facelift surgery to achieve this goal.
Fat graft can also be used by itself to lift the face. The benefit of fat graft is that it is permanent (dermal fillers, with only one exception, are not permanent). Fat is obtained by performing a small amount of liposuction, typically along the lower abdomen. That fat is then injected into the deeper face compartments to restore fullness. This can be done while the patient is awake by injecting numbing medicine into the areas to be addressed. Another option is to have this done under anesthesia.
Another option is to use dermal filler, which is a hyaluronic acid polymer. Dermal filler is injected through the skin and into the deeper compartments of the face. It works by “pulling” water into the dermal filler compound, providing additional fullness. The amount of fullness you obtain depends on how much filler is used.
Dermal filler injections can be painful for several weeks but are tolerated well by patients. Dr. Kelamis believes that dermal filler is superior to fat injections for patients not undergoing a surgical facelift.
In other words, fat injection is best when injected during a surgical facelift. Dermal filler is best when injected in a patient who is not undergoing a surgical facelift. The patient needs to remember that dermal fillers are not permanent. The results will last over 18 months before the patient typically begins to see a small amount of volume loss. At that time, a smaller amount of dermal filler can be injected to restore the original fullness desired. There are some permanent dermal fillers. These are rarely used but are an option. Dr. Kelamis only recommends using a permanent dermal filler in patients who have already had long-term dermal filler treatment and are 100% certain that they desire those results permanently.
Kelamis Plastic Surgery: Northwest Arkansas’ Foremost Facelift Surgeon
Choosing the right facial plastic surgeon is your most important decision when considering a facelift. At Kelamis Plastic Surgery, we are committed to providing the highest standard of care and delivering exceptional results for our patients in Northwest Arkansas. Whether you are interested in a traditional facelift, necklift, MACS facelift, or our other options, our experienced team is here to guide you through every step of the process. Schedule a consultation with us today to learn more about how we can help you achieve your facial rejuvenation goals.