Have you always wanted to turn back the clock and enjoy a rejuvenated look? A facelift can restore your youthful beauty. If you are considering a facelift it’s important to understand your surgery, and be fully aware of the benefits and risks. So be sure to ask your plastic surgeon what to expect, before, during, and after your facelift procedure.
Why have a facelift
A facelift or rhytidectomy is a procedure that is done to soften signs of aging on the face and neck, and give the face a more youthful appearance.
Aging impacts everyone sooner or later, despite efforts at maintaining a meticulous skin care routine, and living a healthy lifestyle. Facial skin deteriorates over time due to factors such as sun exposure, gravity, and stress, resulting in wrinkles and fine lines, loss of facial fullness, jowling, and sagging skin.
A facelift provides an overall lift for the lower half of the face. It tightens loose skin on the face and neck, reduces the appearance of wrinkles around the mouth, and does away with jowls to create a more defined jawline. A facelift is often combined with a brow lift or eyelid lift to enhance skin rejuvenation results.
Preparing for your facelift surgery
Prior to facelift surgery, the plastic surgeon may ask you to undergo a medical evaluation and do some lab tests. This pre-operative assessment is meant to verify that you are fit and healthy, and have no underlying health conditions that could disqualify you from having surgery.
In the weeks preceding surgery patients are usually asked to discontinue taking medications that have the potential to prolong bleeding. These include herbal supplements as well as medications that contain blood-thinners, ibuprofen, aspirin, and Vitamin E.
Patients that smoke are advised to stop doing so at least 1 month before surgery and for at least 2 weeks after surgery.
In addition, patients should fill prescriptions before surgery so that they will have them easily available after the operation.
What to expect during facelift surgery
Facelift surgery is an outpatient procedure that is usually performed under general anesthesia or intravenous sedation. There are several different methods that can be used to perform a facelift, and the choice often depends on the patient’s facial structure.
While older facelift techniques focused solely on tightening the skin, modern facelift surgery involves manipulating the underlying SMAS layer. The results of the SMAS facelift look more natural and last longer.
The incisions for facelift surgery are typically made in the hairline starting at the temples, and then extend down the front of the ear and continue behind the ear to the lower scalp.
After the incisions are made, the skin and muscle are separated, and the excess skin and fat is removed. The muscles and connective tissues are tightened, the layers of skin secured with tissues, and the incisions closed.
Depending on the complexity of the operation, facelift surgery can take 2-4 hours.
After facelift surgery
There is generally some swelling, bruising, and possibly some numbness after facelift surgery, and this can last up to 2 weeks. Most of the bruising should resolve by week 2, but the swelling can take several months to settle down. The neck and sides of the face are usually bandaged to help reduce swelling. Bandages are normally removed about 48 hours after surgery.
The post-operative recovery time will depend on the extent of the facelift surgery. Light activity can be resumed within a few days of surgery, while normal activities can be restarted within 3-4 weeks.
Results of facelift surgery last for about 10 years.
A well-done facelift should not make you look different, but simply make you look like a more youthful version of yourself. In order to get natural-looking results it’s necessary to choose a highly skilled board certified plastic surgeon that has years of experience.
Are you ready to rejuvenate your appearance with a facelift?
If you are in the Walnut Creek and Greenbrae, CA areas, contact board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Aycock for more information on the procedure.
Call (925) 378-4168 today to schedule a facelift consultation at the Walnut Creek, CA location, or call (415) 862-7952 for the practice in Greenbrae, CA.