Facelift Q&A
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Are Revision Facelift and Neck Lift Surgeries Common?
asked 1 year ago by anonymous57 in San Francisco, CA
Latest answer by Sam Naficy, MD
Question viewed 1,164 times
Tags: face, neck, revision, skin laxity, wait
I had a face and neck lift 5 months ago. There is still laxity in the neck area which is concerning and disappointing. Is it true that sometimes a surgeon can only take up so much laxity the first time and that revisions are sometimes needed to achieve the desired results? What is the suggested time to wait? Thank you.
14 answers to Are Revision Facelift and Neck Lift Surgeries Common?
+3
Skin still lax after a facelift
A picture is worth a thousand words, so in absence of before/after pictures I'll do my best.
There is a delicate balance between too tight and not tight enough when performing a facelift.
Not tight enough and there is some residual laxity and the patient may be unhappy
Too tight and the patient looks scared and they are definitely unhappy
No surgeon can do with a knife what a patient can do with their hands... A patient can pull the skin up and it looks so...
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+3
Revision face and neck lift is common in a limited group of patients.
In some patients which includes patients wtih::
Familial poor skin elasticity
Those who have lost a great deal of weight
Heavy round faces with short necks
Male patients with thick short necks
we will tell them they may need a "double lift" technique.
This is because even if you tighten the skin to the safe limit at the first operation, there is likely to be so much "stretch back" that the result is not satisfactory. The...
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+3
Revision Facelift Surgery
Unfortunately, every Facial Plastic Surgical procedure carries with it the possibility of revision. At the same time, revision surgery, especially for Facelift, should be relatively rare; a low revision rate (1-5%) is typical of an experienced Facelift Surgeon who take the time to understand an individual patient's concerns and expectations. The possibility of revision increases when a patient is overweight, or has a very heavy neck. The classic timing for revision is...
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+2
Revision facelift and necklift
If the neck skin was entirely undermined and released at the time of the first surgery it would be uncommon to have laxity there unless your skin elasticity was very poor. If only liposuction was done there, you might need to go in and do the undermining of all the skin to tighten it up.
+2
Revison face lift
Sometimes a revision is necessary because there is residual laxity in the neck or cheeks. Probaqbly happens in less than 5%.
+2
Revision Facelift and Neck Lift are not common, but sometimes necessary to remove excess neck skin
A revision of a Facelift and or Neck Lift is occaisionally necessary, but not usual.
The most common revision is the neck.
Sometimes the lax neck skin cannot be totally tightened even with an excellent Neck Lift and Platysmaplasty. In these cases a revision is necessary and usually involves a local procedure which includes excision and removal of excess neck skin with a visible external incsion on the neck beneath the chin.
If a good complete Facelift and Neck Lift have been...
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+2
Revision surgery after facelift.
At five months you should be seeing an excellent result not thinking of a revision. Without a picture to see where you started it is hard to be specific about your degree of laxity. I would recommend you discuss this with the surgeon who did the surgery and see what he/she recommends. I normally do not re operate on face lifts for a full year to let everything settle down unless there was a clear mistake made and I feel it can be corrected. This shortens the time period the patient...
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Paul Vitenas, Jr., MD
Houston Plastic Surgeon
Houston Plastic Surgeon
+2
When is a right time for revision facelift surgery
It depends on the degree of your neck laxity prior to the surgery. If you started with severe aging of neck, it would be very difficult to have no laxity after the surgery. However, with mild laxity of neck you should not have to have another lift this soon. It all depends on the surgeon’s technique and his comfort and understanding of facelift surgery. If there is any chance of post operative tissue laxity due to patient’s anatomy, surgeon must communicate that to his/her...
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+2
Facelift revision
A revision in this area is not uncommon, but is certainly uncommon at this point in your recovery. It is true that only a defined amount of tissue can be removed, but the treatment of laxity is most effectively achieved in the plane beneath the skin known as the SMAS/platysma. Unfortunately, this is a more time consuming and labor intensive approach. It is technically difficult and often more costly, but this is the only means to adequately treat laxity. If the...
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Jason R. Hess, MD
San Diego Plastic Surgeon
San Diego Plastic Surgeon
+2
Facelift revisions
It really depends what was actually done during your "facelift"-whether just skin was removed or different layer lift was used. In most cases you really do get what you pay for. I would suspect that you had a quickie type removal of skin from one of the centers that advertise extensively. However, all surgeries do cause swelling and you look better usually for first several months and then when the swelling goes down, some of the lines, skin returns. This is actually the...
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Edward J. Domanskis, MD
Orange County Plastic Surgeon
Orange County Plastic Surgeon
+2
Re-do face and Necklift
This is not uncommon.So much depends on the condition of the skin at the time of a face-neck lift.If the skin is in great shape it will hold up better.If I did a facelift on a woman at 45 and fast forward to 60 she will get more mileage at 45 because her skin is in better shape Also alot depends on the amount of swelling.Once the swelling goes down then some laxity will return.
Robert Brueck, MD
Fort Myers Plastic Surgeon
Fort Myers Plastic Surgeon
+1
Revision of Facelift and Neck Lift
The likelihood of Revision of a Facelift and Neck Lift depends on a number of factors:
The quality of the - poor skin quality has more relapse of laxity
Whether or not a deep plane face lift was performed - the more superficial a face lift, the more likely the relapse of laxity
Whether or not enough undermining (separating of skin from deeper layers) was performed
Whether or not long-lasting or permanent deep sutures...
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+1
Revisional facelift and necklift
Extremely loose necks may require secondary revisional surgery, as may a facelift procedure. Any of us who have been inpractice for many years have certainly performed this for selected patients, with good results obtained. Don't worry if this becomes the recommendation of your doctor. Trust your doctor to give you the best advice, and if you don't feel comfortable with the recommendation always get a second opinion.
Good luck.
+1
Touch ups after surgery
There is always a balancing act between how much skin to remove and getting a good quality scar during a a Facelift tor neck lift. The more skin that is removed, the greater the tension and therefore the greater the chance of a wide scar. The general consensus is that about 5% of these procedures need a touch up at the one year mark, and that is even in the best of hands.

