How Do Doctors Prevent Damage To Nerves Under Skin In Facial Procedures?

Could you please explain how the nerves in the face are safe from being damaged from a facelift, Injections, Thermage, Fraxel, Botox etc? When is it too much? Of Course not all at once, but over time. It amazes me how they aren't damaged. How do plastic surgeon know when and how to stay away from a nerve? Thanks

Tags:

Comment on this

10 Doctor Answers | Asked by mrs kitty in texas

Doctor Answers (10)
Community Comments (0)

Facelift

I hope the avoidance of complications has something to do with the 7 years of training AFTER college and medical school. That is why we emphasize patients need to see a board certified plastic surgeon for these surgical treatments - complication avoidance. There are two types of nerves under the facial skin, sensory nerves that allow touch to be felt and motor nerves that tell the muscles when to move. Sensory nerve twigs are always damaged during facelifts and always return, thus the... more

It comes with experience

First of all, many of the procedures that you describe such as thermage and Fraxel are very superficial procedures that don't penetrate to the level of the nerves. Secondly, Botox is intended to affect the nerve by interfering with the nerve transmission to the muscle. Thirdly, plastic surgeons experienced with facelifts know where the nerves are that move the muscles of your face and are careful in their dissection of the different tissue planes in order to avoid damage to those... more

Knowledge and experience contribute greatly to safetly and an excellent result in facelift surgery.

With knowledge and experience, a facile surgeon can reliably and successfully avoid the critical branches of the facial nerve. When a nerve is damaged, it is usually from sharp instrumentation, the nonsurgical techniques you mentioned do not typically cause damage to the branches of the facial nerve. Best wishes.

Facial nerve injury

The best prevention is to go to soemone who is board certified and also has done a number of facelifts.There is no sunstitute for experince.You can't get it from reading a textbook.

Preventing Nerve Damage in Facial Procedures

The most important thing a patient can do is to choose the right Surgeon. Facial nerve anatomy is very consistent in location, and is more of a theoretic risk for an experienced Facelift Surgeon. For facial surgery, I would recommend that you see a Board Certified, Fellowship trained Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon or a Board certified Plastic Surgeon.

Avoiding nerve damage in the face

Plastic surgeons have extensive training and experience with the nerves and blood vessels of the face. That said, a majority of nerves connect to the muscle from under the muscle. There are three nerves/muscles of the face that are classic exceptions to this this rule. Injuring these nerves with fillers would be very unusual and would mean the injection was placed too deep. As for Botox, the toxins can migrate to the nerve and create a temporary nerve paralysis. Finally for facelifts,... more

Preventing nerve damage during a faclift

Facial nerve injure is a risk during a facelift, though careful technique, and knowing the anatomy is important to reduce the risk of any injury. Non surgical facial rejuvenation such as Botox or laser would not cause you any risk for nerve injury. Best of luck Peter Johnson, MD

How Do Doctors Prevent Damage To Nerves Under Skin In Facial Procedures?

That's why it takes years of training and experience to become a plastic and cosmetic surgeon. The motor nerves are deeper and not prone to damage from fillers and superficial skin treatments as they are with surgical procedures like Face Lifts.

Strong Understanding of Anatomy To Avoid Nerve Damage

The best way to avoid complications is to know what causes them. In a facelift, for example, you need to find the most qualified board certified specialist who has a strong understanding of the underlying anatomy to avoid damaging the facial nerve. The same principle applies to most other procedures. Do your research!

Its all anatomy!

The understanding of facial anatomy is essential to the training of a plastic surgeon. This is what allows plastic surgeons to do the many things we do in and about the face. Each technique is designed to protect not only the nerves, but muscles, shapes, etc. Nerve injury is one of the most rare complications of facial plastic surgery. Dr. Mayl