Facelift Vs. Fat Injections to Look 5 Years Younger?

Stop! You are thirty. Your face doesn't bother you. You're worried about future aging.

Your best protection is not fat injections but these six research proven anti-aging steps:

1. stay out of the sun as much as possible and away from tanning beds.
2. Stay fit 
3. Eat fresh fruit, vegetables, omega 3,6,,9s, vitamin D and calcium.
4. Eat meat - at thirty you need the iron you lose from menstruation
5. Avoid smoking and any other inhaled toxin
6. Have friends and fun - laugh a lot.

Then when your face starts to age - see a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon for advice.

     For a younger individual wanting more volume, fillers or facial fat grafting can be utilized.  Kenneth Hughes, MD Los Angeles, CA

In a 30-year old woman, most cases require only fat injections or a filler unless you have significant mid facial aging. This is determined by whether you have facial fat loss with skin laxity and jowling, then you are a candidate for a “Lift & Fill” facelift procedure in which you combine both fat injections to the deep compartments and SMAS lifting to obtain real facial rejuvenation results.

The aging signs at 30 usully dont require a facelift.There is at ths age a shift and loss of fat.Facial reshaping using fat to fill out the folda and restore the cheekbonr prominence and creases under the eyes is age appropriate and wont make you look done

Your comments are insightful. Essentially 3 things happen to the face as we age. First, the skin becomes lax causing wrinkles to appear. Second, the tissue overlying the muscle underneath the skin starts to fall down and forward causing the cheeks to lose volume, deepens our nasolabial folds, causes jowls to appear, adds heaviness to the bottom part of our face, and makes our jawline look  poorly defined. Third, we lose fat in our face, making us look less soft (soft= young) and more harsh (harsh=old). As we get older, we look best when we have corrected all 3 issues. Good quality skin care (regular use of tretinoin, antioxidants, and human derived growth factors), chemical peels, and laser procedures will keep our skin looking young and tight. A facelift addresses the tissue underneath the skin that has moved down and forward by moving it back to its original position. Repositioning this tissue increases cheek fullness, softens the nasolabial folds, changes the overall shape of the face giving it a more youthful oval appearance, sharpens the jaw line, and smoothes the neck. Adding back volume to the face can occur in several ways. The most common (and easiest) way to do this is with fillers. High volume fillers (Radiesse or Perlane) work very well at adding back youthful volume to the cheeks. The softer HA fillers (Juviderm or Restylane) work well to soften the nasolabial folds, improve the contour and/or add back volume to the lips, lift the corners of the mouth, or fill specific wrinkles. These fillers last anywhere from 6 months to almost 2 years, usually require only a topical anesthetic, and are injected in the office. Fat injections (taking your fat from another part of your body and injecting it into your face) is much longer lasting, but does require anesthesia, takes hours to do, and has a fairly long recovery time. It does make sense to be forward thinking and come up with a plan ahead of time for how you are going to deal with the aging process. For most 30 year olds great skin care is essential. This would include certain products every day and a plan for integrating peels and lasers. Fillers (usually only a small volume is needed at 30 years old) can then be used as needed to replace the early volume loss as it occurs. This approach should keep you looking young for many years (which is, after all, what we are trying to achieve). The time to consider a facelift is when the more aggressive aging has occurred (when the tissue overlying the muscle has started to fall). At that time, fat injections done at the same time as the facelift would make sense.

Your perception of facial volume loss is great. It is true that facial volume loss is best treated by restoring volume. Volume is lost with facial aging, which is why younger individuals generally have a "plump" face. The choices of volume replacement solutions for the face are many and require that you see a specialist who actually performs all the procedures including injectables such as Radiesse, Sculptra, and Restylane as well as surgical procedures such as fat transfer for facial volume. A qualified and experienced Cosmetic Surgeon will guide you with the options that will be right for you. In my book "The Fine Art of Looking Younger" I address these topics in more depth.

Your analysis is correct.  Facelift surgery primarily targets improving the sagging structures of the face and have minimal effects on volume restoration.  If you have lost volume in your face then volume restoration is the most appropriate treatment.  Fat is used commonly but Sculptra can also be used for larger areas such as the cheek and JUVEDERM or RADIESSE for smaller areas such as the marrionett lines or nasolabial folds.  Additionally, optimal skin care is important.

Dr. ES

You are very young to have a face lift. If you are trying to obtain a more shapely face, fat transfer may be a viable option. There are several benefits to having fat transfer done. These include a more natural look by using your own fat, and at your age, the "take rate" which is your body accepting the fat, is usually very good, depending on your health. I hope this helps. Take care

Facelift is a procedure to lift  tissues that have descended with aging and does not do anything to restore volume unless fat grafting is performed in conjunction with it.  It is unusual to need a facelift at 30.  If you are developing prominent nasolabial folds, dermal fillers are the relatively non-invasive procedure to soften the folds for a more youthful appearance.   If you want a more permanent correction, you may want to consider fat injections.

 No discrespect intended but this is an urban myth...that young people have plump faces.  Attractive, naturally beautiful faces are neither plump, nor gaunt but have the proper facial features making them naturally, attractive and youthful.  This, IMHO, is what you should strive to achieve at any age, 20, 30, 50, 70 etc.  Find an MD that understands and follows the proper aesthetics of facial beauty for the creation of a naturally, more attractive face and please don't use fat.

 If you are a candidate for facial shaping use a reliable off the shelf filler like Perlane or facial (cheek and/or Chin) implants that have proven effective and reliable over decades...not fat that absorbs unevenly over time IMHO.