What is a Facelift?

You may have asked yourself, "If I feel so good, why should I look so old?" and indeed you don't have to. For the patient who is showing signs of aging or appears prematurely aged, the appearance clock can be turned back fifteen to twenty years, looking younger without tell-tale signs of having had a facelift. A well performed anatomic operation using the most advanced scientific techniques is the most predictable means of restoring the appearance of youthfulness. Without question, the younger you go, the longer it will last.

The Procedure

There are a number of different techniques currently being promoted for facial rejuvenation; however all techniques do not provide the same result. To avoid confusion you need to know the pros and cons of each operation before making a decision. Beware of "quick fix" approaches with extravagant promises. If it sounds too good to be true, you can rest assured that it is. You should be aware of procedures which can make you look like a different person. There are enough high profile celebrities who look so different as to underscore this word of caution. At the Fairbanks Plastic Surgery Center, state-of-the-art techniques are employed to provide you natural, youthful, and long lasting results, while continuing to look like yourself.

Despite the variety of procedures promoted for facial rejuvenation, if you choose a procedure that provides limited results and does not meet your expectations, you will make a significant expenditure for a profound disappointment. A "mini-lift" by any other name is still a mini-lift and will still give you a mini result. Easy to do, but low yield quickie lift operations are anything but new, even though they may be promoted as the "latest thing." "Mini" facelifts have been done since the 1920s; they are generally performed today by practitioners of limited training. Facial rejuvenation has advanced far beyond the less-than-adequate forms of face lifting, and the patient needs to be adequately informed about what is available to them before making a decision.

Facial rejuvenation surgery must not be confused with facial resurfacing (laser, chemical peel, or dermabrasion). Facial resurfacing refers to skin surface destruction modalities, which heal on the surface only. These modalities are in an entirely different category. Facial resurfacing procedures, while beneficial in many cases, cannot be expected to attain the degree of rejuvenation that a well-performed anatomic surgical facelift operation can achieve.

Paramount for success, the operation needs to be predictable and avoid the tell-tale signs of a face lift. Only a natural looking younger appearance should be acceptable to you. The operation must be performed with the utmost care; your surgeon must be an expert in facial anatomy in order to protect essential facial structures. Typical give-away-signs of a less than desirable facelift include a tight, stretched, or unnatural look, loss of sideburn hair, pulled or stretched earlobes, obvious scars, hair loss behind the ear, and disfiguring large stitch or staple marks, all of which require innovative hair fashions to hide. Such stigmata can be avoided. The techniques practiced at the Fairbanks Plastic Surgery Center are designed specifically to avoid these tell-tale signs of facelift surgery.

Because the overlying skin follows the deeper structures, when the deep structures are tightened (an internal or deep plane facelift) the surgeon can remove more skin with less tension on the skin. Far superior results can be achieved as compared to older and less predictable operations where all the tension was placed on the skin. The result is predictable greater rejuvenation without a tight, stretched, or unnatural look. The anatomic deep plane (internal/biplanar) facelift represents the highest standard of facial rejuvenation against which all other facial rejuvenation operations need to be compared. The deep plane approach predictably takes off more years than other operations. Special techniques are used to minimize bruising and swelling. Patients can generally plan to resume public appearance in 12-14 days.