There are many non-surgical facelift options for facial rejuvenation

Sanjay Grover, MD answers: What is the best alternative to a face lift?

rather than get face lift i would prefer a nonsurgical treatment. what do the doctors say works best for sag in jowls and loose neck skin. 


Sanjay Grover, MD
29 days ago

A 'Liquid Facelift' is a nice non-surgical alternative to a facelift, especially when combined with different skin tightening lasers. A Liquid Facelift may include Botox along with dermal fillers such as Juvederm, Restylane, or Radiesse. However, realize this is still not the same as a true surgical full facial rejuvenation procedure such as an endoscopic browlift, upper and lower blepharoplasty (eyelid tuck) and a facelift or necklift.  Many surgical patients benefit from non surgical options in addition to their surgical procedures.

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A: The long journey to beautiful skin

Brent Moelleken, MD
13 months ago

Easy things you can do:

1. Don't smoke. Smokers appear years older than their non-smoking piers.
2. Avoid sun. Sunscreen applied once to twice daily reduces sun exposure, but probably only 80%. Golfers, horse riders, swimmers, tennis players especially beware: cover up as much as possible with hats and long sleeves in addition to using sunscreen.
3. Use a good and regular skin care regimen daily to exfoliate
4. Exfoliate monthly with a facial or microdermabrasion
5. Ask your doctor if you are a candidate for Retin-A or a related topical compound, tailored for your skin type
6. Watch your weight and exercise regularly. Yo-yo diets and weight gain/loss stretches the skin
7. Eat foods high in antioxidants and fresh vegetables and fruits. Avoid procedded foods, fast foods, high sodium foods
8. Avoid excessive drinking and drugs. In addition to the obvious effects, these vices can cause great fluid shifts within the body-- every heard of the bloated drunk?

Now for some of the more involved treatments:

1. Botox and filler at a young age when wrinkles start to appear. Try to stick to hyaluronic acid products; much less tendency to lumpiness that can be permanent (in my humble opinion)
2. Small surgeries when problem start to arise that aren't correctable with filler and Botox, i.e. eyelids, lateral browlifts, LiveFill, subtle minimal incision cheeklifts
3. PhotoFacial treatments. Some patients like Thermage/ReFirme, fractional lasers as less invasive methods which give more subtle results.
4. Beware of gimickry such as lasers that do everything, no incision weekend techniques. Almost every treatment looks better for a few months, then the swelling goes away (and so does your money). Threadlifts also in this category, in my opinion. We routinely remove threadlift materials when patients come in for their minilifts or facelifts.

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A: Try a Liquid Face Lift

Lorrie Klein, MD
12 months ago

The Liquid Face Lift is a painless, 30 minute, in-office procedure usually performed by a physician very experienced in filler and BOTOX injections. Utilizing various fillers and Botox Cosmetic, a Liquid Face Lift (LFL) can rejuvenate and lift your face to create a naturally younger look.

A LFL can:
Fill in wrinkles and folds, such as smile lines and marionette lines.
Smooth out frown lines, crows feet and forehead lines
Enhance and lift cheeks.
Restore volume to flattening and sagging areas.
Lift eyebrows up to their youthful position.
Hide bags under eyes.
Reduce jowls and create a straighter jawline.
Plump lips and smooth out lip wrinkles.
Lift up sagging corners of the mouth.

I recommend you have a consult with an experienced dermatologist or plastic surgeon who performs this technique to see if you are a candidiate.

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A: Ribbon/Silhouette Threadlift combined with other small ancillary procedures give the best results .

David Hansen, MD
12 months ago

We live in a great time. There are so many alternatives to facelifts but a good real facelift surgery is still the best if you can afford the downtime and the $25,000 fee.

I like the Ribbon/Silhouette Threadlifts as my choice for saggy skin of the cheeks and jowls ($3500-5000) done under local anesthesia and back to work in a couple of days. These are a big improvement over the initial thread lifts of yesterday, which didn't do so well.

I also supplement the lifts with a little jowl liposuction if needed ($1500) and various fillers for the under eyes and frown lines (juvderm $550/syringe), collagen for crows feet ($450/syringe), Radiesse ($850/syr) or Artefil ($1500/syr) for nasolabial grooves.

Juvederm fills the lips nicely for a temporary filler and Verafill does great for a permanent yet reversible lip filler.

TCA peels do a great job of refreshening the whole face up nicely ($1000-1500 face) and Botox works for the dynamic creases of the face ($300-800). I don't care for fat injections much since they don't seem to last very long and tend to leave lumps and bumps as they disappear.

Also, I don't tend to recommend Thermage or Titan procedures since many patients are disappointed with the lack of results. Almost everybody needs a combination of various procedures to give them better results and we are so fortunate to have so many options at our disposal today.

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A: Non Surgical Face Lift

Payman Simoni, MD
16 months ago

How do we age?
it happens to all of us! Aging is inevitable and along with it comes those awful signs that show up in our face as crows feet, frown lines, worry lines, deep furrows and folds. We begin to notice them around the eyes, under the eyes, around the nose and upper lip – not to mention those furrows around the mouth. Our cheeks gradually begin to look hollow as we lose facial volume due to the breakdown of the facial support structure (called collagen and elastin). We notice a deflated look as everything begins to descend. That means our eyebrows begin to fall and our eyes don’t appear as wide open anymore while our jaw lines begin to sag – and not forgetting our once full, beautiful cheeks and lips that are now getting flatter (deflated) and causing us to always look tired.
 
What is non surgical face lift?
A non-surgical face lift can be a viable and cost-efficient means to enhance the physical appearance of the facial area. A non-surgical face lift can reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and boost the overall appearance of the face. Non-surgical face lift procedures are often less expensive and require a shorter recovery time than the surgical alternative.
 
Who is good candidate for non surgical face lift?
Non-surgical face lift results, as a general rule, tend to last for a shorter period of time than surgical results. Non-surgical face lift methods may be better suited for men and women who have minor skin imperfections that they wish to cosmetically correct.
 
How is non surgical face lift done?
Dr Simoni offers a multitude of non-surgical face lift procedures that are available to patients who wish to improve the appearance of their facial features. The most common combination for non surgical face lift is radiesse®, restylane®, juvaderm®, botox® and skin resurfacing.  Botox® involves a series of injections in the facial area that work to relax the muscles in the area to smooth the skin and reduce the appearance of wrinkles.  Radiesse®, restylane®, or juvaderm® injections are another part of non-surgical face lift procedure. This technique involves injecting FDA approved filllers into the skin to raise the tissues and decrease the visibility of wrinkles and fine lines.
 
Skin resurfacing techniques such as the chemical peel, dermabrasion, microdermabrasion are also common part of non-surgical face lift procedures. Dr Simoni also offers a variety of face lift creams which may be able to enhance the appearance of the facial skin and reduce the signs of aging. Some face lift creams can also extend the results of other non-surgical face lift procedures.
 
Which non surgical face lift technique is not recommended by Dr Simoni?
Dr Simoni does not recommend Thermage®, Titan®, Feather lift®, ThreadLift, or Contour thread lift®.  He believes that these procedures are too costly for the expected final result.  In other words, he believes that the cost does not justify the unpredictable and less than optimum results.
 
What if non surgical face lft is not enough for me?
Dr Simoni also offers the Simoni Lift which is minimally invasive way to tighten saggy jowl and neck in about an hour.  The result fo simoni Lift can last for years without the need any major anesthesia

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A: Nonsurgical facial rejuvenation

Lavinia Chong, MD
27 days ago

Think of your face in three zones.  The upper 1/3rd starts at the hairline and extends to the bridge of the nose.  The middle 1/3rd continues to the base of the nose and the lower 1/3rd includes the jaw and neck. 

Here are solutions for each zone:

Upper: Botox to alleviate the forehead wrinkles and furrows as well as to nonsurgically raise the brows.  Hyaluronic acid fillers to further "erase" the wrinkles around the scowl lines and brow lines.  Sculptra to fill the temple hollows and round out the brow.

Middle: Hyaluronic acid fillers: Perlane or Juvederm UltraPlus for cheek volumization.  Prevelle silk or the finer HAs, Restylane or Juvederm for the hollows under the eyelids or crow's feet lines.

Lower: Evolence (porcine collagen) for deep nasolabial lines.  Sculptra for hollows under the cheek bones.  Radiesse for the prejowl sulcus (the area in front of the mandibular jowls) and for better chin projection.  HAs to support the corners of the mouth and plump out the vermillion border of the lips.  Botox to neutralize the corners of the mouth (DAOs), soften the lipstick bleed lines, relax the platysmal bands.  Sculptra has been used, in extremely dilute concentrations to retexturize the neck and decolletage; this is an "off label" indication.

Overall skin texture can be improved by light based therapies, such as Lumenis, Active Fx, etc as well as retinols, moisturizers and sunscreen.  While these may not produce as dramatic results as a surgical procedure, they are complimentary and depending on your endpoints may result in great satisfaction.  good luck.

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A: Skin care, Botox, Fillers, laser and minor techniques

Hisham Seify, MD, PhD
10 months ago

This is a very common question in my practice. Mild and moderate skin laxity and droopiness of facial structures could be addressed with non surgical techniques; however marked anatomical facial changes will require some surgical intervention.

To summarize:

  1. General care: Proper skin care, sun screens, hydration, healthy food, exercise.
  2. Photo facial and lasers: Are helpful to achieve some tightening, resurfacing and reversal of dark spots or small blood vessels. This is not an alternative to surgery and in the same time it is important to avoid aggressive skin resurfacing that could lead to Hypopigmentation.
  3. Botox, fillers: Very useful in elimation of skin lines, Different names used e.g. liquid face lift, etc...The key is moderation too much filler could leave an unnatural appearance. Start with hyaluronic based products until you like the result before using longer lasting ones.
  4. Minor surgical techniques: In many occasions an upper lid surgery or a neck liposuction (under local as an office based procedure) could address the most relevant facial aging signs.

 

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