anything i should know before getting a face lift so I won't end up looking all pulled up? I think they call it "wind swept" looking? this is NOT the results I want from surgery!
A pulled or windswept look after a facelift is usually the result of putting too much tension on the skin and not tightening the underlying structures (fat and muscle).
Particularly if the facelift takes only an hour or two, this is probably because just the skin is tightened. I take almost that long just to close the incisions to avoid unnecessary scarring!
The pulled look results from many factors, all of them avoidable. As a lay person, you may not be able to list each one, but you know pulled when you see it.
1. Bad direction of pull. When the facelift is directed very high at the side of the face, pull is created preferentially on the side of the face, and nothing is done for the middle of the face. This yields an unnatural change in direction of the skin. It also sacrifices the sideburn, which in women is not replaceable. How to avoid: Pull should be more gently back. Preserve sideburn. Use cheeklift to simultaneously elevate the center of the face to avoid the "hanging curtain" look.
2. Too much pull. The earlobes pull forward. The tragus, the bump in front of the ear, pulls forward. The mouth and nose begin to separate. Scars are bad and wide. How to avoid: Considerable deep restructuring; skin should be a gentle afterthought, closed firmly but not too tight. Use LiveFill for deep volume restoration. Don't try to solve all problems by pulling extremely tight yet not replace lost volume. Keep the ear and earlobe looking natural and unoperated.
3. Aggressive browlifts. Raises the hairline, causing a high forehead. Artificially raises the center of the brow, causing a startled expression. How to avoid: conservative browlifts, concentrating on lateral brow. Avoid hair elevating techniques in patients with high hairlines
4. Hollowed appearing eyes with change in eye shape. How to avoid: cheeklift along with lower eyelid surgery. LiveFill grafts to lower eyelids to replace volume. Fat preserving or fat modifying approach to eyelid surgery. Careful concealment of incisions.
5. Non-artistic work. You know it when you see it: cat eyes, exaggerated lips, strange expression, visible unsightly scarring. How to avoid: look carefully at the before-after pictures of the plastic surgeon you are considering. You will soon recognize which doctors have an artistic touch and eye.
6. Cost cutting. On this website are patient evaluations of their facelifts. You will see a correlation between patients' satisfaction and the care with which they did their research and the involvement of their procedures. There is a reason that facelifts are expensive with noted surgeons, and why you can't solve all the problems of aging in one hour over lunchtime with a marginal practitioner.
The results from facelifting is dependent on many things. Your anatomy comes first. Your surgeon should analyze your anatomy to determine why you look the way you look and how you have aged over the years. Some patient will be destined to tend toward the "windswept" look because of the extreme nature of their wrinkles and excess skin. Next is the treatment that must be specific for the anatomy and your goals. The procedures should serve the anatomy and the goal. The goals should n't be the result of the procedures. Finally, the skill and the sensitivity of the surgeon to your specific desires is critical. The surgeon who performs the same procedure on every patient will end up with some patients who are unhappy. I advocate very customized manuveurs that make up very individualized procedures for each individual patient.
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