Is it true that a SMAS facelift has an easier recovery and less chance of nerve damage than a deep plane facelift?

The SMAS is the strong fascia layer of your face. Its position is between your skin and deeper structures of your face, such as your parotid gland and facial nerves. There are a number of ways plastic surgeons elevate and tighten the SMAS to give your facelift the longest lasting result. The SMAS can be simply sutured to itself, (plicated), a strip of the SMAS can be removed and the edges sutured together (SMASectomy), it can be entirely elevated starting on your cheek bone or below your cheekbone, (HighSMAS or Extended SMAS) or a Deep Plane where the SMAS is elevated near the front of the parotid gland and sutured to itself. Any elevation of the SMAS enters the plane where the facial nerves are and increases the risk of facial nerve injury, however, injury is rare. As none of these techniques has proven to give superior results, many surgeons try to minimize the extent of dissection and do a plication. Recovery is 2-3 weeks.

This is a very good question. A traditional facelift tightens the SMAS layer of your face. A deep plan facelift elevates the SMAS, and requires dissection below the SMAS layer. The risk of nerve damage is higher with a deep plane facelift. The recovery is about the same. Some surgeons believe a deep plane facelift may last loner than procedures that tighten the SMAS layer. Discuss your options with a board certified plastic surgeon.

Thank you for your question. Based on personal observation, rather than covering international experience, I would say that recovery following a deep plane facelift generally seems to be easier compared to a SMAS facelift.

This difference may be attributed to the surgical technique, particularly the amount of subcutaneous or skin undermining involved. With a deep plane facelift, the skin undermining is typically more limited, which could contribute to a less extensive recovery period.

That being said, individual experiences with recovery can vary depending on factors such as personal healing capacity and the extent of the procedure. If you have specific concerns about recovery, discussing them in detail during a consultation would provide more personalised guidance.

Thank you for your question. Choosing a surgeon is probably more important than choosing your technique. A deep plane lift has more risk but with a skilled surgeon the risk is minimized. In my hands deep plane has a faster recovery because I operate under the vascular plane minimizing the risk of nerve damage and swelling. Other supereons have rippling, more swelling, and minimal result. Everything is based on the surgeons technique and experience. Best of luck.

Hello, hope you are well. These questions have been asked among surgeons, and high quality research has been done on this topic. By far, the greatest variability in risk and recovery has nothing to do with choice of surgical technique but depends almost entirely on the surgeon. Having stated that, pooling the data from many studies has shown that the risk of permanent nerve injury does not differ among techniques. As such. I believe patients and surgeons should generally be selecting their technique based on surgical results and not the perceived risk profile.

Best,
Dr. Tower

Theoretically, yes, what you say is true. The less deep you go the less risk. However, in reality, experience is what counts here. An experienced facelift surgeon will have a very low risk of nerve injury either way. And the recovery is about the same, though a deep plane facelift may have longer swelling. If swelling makes it less "Easy" then yes.

This depends on what you mean by "SMAS" facelift. The SMAS is the deeper structural layer of the face and is treated nearly universally with modern face-lifting techniques. From a recovery standpoint, if the skin is not being elevated off of the SMAS, patients often experience less swelling which can aid in recovery. Regarding the risk of nerve injury, any technique that is dissecting deep to the SMAS layer (deep plane, high SMAS etc) has a theoretical risk of injury to the facial nerve branches. If this sub-SMAS layer is not being entered i/e) SMASectomy or plication, this risk is inherently lower as your surgeon should be above the layer where these nerve branches run.
Sean Fisher MDAesthetic Plastic Surgeon Seattle, WA

Yes, the deep plane facelift has the highest risks of nerve damage and the longest time of swelling since more tissue is moved.

A SMA S facelift does have faster, recovery, and less chance of nerve damage than a deep plane facelift. In our practice, we also place drains underneath the skin in the neck for two days to remove the blood out from underneath the skin which also helps in speeding up the recovery process. Study your perspective surgeon's before and after facelift photo gallery for results that look natural.

The simple answer to your question is yes. The deep plain facelift is a much more aggressive, much higher wrist type facelift with longer recovery time than the typical facelift with SMAS plication. EXPECT FEES ALSO TO BE MORE THAN DOUBLE BETWEEN THE TWO THE USUAL FEE FOR A FACELIFT WITH PLACATION IS FROM $10,000-$25,000 VERSUS THE PLAIN FACELIFT IS FROM $25,000 TO WELL OVER $100,000. BEST OF VIRTUAL CONSULT WITH.