Secondary facelifts are indeed gratifying procedures, and usually quite safe in the medically cleared patient. For patients your age, our practice typically would request you get a stress test, cardiogram, physical examination and blood tests.
The bigger question is how the secondary procedure is done. Often, after a facelift there are minor alterations of the hairline and ear area. If specific steps are not taken, these irregularities get worse.
The skillset for secondary facelifts (and many of the adjunctive procedures to offer the patient) are completely different from the first time surgery.
With secondary lifts, the goal becomes correcting of the hairline, tragus (bump in front of the ear), earlobe, previous scarring, eyelid shape, especially from prior lower eyelid surgery, and restoration of hair lost to prior surgery and aging.
Even more important than the corrective aspect of the secondary facelift is the volume aspect. Valuable volume lost to time will NOT come back by itself. It must be strategically placed in areas of hollowness, and readjusted from positions where the volume is detrimental to a position where the volume enhances the appearance.
Also important is the appearance and length of the upper lip, the earlobes, the skin surface itself, since all of these structures have been aging (and often lengthening) over time.
If you want to obtain your best result, your prospective surgeon should be comfortable with these concepts, and probably will bring them up at the time of consultation without you having to say anything.
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