Question:
I am 51 years old and see other women my age who look much better. There is less wrinkling and their skin seems smoother and younger. I would like a face lift but I have some concerns about the procedure. Do you actually pull the skin away from the underlying tissues of the face? Will there be scarring that shows?
Answer:
Face lift surgery is very popular in patients in their fifties for a number of reasons. The most important reason is that there really is no substitute for the results that one can have in facial rejuvenation following a facelift. The key to a good face lift is to make sure that the patient looks natural after the face lift has been performed. I place my incisions into hairlines where appropriate, and behind the ears in order to camouflage the face lift incisions. The incisions, although well concealed, will still be present and need to heal for a couple of weeks when they become significantly less perceptible.
The skin is actually lifted off the face during a face lift, but, the pull of the face to reposition the skin actually comes from a layer of tissue beneath the skin, and the skin is simply repositioned along with this other tissue layer. You will likely have some transient numbness of the face following the face lift because of the new position and dissection of the facial skin.
Posted by Dr. Philip Schoenfeld