Question:
I am a 60-year-old woman who wants to get a facelift, but is scared of stories I’ve heard. My friend who had the procedure has a ‘windswept’ and very unnatural look post-surgery. How do you avoid this occurrence?
Answer:
Facelift surgery has been around for many years. The techniques and ultimately the results of facelifts that were performed 25 years ago are different than the results of a facelift that you should expect today. In the past, the pull of the facelift would come from literally pulling the skin of the face in a backward direction. The result of the pull of the skin of the face in this direction was a “windswept” look to the face. Over the past several years, what we have learned is that the facelift should replace the skin not so much in a backward direction, but, in more of an upward anti gravitational direction which results in a natural appearance to the face after facelift surgery and not the unnatural and stigmatized appearance we have seen before. The other things we have learned about facelift surgery is that the pull and tension of the facelift cannot be on the skin. There is a layer of tissue beneath the skin called the SMAS. The SMAS is a very strong layer of tissue that runs right below the skin. What we have learned over the years is that the pull of a facelift should be on this SMAS tissue layer and the skin should simply be redraped without any tension in an upward direction. Applying these principles to the facelift will avoid the traditional sequela of a facelift and leave you with a natural appearing face
Posted by Dr. Philip Schoenfeld