I'm planning a mini face lift and an upper eye blepharoplasty, but am looking at different doctors for each procedure. Which procedure should I do first?
First of all I would strongly recommend finding experienced board certified plastic surgeon who can perform mini facelift and upper blepharoplasty at the same time. There is no reason to do it separately.
The advantage is one recovery time from both procedures, also going under the general anesthesia only once instead of two times.
It appears that many of the physicians are attempting to get you to have one surgeon (which is wise for the reasons mentioned) perform the two surgeries, but obviously that is not your question.
So in response to your question, I would perform the mini-face lift first for this reason.
When performing a mini-face lift, the sagging skin from the lower face is repositioned to the middle or upper parts of the face. This can effect or alter the surgical plans for the upper lid procedure such as performing a transblepharoplasty browpexy or an extended upper eyelid blepahroplasty to minimize hooding in the crow's feet region or to perform a combined endotine midface lift with temporal suspension.
I hope this helps.
Facelift and upper eyelid surgery compliment one another very well and there are advantages to a single anesthetic,and a single recovery. It is unlikely that the surgeon who is comfortable with facelift and mini lift will not also be quite comfortable with eyelid surgery. There are so many advantages to a single surgeon, supporting office staff, facility, cost, followup appointments, that unless you have an eye-care specialist who is well known to you it makes most sense to stay with one office.
Facelift with upper and lower eyelid surgery is a very common combination in our practice and can be completed under a twilight sleep without general anesthesia, with a smooth recovery. Patients handle the inconveniences very well and both are well within the margin of safety.
Best of luck,
peterejohnsonmd
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