Face-lift is a plastic surgery with a long tradition all around the world.
This technique creates younger and more vital appearance of the face and neck by removing the excess skin, tightening the skin and smoothing wrinkles. Generally it will give the face more youthful appearance.
This surgery can be combined with laser resurfacing (laser treatment of the skin contributes to its tightening and removes small wrinkles and undesirable pigmentation). Occasionally it is appropriate to perform the eyelids surgery after some time from the face-lift.
During the consultation the surgeon will consider the age of the patient, his or her skin elasticity or flabbiness and the extent of the wrinkles. It is also necessary to assess the general condition and psychological aspect of the surgery, i.e. what does the client expect from the operation.
The surgery is mostly performed under a general anaesthetic, rarely it can be carried out under a local anaesthetic and sedation/analgesia (the patient is intravenously administered analgesics and sedatives). The patient’s hair is washed (but not cut) and the operation area is sterilised and then the surgeon does an incision that starts in the temple area (hidden by the hair at this point) and courses perpendicularly down following the curves of the ear, then continues round the earlobe and up behind the ear before curving gently back into the hair at the beginning of the occipital area. Using these incisions on both sides of the face the skin of the face and neck together with the deep tissues is lifted form the base and can be remodelled and tightened and this will smooth the wrinkles on the face and neck. During the deep face-lift performed for long lasting effect, even the deeper layer is tightened. This layer called SMAS consists of fascia and facial muscles and its remodelling is very important for the result of the surgery and its durability.
Finally the excess skin is removed and the incisions are closed with stitches.
The bandages are removed 4 to 5 days after, the client may wash his or her hair and he or she is further treated without bandages. In the next 10 to 14 days all the stitches are removed. The healing process is highly individual, usually there is a little swelling around the face and neck and sometimes, tiny subcutaneous haematomas may occur. The slight pain in the operated area can be handled by common analgesics. The results of the surgery are visible in 2 to 3 weeks after the surgery.