In today’s world, looking and feeling your best is a priority for many. This is why cosmetic procedures are becoming increasingly popular. Facelift procedures are one of the most prominent cosmetological procedures that help one gain back their young skin.
As you grow older, several signs of aging appear on your face, such as losing skin, wrinkles, etc, that impart an overall sagging appearance to your face. While for some people these are just the natural process, some are bothered about it, and reversing it can give back their self-confidence.
Whether you are seeking a facelift procedure or are simply curious to know about it, join us as we take you through the essential aspects of facelift procedures.
First of all, what is facelift surgery?
Face lifting, or Rhytidectomy, is a procedure that is performed to reduce the signs of aging. It proficiently decreases the signs of aging on the neck, and face. It helps to reduce the folds on the skin and lifts your sagging skin to make your face skin tight and young-looking.
It typically focuses on:
- Smoothing and rejuvenating your sagging facial skin.
- Softening deep fold lines that extend from nose to mouth corners.
- Refining loose skin and eliminating excess fat underneath the chin reduces the appearance of the double chin.
- Restoring volume to sunken areas and addressing fat loss
Signs that tell you, you need facelift surgery
- Visible signs of aging, such as sagging, deep wrinkles, and facial folds indicate that you require facelift surgery.
- As you age, there is a loss of facial volume, which results in a hollow appearance on your face. Facelift surgery can restore volume to depleted areas and create a fuller, more youthful appearance.
- The development of jowls along the jawline is another common concern of aging, and that might be fixed with the help of faceless surgery.
- Finally, if all of the signs of aging decrease your confidence, then this might be the perfect indication for you to get faceless surgery to bring back your youthful appearance.
Types of facelift surgery
Traditional facelift
The traditional facelift procedure targets the middle portion of the face, lower jawline, and neck; it involves making cuts along the hairline near the ears. The skin is lifted from the underlying tissues and dripped towards your scalp to give a tightened appearance. The muscles are being tightened over here and the excess fat is discarded. The skin is stitched or stapled to finish up the process.
Mini Lift
Mini lifts are a smaller version of the traditional facelift method. It mainly focuses on the lower face and jawline. The process involves making a comparatively shorter cut and also requires less time for recovery. The small cut is generally imparted on your natural line to keep the cut completely hidden. This procedure of facelifting is often advised to people with moderate signs of aging who desire just some simple improvements.
Mid facelift
This type of face-lifting procedure is also known as a cheek lift, and it targets the middle portion of the face, including the cheeks and the under-eye area. The process addresses the sagging cheeks, and hollowing under the eyes by lifting and repositioning the underlying tissues.
Lower facelift
Lower face lift procedures passively focus on the lower portions of the face, including areas of the jawline and the jowls. This procedure is ideal for you if you have minimal signs of sagging just in your lower face or neck areas.
Neck Lift
Neck lift procedure is also one of the types of facelift surgery. It typically involves lifting and tightening the neck muscles and reducing the excess fat in the neck area. Your surgeon will start the incision in the hairline and proceed down and around the ears, finishing it in the back side of the hairline.
Important Considerations to Keep in Mind Before Having Facelift Surgery
- Realistic Experience: The facelift procedure helps to improve significant signs of aging, but it will not lift the sagging eyebrows, eliminate deep wrinkles in the forehead, or modify your eyelids.
- Health Assessment: You should consider assessing your overall health and ensuring that you are a suitable candidate for the surgery procedure.
- Understand the procedure: Before undergoing the surgery, understand the procedure of the surgery, incision placements, surgical techniques, etc. This will give you a smoother experience of the procedure.
- Recovery timeline: A facelift is not just a cosmetic procedure but a surgery, and thus it requires a period for recovery after surgery.
- Results: The results of the procedure are not lifelong but are only expected to last up to 5-12 years.
- Though facelift procedures promisingly reduce the signs of aging, they don’t halt the process of aging. You may require proper intake of nutritional foods to keep check on the aging process.
Steps in Facelift Surgery
Facelift surgery requires some initial steps addressing specific signs of aging and is followed by actual surgical treatment to restore your skin.
Consultation:
The first step in facelift surgery is to consult a certified plastic surgeon. During this appointment, the surgeon will discuss your goals for the cosmetic procedure, medical history, etc. Your surgeon also evaluates your skin condition and overall health to find out whether you are fit to undergo such a procedure.
Treatment Plan:
After understanding your requirements and medical history and health, your surgeon will guide you through the procedure. Your treatment plan will be customized according to your skin condition.
Anesthesia:
As the facelift surgery requires an imparting cut on the skin, anesthesia is given at the start of the procedure to ensure that the whole process is comfortable for you.
Incisions:
After anesthesia starts to work, your surgeon will make a proper incision within the natural curve of your face, and hairline to minimize the visible scarring. In different types of facelift procedures, different incisions are made. In mini lifts, small incisions are made, in the neckline facelift incisions are made below the cheek, in traditional patterns, incisions are made along the hairline near the temple, which goes until the posterior hairline.
Tissue repositioning and tightening:
This is the step wherein your surgeon carefully lifts the incised skin portion and places it towards the hairline. Also, the surgeon cuts the excess fat and underlying skin to give a natural tight flat look. The pull of the skin is made in a horizontal direction towards the hairline. This allows tightening of facial jowls and improving the jawlines. In the neckline, platysma muscles are pulled and secured behind the ears to make the neck tighten. The excess fat and skin in these areas are also trimmed off to reduce the double chin area as well.
Suturing of skin:
Once the surgeon has performed the necessary pull of the skin, the skin is then sutured or stitched in the new position. Both absorbable and permanent sutures might be used by your surgeon to close or seal the skin. Sometimes staples are also used in the skin near the hairline to prevent any harm to the hair follicles. After closing the skin, proper dressing is performed to put pressure on the incision lines and to keep check of the infections. These infections rarely lead to inflammation and fluid collection which is avoided by proficient dressing procedures that don’t allow microbes to enter and cause infection.
What are the Potential Risks of Facelift Procedures?
- Anesthesia risk
- Bleeding from wounds
- Blood clots
- Pain or scarring
- Infection
- Swelling
- Fluid collection
- Hair loss at incision sites
- Facial nerve injury
- Skin color irregularities
- Prolonged wound healing
How To Know Whether You Are A Good Candidate For Facelift Procedures?
The good candidate for facelift must be:
- Healthy, without any major disease especially the ones that interfere with the regular healing process. Such as diabetics require a long time for wound healing and with age, it becomes even more difficult to heal wounds easily.
- Nonsmoker, as smoking slows down healing procedures. The toxins in the cigarettes reduce blood flow to the skin tissues which doesn’t allow proper healing of wounds.
- Optimistic person and be aware of the real outcomes of the surgery.
What to Discuss During the Initial Consultation with your Surgeon?
- Your expectations from the surgery
- Treatment plan
- Your Medical history
- Any Allergies to drugs
- Ongoing Medical treatments
- Recovery timings
- Tools used for treatment procedures
- Risks of surgery for you
- How will the surgery work for you?
- Discuss the type of anesthesia that will be given to you.
- Discuss previous surgeries you had.
- You may ask to see the photos of previous surgery pictures that the surgeon might have performed.
- Ask about the longevity of your facelift surgery.
You must also ask the questions during consultation to get to know more about the procedure from the Doctor.
What are the Pre-surgery Steps you Need to Follow?
- You will be asked to get a few medical tests and check up
- If you are a smoker, choose to quit smoking for a certain time.
- Stop the consumption of any drug which is considered abusive beyond the permitted limits.
- You might also be required to substitute your daily medications to reduce the chances of them interfering during and after the facelift procedures.
- Follow a proper skincare routine to prepare your skin for the procedures.
Additionally, you must follow the instructions that are given to you by your surgeon before or after the surgery. You must ask someone to drive you home after the surgery and also to stay with you during the time of surgery. Even after reaching home, you must have someone at least for 48 hours with you. In the cases of traditional faceless surgery, you might require even more care.
How to Recover Yourself Faster after Facelift Surgery?
- Post-surgery, your surgeon will prescribe you several pain medications as well as medications to prevent infections.
- Initially, you might feel a little discomfort while performing daily activities such as brushing your teeth.
- Do not forget to go for removing dressing and follow-up appointments on time.
- There’s a little bit of swelling, which goes down gradually and might take several months to get back to your natural skin.
- You must take a rest from your daily activities for at least two weeks. For exercising and other strenuous activities, you must wait until 4 weeks.
It’s better to discuss all of these recovery points as well the time you will require for healing from your surgeon as these might differ based on your skin condition and healing capabilities.
Your recovery area at home must have the following:
- Hygienic area and clean bed
- Ointments, and medications prescribed by your doctor.
- Magazines and books at your table allow you to be consumed during the recovery process.
- Thermometer to check your temperature.
- Cell phone or mobile phone within your reach.
- Clean towels and washcloths.
What Measures Should You Take to Make The Facelift Results Last Longer?
- Protect your skin from sun damage.
- Get ample sleep to allow your skin to rejuvenate.
- Get a proper nutritionally dense diet, including vitamin C in the proper amount, which allows you to keep the collagen fibers healthy to keep your skin tight for a longer time.
- Follow a proper skincare routine.
- Drink plenty of water.
The results from the surgery are usually as expected, but sometimes you might not get proper results and may require subsequent surgery for a more finished look. Approaching a proficient surgeon will decrease the chances of facelift failure.
FAQs
What is the best age for a Facelift?
There’s no such right age for a facelift. You might undergo the surgery in your 40s, 50s, or 60s depending on your aging signs. Some people perform initial facelift surgeries in their 40s and then get an update in their 60s. So, the best time for a facelift completely depends on your aging signs and health.
Does insurance cover facelift surgery?
Insurances do not generally cover facelift surgery. You will be required to pay it all by yourself. So, it’s best to know the details about the cost of the entire process.
What is the cost of a facelift in India?
While the average cost of the facelift procedure is 1.2-2 lakhs in India, it mostly depends on your skin condition, the cosmetic procedure followed will decide the final cost. Additionally, the type of anesthesia required, and post-surgery medications will also determine your cost of facelift surgery.
Why choose Bella Soul for facelift Surgery?
- At Bella Soul you will find Board-Certified Surgeons to perform your surgery. Their experience in performing facelifts as well as other dermatological treatments makes them the best choice for such precision work.
- A proper team to support and guide you through the procedure.
- The well-equipped dermatological clinic allows processes to be carried out with high proficiency.
- At Bella Soul, you get a personalized treatment approach that is specially designed for your skin and according to your health conditions.
- All the facelift surgeries are carried out at minimum cost in Bella Soul to procure the most cost-effective results.
So, are you Ready for Facelift Surgery?
In this guide, we have given you all about facial rejuvenation surgery. If you are seeking facelift surgery, have an open communication from your surgeon. Take your time to analyze your goals for the surgery, and understand the procedure and potential risks.
You must have an optimist approach and expect realistic results from the process. Prepare yourself mentally and physically for the surgery and give yourself time for recovery.
Consult our team today to know the best procedures for you and ways to get your youthful appearance back with this rejuvenating surgery.
