A tighter and more youthful face
How quickly your skin ages depends on your predisposition and your habits. Smoking and drinking, for example, have a major influence on the aging process. A facelift can be a solution in the fight against an older face.
A sagging jawline and neck often makes you look older than you feel. This is a good reason for a facelift.
Most common techniques
The choice for a certain type of facelift depends on several factors:
- the elasticity of the skin
- the degree of sagging of the jawline
- the degree of neck sagging and/or localized fat accumulation in the neck
- the advantages and disadvantages of the chosen facelift technique
- the risks associated with this
- the experiences of the plastic surgeon
Mini facelift
With the mini facelift you achieve a long-lasting effect. The plastic surgeon tightens some superficial facial muscles. This can be done by shortening the muscles. With special sutures, he can also tighten your facial muscles. They call this the MACS lift.
The plastic surgeon must take the neck into account. If your neck is too thick due to localized fat accumulation or if it has slumped too much, additional neck treatment is required. You will then receive liposuction in the neck. Or your collar muscles are shortened. Sometimes both procedures have to be done. Has your neck slumped too much? Then a total facelift is needed.
face lift
Does the surgeon expect that a mini facelift will yield insufficient results? Then he opts for a total facelift. That exists of:
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extensive skin undermining of your skin along the jaw and neck
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tightening your facial muscles
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removing excess skin after donning
Scars run in front of your ear, but also behind your ear and into your hair. You will also get a small scar just below your chin in the crease where the doctor tightened your collar muscles.
Anesthesia and operating time
A mini facelift is usually done under local anaesthetic. Such a treatment takes about 60 to 120 minutes. A total facelift can also be done well under local anaesthetic. Still, surgeons often perform this operation under general anesthesia, as the operation takes 180 to 240 minutes.
After the operation
After a facelift, the doctor applies a special facelift bandage. This usually needs to be left in place for one to three days. After that, you will need to wear a supportive facelift band for one to three weeks.
The stitches are removed after five to seven days. Drains, which are left in the wound area, should be left in place for a few hours to a day.
Complications
You will have bruising after a facelift. A hefty bruising occasionally occurs, fortunately wound infections rarely. Scientific studies show that smoking is a risk factor for the development of wound problems. Only the total facelift also carries a small risk of damaging part of your facial nerve. It mainly concerns the mouth branch.
The expected result
After a facelift, your face and neck may be somewhat swollen due to bruising and wound fluid accumulations. This disappears over the course of a few weeks. After six to twelve weeks, the end result can be clearly seen. Your scars may be a little red at first. Later, the scars almost always fade. Then they are usually hardly visible anymore.
You can consider treating the scars with silicone gel for at least three months. Your scars will then be red for a shorter period of time. The feeling disappears to a large extent in the loosened skin. This causes a strange sensation when touched, but fortunately it partly recovers over the course of a year.
With thanks to Dr. B. van der Lei, plastic surgeon, associated with the Medical Center Leeuwarden and Private Clinic Heerenveen.
