Brent Moelleken, MD

We abandoned the composite facelift more than 5 years ago, in favor of the 360 Facelift concept.

The reason is simple:  the way the technique is described, a great alteration in the hairline occurs.  The composite lift is not done in a multiplanar fashion.  It is not possible to independently manipulate the deep tissues and the skin.  Rather, they are attached to each other.  Thus in order to elevate the deep tissues, the skin must rise as well.  This, in my opinion, raises the sideburn in an unsatisfactory fashion.  Women cannot grow a sideburn to compensate for its loss.  Loss of temporal hair and sideburn results in a prematurely aged appearance.

Modern facelifts incorporate numerous ancillary procedures as well, not just to tighten, but to replace volume.

The paradigm of just tightening a face and not restoring lost volume is, in my opinion, dated.

The composite lift is easy to perform for an experienced plastic surgeon.  It may not, however, be the best choice for the reasons above.

Experienced plastic surgeons will be able to show the prospective patient many short and long term results.  Every patient is, however different.  Their results are also different.  Identical twins who have very different exposures to the sun, for example, will have entirely different long term results.  And that is just one variable.