What is Facelift Surgery?

Facelift surgery (clinically referred as rhytidectomy) is a cosmetic surgical procedure, which facilitates lifting and firming of the sagging facial tissues to create a younger appearance in your face.

The surgery can reduce the folds of skin on the cheeks and jawline and other changes in the shape of your face that occur by aging. It also helps to remove excess sagging skin, smoothing deep folds, and tightening the deep facial tissues. A facelift surgery can provide a patient look not just younger, but simply “better.”

As it helps the patient turning to a younger version of him or herself, there is a popular talk; having a facelift works to “turn back the clock”

A face-lift won't remove fine creases, wrinkles or damages from sun exposure. Other cosmetic surgeries can improve the appearance or quality of the skin itself.

A neck lift (platysmaplasty) is often practiced as part of a face-lift to decrease fat deposits and sagging skin on the neck.

 

Which are the types of Face Lift?

There are seven types of facelifts.

1. Lower face and neck lift
2. Lower facelift and lower Neck Lift
3. Upper face lift
4. Suture neck lift
5. S-lift
6. Classic neck lift
7. Full facelift

1. Lower face and neck lift:

This procedure is adopted to improve the looks of the lower face and neck.

2. Lower facelift and lower Neck lift:

This type of face-lift focuses on the lower third of the face, along with a neck-lift to become neck and the face are match.

3. Upper face-lift:

During this procedure, the region of the face from the cheek to the jowls remains targeted. This forms the upper half of the face.

4. Suture neck-lift:

Collagen strips made from cow tissue finds use to reduce sagging tissue. Currently, it’s replaced by human tissue.

5. S-lift: This procedure is applied to who has sagging skin along both jawline and the top half of the neck.
6. Classic neck-lift:  People do the Classic neck-lift to get a sharp and youthful neck contour through removing sagging skin around the neck.
7. Full facelift:

Full facelift is best option for who want to tighten the skin all over his face. The neck-lift is also applied to ensure that, the skin have any difference.

 

Why it's done?

Face lift surgery is done to improve the appearance and shape of your face which altered due to aging.  When you get older, your skin changes less elastic and looser, and fat deposits become vary in different areas of your face, as it decrease in some areas and increase in others.

These age-related issues in your face that may be decreased with the face-lift surgery include as following:

• Extra skin a your lower jawline (jowls)
• Firming and sagging appearance of your cheeks
• Deepening of the fold of skin from the side of your nose to the corner of your mouth.
• Sagging skin and extra fat in the neck (if the procedure includes neck lift surgery)

A face-lift isn't a procedure for sun damage, superficial wrinkles, creases around the nose and upper lip, or irregularities in skin colour.

 

How can you know if face-lift is best option for you?

You might choose a face-lift if:

• You are getting self-conscious about the sagging skin of your face or neck.
• You wear turtlenecks and scarves because only you want to hide your aging neck.

• You feel when you see your reflection that your face condition makes you look much older than you are. 
• You experience that an old look is affecting your career or personal relationships negatively.

 

A good candidate for face-lift is who:

• Has realistic expectations from face-lift surgery
• Is healthy individual, People with certain medical conditions that can affect the healing or recovery can’t have a face-lift.
• Don’t smoke or misuse substances

 

If you have the following factors, face-lift isn’t best option for you:

• Certain Medical conditions: Face-lift surgery is won’t done, if you have a medical condition that prevents blood clotting. Other conditions, including poorly controlled diabetes or high blood pressure, may increase the complication of poor wound healing, hematomas and heart problems.

 

• Having Blood-thinning medications or supplements: Medications or supplements that thin the blood can result negatively your blood's ability to clot and raise the risk of hematomas after surgery. These medications’ examples: blood thinners (Coumadin, Plavix, others), aspirin, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), ginseng, Ginkgo biloba, fish oil and others.

 

• Weight fluctuation: If does your weight repeatedly gain and loss —  as it affect negatively the shape of your face and condition of your skin — the outcome of the surgery may not be satisfactory or may be satisfactory for only a short period of time.

 

• Smoking: If you do smoke, you won’t be able to face-lift surgery, because of smoking significantly raises the risk of poor wound healing, hematomas and skin loss after surgery.

 

How to prepare?

Firstly, you have to meet with a plastic surgeon about a face-lift. The visit may be as follows:

• Medical review and exam:

The surgeon will ask questions about your past and current medical conditions, past surgeries, past plastic surgeries, and complications from past surgeries, history of smoking, and drug or alcohol use. Be prepare to answer for all mentioned.

You may face a physical exam conducted by your surgeon; the exam requires recent medical records to ensure your ability for treatment.

• Medication history:

You have to share the complete details of all medications you currently have, including herbal medications, vitamins prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, and other dietary supplements.

The surgeon will collect photos of your face from different angles and close-up photos of some specific areas. The surgeon will also test your shape of your face, fat distribution, bone structure, and quality of your skin to find out your best options for face-lift surgery.

• Sharing Expectations;

You have to share with your surgeon the expectations for the results of a face-lift. He or she will show you how a face-lift will likely alters your facial appearance.  He or she will also held you understand what a face-lift doesn't change, such as naturally occurring asymmetry or fine wrinkles in your face.

 

Before a face-lift surgery:

• Wash your face and hair: You have to wash your hair and face using a germicidal soap the morning of the surgery.
• Don’t eat: You need to avoid having any type of food after midnight before your face-lift surgery. Drinking water and taking medications that have been approved by your surgeon is only allowed.
• Arrange someone for helping during recovery: Make appropriate plans for someone to drive you home after surgery and stay with you the first night after surgery, if your face-lift is done as an outpatient procedure.
• Undergo with medication directions: You'll be required to follow the instructions about what medications to stop having and when to stop. For example, you'll likely be asked to stop any blood-thinning medication or supplement at least two weeks before surgery.

 

How does the face-lift surgery work?

Face-lift surgery pulls back the flap of skin from each side of the face and tissues under the skin, and alters it to return the contour of the face. Before the sutured flap is closed, extra skin will be removed.

The face-lift surgery can be practiced in a hospital or an outpatient surgical facility. Generally, the surgery is done between two to four hours but might be longer if other cosmetic procedures are done at the same period.

 

Before the surgery:

In some cases, the procedure is done under sedation and local anaesthesia, which numbs only certain parts of your body. In other cases, general anaesthesia is used. It will render you unconscious.

 

During the surgery:

Commonly, a face-lift procedure elevates the skin and tightens the underlying tissues and muscles. It sculptor, remove or redistribute the excess fat in the face and neck.  After that, the surgeon will likely re-drape facial skin over the newly repositioned contours of the face, remove excess skin, and stitch or tap the wound.

The incisions for the procedure vary depending on the used techniques,

Options include:

• The traditional face-lift incision: This incision starts at your temples in the hairline, continues down and around the front of your ears and ends behind your ears in your lower scalp. An incision might be made under your chin to develop the appearance of your neck.
• The limited incision: It is a shorter incision starting from your hairline just above your ear, wrapping around the front of your ear, but does not cover all the way into the lower scalp.
• Neck lift incision: It starts in front of your earlobe and continues around your ear into your lower scalp. A small incision also is made under your chin.

 

After the surgery

After a face-lift, you may have the following:

• Bruising
• Swelling
• Mild to moderate pain
• Numbness
• Drainage from the incisions

 

Visit your doctor immediately if you experience the following:

• Breath Shortness
• Irregular heartbeats
• Pain in Chest
• Severe pain on one side of your face or neck within 24 hours of surgery.

 

The incisions will be covered with bandages to get gentle pressure for reducing swelling and bruising. There will a small tube placed under the skin behind one or both of your ears to drain any extra blood or fluid.

In the first few days after procedure:

• Rest with your head elevated
• Apply cool packs to the face to ease pain and reduce swelling
• Have pain medication as recommended by your doctor

 

What are the risks of Face-lift?

Like any other major surgery, the face-lift surgery can make risks. Some can be treated with suitable care, medication or surgical correction. Others are tong-term or permanent risks, while rare, can cause certain changes in appearance.

Major risks include bleeding, infection and an adverse reaction to anesthesia.

The other risks are as following:

• Hematoma: It is the most common risk of face-lift surgery. Hematoma is collection of blood under the skin that causes swelling and pressure. Hematoma formation is done usually with 24 hours of surgery, and it is treated promptly with surgery to avoid skin and tissues damages.
• Skin loss: From face-lift surgery, skin loss (sloughing) is resulted rarely, as it can interrupt the blood supply to your facial tissues. Sloughing is addressed with medications, appropriate wound care and, if necessary, a procedure to minimize scarring.
• Nerve injury: Rarely, injury to nerves, can temporarily or permanently affect nerves that control sensation or muscles. Surgical interventions may provide some improvement.
• Scarring: Face-lift Incision scars are permanent but usually concealed by the hairline and natural contours of the face and ear. Rarely, incisions can make raised, red scars. To improve the appearance of scars, injections of a corticosteroid medication or other treatments might be used.
• Hair loss: Hair near the incision sites may lose temporarily or permanently. Permanent hair loss can be treated with transplant surgery to skin with hair follicles.

 

After effects of Face-Lift Surgery

After the surgery, the patient will feel some degree of bruising and pain. He may have swelling all over the face for a short period. Experts recommend using cold compress to keep the swelling down. The patient must keep the face in an elevated position, while lying down. He need also to avoid engaging in hard work for the period of two to three weeks.

 

Results

After a successful face-lift surgery, your face and neck will turn to a more youthful appearance. However, these results are not permanent. By aging, the facial skin may start to droop again. Commonly, a face-lift result extends to at least 10 years.

 

Facelift Surgery Cost

The cost of Facelift Surgery vary based on the following:

1. The work amount needed to restructure the face.
2. The type of facelift chosen for treatment.
3. The hospital selected.
4. The room selected– simple or deluxe.
5. Fees of Doctors, anaesthetist, and dietician.
6. Fee for diagnostic tests.
7. Operating room as well as ICU charges.
8. Nursing fee.
9. Medicines.
10. Follow-up procedures.

 

Expert Doctors For You:

1. Dr Bulent Cihantimur

Aesthetic & Plastic Surgeon

Estetik International Health Group, Istanbul

 

Dr. Bülent Cihantimur, known as DoctorB, who is a world-popular, plastic and reconstructive surgeon, graduated from Istanbul University Çapa Faculty of Medicine, Bülent Cihantimur, MD specialized in Plastic Surgery at Uludağ University. As the result of years of hard work and dedication, his techniques and skills earned him much awards in the past 20 years such as; The Golden Bistoury Award, The World’s Best Plastic Surgeon and Medical Man of the Year Award in 2014.

He treats patients from all over the world and is a member of a variety of social organizations including ISAPS

 

2. Prof. Dr. Cenk Şen

Aesthetic, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon 

Estetik International Health Group, Istanbul

 

Prof. Cenk Şen is a prestigious Aesthetics, Plastic, and Reconstructive Surgeon having more than 24 years of great experience. His expertise lies in Rhinoplasty, Breast Aesthetics, Face Lift, lip dem, oral and neck surgery. He is well known for his scientific work in re-constructive surgery.

Prof. Şen received his medical degree from Hacettepe University Medical School. He then proceeded to have some expertise in plastic surgery at the Kocaeli University Medical School and Uluda, University Medical School.

 

3. Op Dr Azer Zeynalov

Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeon

Clinic Expert, Turkey

 

Op Dr Azer Zeynalov is one of the most popular plastic surgeons in Turkey, with more than 10 years of experience in the field. He graduated from Plastic Surgery Department Bezmialem Foundation University, and Medical School Azerbaijan Medical University.

 

4. Op. Dr. Attila Hacilar

Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeon

Clinic Expert, Turkey

 

Op. Dr. Attila Hacilar is renowned Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Specialist in Turkey, having more than 16 years of success full experience. Op. Dr. Hacılar completed his graduation from Uludağ University Faculty of Medicine in 1995, Op. Dr. in 2001, obtained his specialty at Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital.

 

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. How soon can I quit the hospital after the surgery?

You may leave the hospital within hours of finishing the surgery. The entire head and neck will remain wrapped in bandages.

 

2. What is the result after the Facelift surgery?

The result will be very good. Your face will change to youthful face with no complications at all.

 

3. What are the medications for Facelift?

Extra strength Tylenol is used for the pain. One-time steroid injection at the time of surgery will help ease the swelling.

 

4. Is facelift surgery is covered with insurance?

Typically, there is no insurance for a facelift or such like cosmetic surgeries. You might have an enquiry with the service provider who gives the health insurance whether they give insurance for a facelift.

 

5. Is there any alternative treatments are available for facelift?

There are alternative treatments such as acupuncture, hypnosis, massage, LED and thermage.

Thermage is a radiofrequency cosmetic procedure. LED is a pain-free process and an improvement on LED is the Intense Pulsed therapy that produces results for brown pigmentation and sun damage.

 

6. Are alternative therapies more effective in facelift treatment?

The alternative therapies do not produce the same effect as a facelift. They have different uses, and it will not make you look younger.

 

7.  Why it is advised to eat less salt before the surgery?

The surgeon advices you to eat less salty food. Because of having salty food make the body retains water, which will cause swelling and affect negatively the healing process.

 

8. How soon can I remove the bandages on my head?

You can remove the bandages the next day of the surgery. They remove all the sutures within 10 days. Within 10-15 day the bruising and swelling will turn to acceptable levels.

 

9. How long does the facelift last?

The effect of the facelift will long for 10 years. As this period is quite big, having the facelift once is enough for most people.

 

10.  I have lumps 2 months after the procedure, is this normal?

Usually, the lumps and swelling in the face will last for 3-6 months.  There for, you must live with it.