Facelift to Reduce Appearance of Facial Scars?

The ability to pull the skin tightly with your fingers is greater than the ability of a facelift to achieve the same effect on the scars. Although a skin only facelift might leave the scars less visible for a relatively short period of time, as time passes and the skin relaxes, the scars will be evident once again, except now you will also have the facelift scars. I cannot recommend a facelift in your case.

Facelifts do not improve acne scars or scars within the face.  Facelifts are designed to reposition the deeper tissues of the face and neck.   Early on in the recovery period of a facelift, it will appear that the facial (acne) scars are minimized.  This is most likely from swelling.  Long term follow up will ensure that the scars are still present and have not changed. Seek opinion from an expert in facial scars  or acne scars. 

You are young and have very little facial laxity. The best treatment for your scars in Non-ablative Erbium laser resurfacing as I mentioned in another article. When you are in your 50's if your face becomes lax and the lax skin caused the scars to have a dark shadow, then the facelift may reduce the shadows by tightening the skin.

See a good, experienced plastic surgeon or dermatologist to evaluate your options. I think you would be very disappointed with the results of a facelift . 

I have had occasion to perform a facelift for improvement in acne scars and I would estimate that it achieved a 50% improvement. Fat injection also seems to be a beneficial procedure. However, traumatic lacerations may not necessarily respond to a face lift procedure and may respond better to direct or local treatment

In your case the pictures were extremely helpful. The most noticeable scar is the left nasolabial groove scar. The vertical scar on left upper lip and horizontal scar on the right upper lip are not as bad. Solution: 1. Direct skin excision within in the left nasolabial groove, everting skin edges, six weeks later dermabrasion. 2. Direct excision of the right upper lip horizontal scar and the vertical scar on left upper lip. Six weeks later dermabrasion. Here is an alternative to #2 choice;... more

Sorry about your accident. Scars are best treated directly. Facelift will improve the shape of your face and is best for someone who is aging. While facelift does tighten skin somewhat, this will only be temporary and relax in the first few months. The direction and location of the "pull" in a facelift are from the ears. This is too far away to have any effect on the skin of your lips. I think you can improve the scars with direct scar revision. This would require a closer... more

The facelift operation achieves facial rejuvenation by repositioning tissues deep to the skin into their more youthful position, and unfortunately would not have the effect you desire. Yes, some skin is removed that can produce a temporary tightening effect akin to what you see when you tug on your face, but this is temporary and not a long term effect. Treatment of your scarring is probably best achieved with the modern regimen called 'scar revision' which includes re-excision,... more

Scarring on the face can be approached throught several means. SOmetimes a simple scar revision can be performed. If there is a pigment issue lighter/darker, lasers can sometimes help but also tattooing for hypopigmented areas.  WIthout a physical exam, it is difficult to say specifically.

Dear Areta, All of us share in your frustration and as well meaning as we are, you can readily see that there is no single agreed upon solution to your problem. I do NOT think a laser nor a facelift are the answers to your question. A facelift will smooth tissue in the lateral neck and lateral face but do little to the area of the upper lip. All of us of a certain age reading your post must have nodded as you quoted - Sharplan - (Ultrapulse) - Fraxel etc since you cited the evolution of CO2... more

There is hope for improving your scars but a facelift probably isn't going to do what you want. I note that when you are pulling on the skin in the pictures, you are actually pulling downward which isn't what would be done in a facelift. My recommendation would be do do the simple things for now like injectable fillers, perhaps touch-up laser around the scars, and wait for better options to come along. One possibility in that category is compounds under study that may be able to... more

I am sorry about your accident. A facelift works by tightening the muscles underneath the skin, you are correct that it does stretch the skin somewhat, inevitably this is a temporary effect that will not be long lasting. On viewing your pictures, your scar above you left upper lip appears to be quite depressed. This is not unusual considering the mouth and lip moves a lot which decreases the ability for these scars in these areas to heal well. You need a formal scar revision to get this... more