Facelift

Goals of Facelifts

The goals of most facelifts are to improve the appearance of the jowls and/or the neck. Depending on facial anatomy and your unique pattern of aging, some facelift techniques do this better then others. This is why the type of facelift must be adjusted to the individual. The Deep Plane Facelift is a very powerful and advanced face lift technique that is used to restore the jowls, neck, and midface to their youthful positions. Jowls form when the ligaments of the face become lax with time. Jowls can be quite noticeable and distort what should be a smooth appearance of the lower face and jawline. This has the overall effect of changing the shape of the face by giving it a more elongated and square appearance. This is a tell tale sign of an older face. The Deep Plane Facelift repositions the jowl to allow for a smoother appearing jaw line. Whereas most facelifts today try to improve the jowl by tightening the muscle layer close to the ear (quite a distance from the actual jowl), the deep plane face lift actually reposition the jowl at its point of formation. This illustrates the difference between a facelift that tightens and a facelift that repositions the deep tissues. The other benefit of the deep plane face lift technique is that it can restore the sagging neck tissues to their more youthful location. This corrects the so-called "turkey gobbler neck." Since we each age differently and may present for facelifts at different times, the technique is altered based upon the amount of neck laxity that is present. Another important area that contributes to an aged appearance is the malar region or the cheek pads. Starting as early as in our 30's the cheek fat pads ( mid-face begin ) to fall. This leads to the formation of the nasolabial folds (smile lines) and more importantly changes the shape of the face into an "older" looking face. Falling cheeks also make the lower eyelids appear longer and more tired looking. The deep plane facelift restores the cheek fat pads into a more youthful position. Improvement in the midface is a benefit of the Deep Plane Facelift over all other facelift methods. So our goals for this procedure are to: 1) Improve the appearance of the jawline by elevating the jowls and recreating a smooth jaw contour. 2) Restore the neck to a more youthful position, and 3) Elevate the midface. All together these changes will restore the face to its more youthful shape and appearance. The balanced nature of the rejuvenation provided by the deep plane facelift is one of the reasons that the results look so natural . In addition, the goal of the surgery is NOT to just tighten the skin or the muscle layer. The goal of the deep plane facelift is to reposition the sagging tissues to there youthful location, leading to the most natural results.