“Over time, you may develop wrinkles, sagging skin, and other skin imperfections due to ageing.”
Unsatisfied with how your face is showing obvious signs of ageing? Are these skin conditions affecting your self-confidence and quality of life? If so, you may consider a face and neck lift to achieve smoother, radiant, and younger-looking skin.
Face and neck lift procedure
These procedures help you achieve a rejuvenated appearance by tightening your skin. A face and neck lift restore your skin’s glow and beauty by removing loose, excess skin and fat deposits in the area. Whether your wrinkles are due to prolonged sun exposure or genetics, it can make you feel and look young.
For best results, these procedures are performed together with other cosmetic surgeries. During your consultation, Dr Anh will discuss the complete details of the procedure.
Depending on your facial structure and desired results, a face and neck lift can involve:
- Recontouring your jawline
- Removing excess fat from your neck
- Removing sagging skin
- Restoring volume to your cheeks, brow, and lips
- Tightening the muscles and skin in your neck
Am I a good candidate for a facelift?
In general, you are a good candidate for a facelift if:
- You do not have an extreme degree of skin sagging.
- You do not have medical conditions that affect your healing ability.
- You do not smoke.
- You have a positive outlook and realistic expectations.
- Your facial sagging affects your self-esteem and career.
- Your skin bounces back when pinched.
- Your skin condition gives you an aged, tired-looking appearance.
What are the benefits of a facelift?
This procedure can offer the following benefits:
- Improved appearance of many areas of your face
- Improved contour of the face, neck, and jawline
- Improved quality of life
- Increased self-esteem
- Long-lasting results (up to 10 years)
How is a facelift performed?
The facelift procedure will typically involve tightening loose skin, removing excess fat deposits, and repositioning the remaining skin to better define the patient’s natural facial structure. The surgery is usually performed under general anaesthesia. Once your skin is numb, your surgeon will create incisions at designated areas in your face. This allows your surgeon to reposition facial tissues and remove excess skin. Any excess fat under your chin or in your neck may also be removed. Your surgeon will then secure the position of your facial skin by using sutures. After closing the incisions, your surgeon will place sterile dressings over your wounds.
Your surgeon will perform the best type of facelift for your skin condition. These include:
- Cutaneous Lift: This procedure trims excess skin on your face. It is recommended for patients with sagging skin in their neck and lower face.
- Mid-Facelift: This technique treats the middle part of your face (cheek area). It is best done in patients with fat pads inside their cheeks.
- Mini Facelift: This technique makes use of smaller incisions to reduce wrinkles and minor to moderate skin laxity, usually focusing on the upper neck area and jowls. A mini facelift procedure is recommended for patients who don’t want or need to have a full facelift in order to achieve their desired results.
- S-Lift: This makes use of an s-shaped incision to tighten the muscles and tissues on your face. It is best performed in patients with sagging skin on the lower third of their face.
- Traditional Facelift: This procedure dissects your skin to allow tightening of the muscles. It is best performed in patients with moderate facial aging.
Dr Anh will assess your characteristics and consider your desired results during your consultation, which will help to determine the type of facelift technique that will work best for you.
What should I expect from my consultation?
The initial consultation can be daunting for you. It is only natural to feel nervous about revealing your concerns about your face and neck. Dr Anh Nguyen understands that you may feel this way and will try to make the process comfortable.
At your facelift consultation in Perth, Dr Anh will show you before and after photos of real patients. This will give you an idea of what the procedure can offer. These images also provide information about what the surgery can or cannot achieve. At the end of your consultation, Dr Anh will give you a detailed estimate of the total costs of your procedure.
Dr Anh believes that the decision to undergo cosmetic surgery is very personal. This is the reason why she recommends that you go find and seek the opinions of other surgeons. She respects your decision and wants the best for all her patients. If you want to go over things again, she will schedule a second consultation with you. This ensures that you get the best cosmetic surgery that will suit your aesthetic needs.
How much does a Facelift cost in Perth?
The total cost of a facelift in Perth with Dr Anh will depend on multiple factors, which means that the total procedure costs will be different for each patient.
To get the most accurate quote for your procedure, verify the total costs with your surgeon. During your consultation, your surgeon will give you a detailed explanation of what is included in the total costs of your procedure. As a general outline, the factors that are involved with calculating the total cost of your facelift procedure are:
- Your surgeon’s fees
- Assistant surgeon fees
- Hospital fees
- Costs of the anaesthetic used
- The complexity of the technique used
- Operating room fees
- Follow-up appointment costs
The total cost of your surgery may also change if you choose to combine it with other procedures. Usually, a facelift is performed together with a neck lift or brow lift to achieve better results.
Long-term results of a facelift
A study published in the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Journal in October 2010 found a high satisfaction rate among patients who had facelift surgery. Researchers reported that 97.8% of the patients who had the surgery reported an improvement in their facial appearance that was good or had exceeded expectations. After an average follow-up of 12.6 years, 68.5 % reported that the surgery made them look 10 years younger.
*Friel, M.T. 1, Shaw, R.E. Trovato, M.J. Owsley, J.Q. The measure of face-lift patient satisfaction: the Owsley Facelift Satisfaction Survey with a long-term follow-up study.
Plast Reconstr Surg. 2010 Jul;126(1):245-57. doi: 10.1097/PRS.0b013e3181dbc2f0.
Post-operative Instructions & recovery
After your facelift surgery, it will be important to rest, take care of your health and follow the instructions that will be given to you during your initial consultation.
Throughout your recovery, you might experience some pain, discomfort, swelling, numbness, mild bleeding from the surgical site, bruising, skin discolouration after swelling has subsided, and nausea. These symptoms should clear up as your body fully heals. If any symptoms become concerning or persist for longer than the expected amount of time after surgery, you should notify your doctor as soon as possible.
Dressings will be placed on the surgical site for about 24 hours after surgery. Dr Anh will instruct you on how to care for your surgical sites during your consultation, as well as how to monitor your health and support your recovery process.
Post-operative instructions may include to:
- Avoid strenuous activities and heavy lifting for seven to ten days
- Rest with your head elevated for one week
- Use cold compress, such as ice packs, on the surgical site
- Manage discomfort with prescription medication
- Avoid excessive sun exposure for one month
- Care for the incision sites as instructed
- Avoid colouring your hair or using strong hair products for six weeks
- Take antibiotics, if prescribed and instructed to do so
- Do not smoke for two weeks
- Wear clothing that does not need to be pulled on over the head
- Follow a healthy diet and stay hydrated
- Get at least eight hours of sleep per night
Surgery risks & complications
As with all surgical procedures, facelift surgery can be associated with certain risks and complications. These include:
- Allergic reaction to anaesthesia, sutures, dressings, or antibacterial agent
- Blood clot formation at the surgical wound
- Damage to the facial nerve
- Deformity of the earlobe
- Delayed healing
- Facial asymmetry
- Hair loss around the scars
- Heavy bleeding from the surgical wound
- Infection
- Nausea and vomiting
- Numbness in one or both sides of the face
- Possibility of another surgery to correct complications and poor cosmetic results
- Raised scars
- Reopening of the surgical wound
- Severe pain, bruising, and swelling
- Skin loss
Mini Facelift vs Full Facelift
A mini facelift is regarded as a less invasive procedure, correcting mild to moderate signs of skin aging, while a full facelift will generally create more drastic results for patients who will need more lifting and a larger amount of excess skin and fat removed. A mini facelift procedure focuses on the upper neck area and the jowls, while a full facelift can also treat the midface and the full neck.
Mini facelifts are more suitable for patients who have minimal skin sagging and skin laxity, requiring a less invasive procedure to achieve the desired results. Generally, a mini facelift is more popular for those who are experiencing the earlier signs of aging, while a full facelift is usually performed on older patients, however there are no age requirements for a mini facelift or full facelift. Mini facelifts can also be a good option for older patients who have previously undergone a facelift and wish to further improve their results.
Full facelifts will involve a longer recovery time, higher costs, and a more invasive method. However, the procedure will create a more dramatic difference for the patient and can create optimal results for those who require a moderate to higher amount of skin tightening and lifting. A mini facelift involves less extensive cutting during the procedure and smaller incisions can be used, which can create a shorter recovery time and procedure time.
Both the mini facelift and the full facelift procedures will produce long-lasting results and are designed to remove excess skin, tighten the skin and remove any extra fat deposits. Some patients may notice that the results of a mini facelift can seem to last for a shorter amount of time than results from a full facelift, but this will vary from patient to patient and will be influenced by factors such as how well the patient has followed skincare instructions after recovery.
During your facelift consultation in Perth, Dr Anh will choose the right technique for you, that will be best suited to address your needs and achieve your procedure goals.
FAQS
Most insurance companies cover procedures that are performed to treat a certain condition. This means that if your surgery is done for cosmetic purposes, you won’t be able to get any insurance claim. During your consultation, your surgeon may offer financing options to help you.
Like any other surgical procedures, a facelift may lead to inevitable scarring. During the procedure, your surgeon will create the incisions at hidden sites in your face. In this way, scars will be unnoticeable once your surgical wounds have healed. If your skin is prone to scarring, discuss it with your surgeon during your consultation.
Facelift surgery is generally safe but it does have its risks and complications. These include:
- Allergic reaction to anesthesia, sutures, dressings, or antibacterial agent
- Blood clot formation at the surgical wound
- Damage to the facial nerve
- Deformity of the earlobe
- Delayed healing
- Facial asymmetry
- Hair loss around the scars
- Heavy bleeding from the surgical wound
- Infection
- Nausea and vomiting
- Numbness in one or both sides of the face
- Possibility of another surgery to correct complications and poor cosmetic results
- Raised scars
- Reopening of the surgical wound
- Severe pain, bruising, and swelling
- Skin loss
A facelift is not a perfect procedure and has the following disadvantages:
- It will not slow down the effects of aging which requires you to have a secondary procedure in the future.
- The procedure cannot correct extreme degree of facial skin sagging.
- The procedure cannot correct sagging eyebrows, deep frown lines, eyelid creases, and wrinkles around your mouth.
- The risks and complications increase when you combine it with other cosmetic surgeries like a neck lift or brow lift.
- The surgery can take three to five hours to complete.
- There is downtime associated with the procedure.
- You need at least two weeks before returning to work and daily activities.
- You cannot have the procedure if you have very thin or dry skin.
To ensure a successful facelift surgery, your surgeon will ask about the following:
- Your mental health: This includes any history of depression, anxiety, or mental disorders.
- Your past reactions to medications: This will determine if you have any allergies.
- Your physical health: This includes your past medical history, lifestyle, and immunizations.
By assessing this information, your surgeon will be able to create a detailed medical plan. This ensures that your surgery will go as smoothly as possible.
Facial swelling and bruising usually resolve after two weeks. However, you may need to wait two to three months to see the final results of your surgery. During this time, the texture, sensation, and elasticity of your facial skin are back to normal.