Advice for 43 Year Old Considering Facelift?

A facelift is indicated if you have enough descent in the cheeks, jowl formation along the jawline and laxity in the neck regardless of your relatively young age. The situation requires careful analysis though and it sounds like in your case, the only issue requiring surgery is the neck laxity. Facial volume loss can be improved by repositioning of the descended tissues, but if you are exceptionally thin, injectable volume enhacement works better. Also, it has well been shown that the... more

The key for any facelift is does it address the proper anatomic cause of aging and your individual anatomy.  At 43 years of age, one of the key issues for you would be laxity of the skin, to determine which procedure would be best for you.

At 43 years of age, it sounds as though you are a bit young to have a deep plane facelift. The goal of a face/neck lift surgery is to remove fat from the neck both above and below the platysma muscle, tightening the jowls, and removing any excess skin. Hollowness will not be improved with a facelift since it tightens the skin. The deep plane facelift has a higher complication rate, which should be discussed with your surgeon.

 Get a second opinion and see what another experienced facelift surgeon says after he is able to examine your face. Also, a facelift resets the clock---it doesn't stop it. So you will continue to age.

Dear Jenny One has to be careful what you look for. The deep plane facelift is a technical tour-de-force. The anatomic dissection is requires an in depth knowledge of the facial planes and the anatomy which requires intimate exposure of the facial nerves to carry out the deep plane dissection. The deep plane facelift can results in motor nerve damage in up to 3% of cases although the incidence of permanent damage to the nerves is less than 1% of cases. If the deep place facelift made for... more

Facial rejuvenation is dependent on careful analysis. I will usually have patients bring in photos from their part to see the changes brought on by aging, weight shits, environments as well as to deterine what their baseline anatomy is. We are have the same elements but are constructed differently to give us a different appearance. Analysis is key. If most of your effects are due to loss of volume, there are many approaches to restoring volume . Sometimes there is volume loss on top of... more

You have to be very careful with a facelift. You might still look gaunt because of lack of fatty tissue in your face. In fact sometimes facelift can make you look worst. Most of your face issues can be resolved with Sculptra injection. The only area where you might need surgery is the turkey gobbler neck deformity. I would recommend starting with Sculptra injections and once the face is looking better, than look for a possible necklift if needed. Regards

Hello Jenny, Without the benefit of being able to examine your facial and neck anatomy, I would say that you are certainly on the right track. Some things you may wish to discuss with your Surgeon: 1. Given that you are experiencing volume loss is he satisfied that a deep plane lift will accomplish enough tissue movement to address this? Or would it be beneficial to consider autologous fat injections in conjunction with the deep plane lift to address the volume loss? 2. It sounds as though... more