Facelift Vs. Fat Injections to Look 5 Years Younger?

     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.

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

 

It is clear your research is paying off. Our understanding of facial aging has improved dramatically over the last ten years. Prior to that surgical facelifting was the standard. Volume replacement and concern over the quality of the facial skin was of secondary importance. Now we know that placing structures in the appropriate position with surgery is one part of the rejuvenation process. Excellent fillers are now available to restore facial volume and surgical fat grafting to the face yields wonderful results. Laser resurfacing and radiofrequency devices cna improve texture and tighten skin. At age 30 facial fillers such as juvederm and sculptra can work wonders. Early intervention will slow the aging process and keep you looking younger longer.Seek out a board certified plastic surgeon to help you understand your options. Good luck and keep up the research.

 

 

 

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.

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.

It is extraordinarly unusual for a 30 year old to require a facelift. That being said, there are early signs of aging that can be counteracted with much less invasive procedures. I would start with a filler like Radiesse or Juvederm in the nasolabial fold region. While these are temporary, they do a nice job of replacing volume in areas of the face where fat has atrophied and created deep lines. If you like dermal fillers and would like something more permanent you may want to look into fat injections.

Dermal fillers and fat grafting are popular options to age gracefully and retain or regain the youthful fullness of our faces in a relatively non-invasive way. The nasolabial folds can be softened or erased using fillers and are very popular!  Please consult with a board certified specialist who can assist you in retaining your youthful facial fullness.