No two faces are exactly the same, and neither is the method to rejuvenate any single face. The idea behind facial rejuvenation is to understand what makes your face unique and beautiful, and recapture your particular look. The appearance of aging develops because of two culprits. One is gravity. As our tissues (skin and the deeper substance) grow older they are not as good at fighting the force of gravity and our face therefore sags. A second, less understood culprit is volume loss. This is the amount of fat in our face, and it decreases as we get older. These two combine in many ways to give us each a distinctive older appearance. To fight back, since we know that gravity and volume loss cause the problem, the solution is to reverse both of these in just the right amount.
Volume can be added with many different products of your own fat. This is filler, which is filling in volume lost. Each filler has its own characteristic and different fillers may be used on the same patient, at the same time to create the right effect. The other method to reverse the aging appearance is with lifting. Face lifting, that is! Face-lifting has many different forms and shapes. The basic tenant of a face lift is elevating the skin and underlying muscle tissues vertically to counteract the effects of gravity. Some people think a face lift is simply making an incision and pulling the skin tight, but arranging the underlying muscle issues without altering the look of the face is where artistry and skill play a large part.
Face Lifts
Plastic surgeons have been developing face lift techniques for decades. These cover everything from small incision mini-lifts to major lifting of the neck and cheeks (including the eyelids and brows). Some of the major lifts can appear over done and stretched, (think Phyllis Diller or Joan Rivers). Many of these were done with older techniques and were done without regard to loss of volume.
Results we Want
When any type of face rejuvenation is done in the right proportion of lifting and filling, the final result will be a refreshed and natural appearance. You will still look like you, just younger, and certainly not different or stretched.
Face-lifting is about finding the right balance and proportion of filling and the direction of lifting for the skin and underlying tissues. This is the art of plastic surgery, and it's why we consult with patients ahead of time. It is your unique look that we are trying to work with, not a template based on a surgery. This means we look at the results, and make suggestions on what works best. Mini-facelifts have small scars (a bonus) and much work can be accomplished under the skin to create this rejuvenated appearance. The amount of skin raised and removed and the direction for recontouring and reshaping the muscles is customized to you. Each mini-facelift / rejuvenation is different and based on the a number of factors unique to your skin, age, and appearance. These mini-lifts can be accomplished with local anesthesia and the downtime can be very minimal (a major plus).
Not all surgeons are created equal
There are many non-plastic surgeons that have taken weekend courses to learn and market one type of mini-facelift (they have many names, each trademarked and wonderful sounding). These doctors try to apply it like a cookie cutter to everyone. Anyone considering this should consider if "one size fits all" is the right philosophy for their appearance. To us, it's a bit frightening to think of someone spending more time getting fitted for shoes than for their facelift!
