With the facelift you will give your face a second youth
Facial aging appears with a speed that varies according to the person, his family predisposition and the lifestyle he leads.
It occurs in all the elements of the face, both of the skin and of the subcutaneous fat and of the deep muscles. The remedy to counteract its effects, however, exists: the face lifting or face-lifting. Let’s see how it works.
What happens to the face during aging
The sagging skin of the face occurs above all in correspondence of the nasolabial groove, that oblique fold that is located between the nose and the cheek. In addition to this area, aging also affects the folds on the sides of the mouth and forehead.
Over the years, the face begins to lose its youthful oval shape because the skin and underlying fat slide down to the sides of the mouth, widening the lower third of the face at the expense of the middle third. The eyelids also follow the same fate and often relax forming bags under the eyes; the same thing happens to the skin of the neck, which over time loses its tone to form the so-called double chin and two vertical lines that descend from the chin towards the base of the neck.
Even the subcutaneous fat of the upper part of the face (temples and cheekbones) undergoes transformations with aging, until it shrinks and gives the face, in the temporal region, a sunken appearance.
Due to gravity, the fatty tissue of the central and lower part of the face accumulates at the bottom, on the sides of the chin or under it. The muscles of the face also change, lose tone and relax following the lines of the force of gravity downwards until the sliding of all the tissues of the face is aggravated.
The consequence of all this is that the overall appearance of the face changes: the bones of the cheekbones remain devoid of the soft tissues that covered them and thus are highlighted in a different way. The bones around the eyes, those of the temples, forehead and jaw become more evident. The skin of the forehead elongates, the eyebrows slide down towards the upper eyelid and the eye. The central part of the face is emptied of skin tissues which, sliding towards the lower part of the face, accumulate there, making it widen. This new situation gives the face, even the mouth, a serious, severe, pouting look.
The youthful expression of the face is lost, imperceptibly but progressively from year to year, and the face takes on a different look and expression from the one it had. Furthermore, with aging, the skin thins becoming thinner and more fragile.
These phenomena can occur early in people who have suffered a strong weight loss or who are genetically predisposed.
The ideal intervention to remedy all these problems is the face lift. Here’s how it goes about acting.
What is the face lifting surgery (rhytidectomy)
Facelift surgery is one of the surgeries that has had the greatest evolution in recent years thanks to the progress of surgical techniques that have become more reliable and precise.
The modern face-lifting operation is not limited to acting on the skin, whose traction would cause a short-lasting and unnatural result, but also on the various deeper anatomical structures, namely the adipose tissue, the fasciae and the muscles, that in a slow but progressive way have changed their correct position and, consequently, that of the overlying skin.
The modern face lifting technique allows for very natural and long-lasting results compared to less modern techniques. The skin incision, depending on the case, can vary in localization and extension. It usually remains hidden in the hair of the temple and then falls immediately in front of the ear, masked in the first wrinkle of the skin: it goes around the ear lobe and goes up behind the ear to end up again in the hair of the retro ear area.
From this access route, the muscular plane of the SMAS (Superficial Muscular Aponeurotic System) is corrected to restore the right tone to the muscles that have relaxed. Excess fat is removed, especially that of the chin, to better draw the features of the neck.
The skin is placed on the face with the right natural tension, without excessive traction: only the excess skin is removed. The result is a more toned and youthful face.
The endoscopic technique for frontal face lifting is the most modern, most precise and least traumatic one. Thin instruments are used connected to a micro-camera connected to an external television monitor that allows you to view the details of the anomalies of the structures to be corrected.
Complications of face lifting, such as bruising or delayed healing of the skin behind the ears, are rare in experienced hands. Any sensory or motor deficits are usually transient.
Is a full face lift always necessary?
While it is true that sometimes a complete face-lifting is needed, in many other cases you can limit yourself to correcting only one part of the face with a mini lifting.
You can therefore choose to perform a “sector” face lifting to improve the appearance of the following areas of the face:
- Lower portion of face, neck and chin
- Central portion cheeks
- Upper portion of the face: it is a “brow lift” that corrects the eyelids, drooping eyebrows and reduces wrinkles between the eyebrows. It can be performed both traditionally and endoscopically (minimally invasive technique).
What precautions should be taken before a face lift surgery?
It is a good idea to stop taking aspirin and refrain from smoking for 7 days before surgery and up to 2 weeks after to avoid slowing down the healing process.
Can the face lift be associated with other face surgeries?
Both face lifting and mini face lifting can be associated with other interventions including:
- Blepharoplasty
- Neck liposuction
- Plastic to increase cheekbones (malaroplasty)
- Plastic to augment the chin (mentoplasty)
- Rhinoplasty
- Increased lip volume (chyloplasty)
- Lipofilling (fat autotransplantation with which the subcutaneous adipose panniculus of the face can be reconstructed to recover a young and pleasant appearance)
FAQ
Do you have any questions about face lifting?
Prima leggi qui.
A face lifting operation allows you to significantly improve the appearance of the face because it eliminates skin laxity due to aging of the face.
To understand the duration of the advantage that is obtained, the example of two twins is useful: one who has a facelift and the other does not. You will immediately notice the clear improvement of one compared to the other and the difference between the two will remain evident even 5 or 10 years after the operation: the one operated on will age starting from its improved situation, the other, not operated on, will get worse and worse.
The modern face lifting is much more effective because it corrects facial laxity on the fascia under the skin (SMAS). Operations and repositioning take place only on it: the skin is never split and rests on the face with great naturalness.
Very often the face lifting is associated with a blepharoplasty or eyelid plastic surgery to correct fatty bags, dark circles, skin laxity. It can be associated with the removal of the fat present in the double chin.
Very often it is useful to reintegrate the subcutaneous tissue that has gone into regression with a lipo-restructuring of the face according to Coleman in the region of the temples, cheeks. With this method it is possible to restore the adipose tissue which, with the passage of time, has been reabsorbed at the level of the upper half of the face, which gives the face a hollow, emaciated appearance.
Sometimes it may also be indicated to associate receding chin correction with mentoplasty surgery.
It is a good idea to wait 4 weeks before going out in the sun so that the scars have had time to heal and the swelling has subsided.
After the first few days in which the tissues will present a completely normal post-operative swelling, it will be possible to carry out any activity. It will be the surgeon’s responsibility to customize the rest period by correlating it to the importance of the corrections made.
The face will remain very natural because the corrections will be made by restoring the correct tone in the deep tissues that have relaxed over the years. The skin of the muscles will resume its natural appearance, without any particular alteration.
With the face lift you can give your face a second youth
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