This blog post is an excerpt from Dr Barnouti’s book “Your Guide To Modern Plastic Surgery: How To Enhance Your Natural Beauty And Avoid A Plastic Surgery Disaster” which is available now on Amazon.
My face and neck lift strategies are based on the importance of shifting facial volumes rather than old-fashioned facelift techniques, which just pull back the skin. Restoration of facial volumes is more important than the amount of skin that is surgically removed.
The key for successful face and neck surgery is to rejuvenate the face while maintaining the same features. We do not need to change an individual’s features. We only need to refresh them.
Within these categories, I tailor the procedure based on the patient’s needs, as follows:
- Mini facelift – is sometimes called a Hollywood facelift. This procedure involves a small incision in the hairline only. Recovery time is two-to-five days.
- Short scar facelift – also known as an S lift or MACS lift. The incision is made at the junction of the ear and the side of the cheek but finishes at the earlobe and does not extend behind the ear. The recovery time is five-to-eight days.
- Full face and neck lift – also known as an SMAS face and neck lift. The incision is at the junction of the ear and cheek and behind the ear, creating what is known as an omega scar. This is a longer and more extensive procedure with a recovery time of eight-to-14 days.
- Total facial rejuvenation – this includes a facelift, neck lift, fat transfer, temporal lift, lip lift, skin resurfacing by laser or chemical peel upper and lower blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery).
Full face rejuvenation surgery can be performed under general anaesthetic and takes around four hours depending on the extent of the procedure.
With most facelifts, after making the incision, I separate the skin from the fat and muscle below. Fat may be trimmed or liposuctioned from around the neck and chin to improve the contour of the face. I then tighten the underlying muscles and membranes. Volume is usually added to certain areas such as the cheekbones for enhancement.
All incisions are closed using fine sutures.
This patient had neck and facelift surgery.
Better definition of jaw line.
You can see where the volume was added, enhancing this patient’s cheekbones.
