How Can I Avoid Getting a Pulled Up Look from a Face Lift?

The pulled look results from many factors, all of them avoidable. As a lay person, you may not be able to list each one, but you know pulled when you see it.
1. Bad direction of pull. When the facelift is directed very high at the side of the face, pull is created preferentially on the side of the face, and nothing is done for the middle of the face. This yields an unnatural change in direction of the skin. It also sacrifices the sideburn, which in women is not replaceable. How to avoid: Pull should be more gently back. Preserve sideburn. Use cheeklift to simultaneously elevate the center of the face to avoid the "hanging curtain" look.
2. Too much pull. The earlobes pull forward. The tragus, the bump in front of the ear, pulls forward. The mouth and nose begin to separate. Scars are bad and wide. How to avoid: Considerable deep restructuring; skin should be a gentle afterthought, closed firmly but not too tight. Use LiveFill for deep volume restoration. Don't try to solve all problems by pulling extremely tight yet not replace lost volume. Keep the ear and earlobe looking natural and unoperated.
3. Aggressive browlifts. Raises the hairline, causing a high forehead. Artificially raises the center of the brow, causing a startled expression. How to avoid: conservative browlifts, concentrating on lateral brow. Avoid hair elevating techniques in patients with high hairlines
4. Hollowed appearing eyes with change in eye shape. How to avoid: cheeklift along with lower eyelid surgery. LiveFill grafts to lower eyelids to replace volume. Fat preserving or fat modifying approach to eyelid surgery. Careful concealment of incisions.
5. Non-artistic work. You know it when you see it: cat eyes, exaggerated lips, strange expression, visible unsightly scarring. How to avoid: look carefully at the before-after pictures of the plastic surgeon you are considering. You will soon recognize which doctors have an artistic touch and eye.
6. Cost cutting. On this website are patient evaluations of their facelifts. You will see a correlation between patients' satisfaction and the care with which they did their research and the involvement of their procedures. There is a reason that facelifts are expensive with noted surgeons, and why you can't solve all the problems of aging in one hour over lunchtime with a marginal practitioner.

Modern facelift surgery avoids the tight or pulled look at all costs! This has been made possible via recent advances in the understanding of facial ageing and its correction. It is now known that the aged appearance is not just due to skin excess, but there is also usually age related fat loss in the upper face (cheek and temples) while at the same time there can be an increase in fat deposits in the lower face (jowls and neck). Facelift surgery of the highest quality combines up to date SMAS facelift technique with well refined aesthetic judgement in order to deliver an effective rejuvenation while also avoiding detectible signs of the operated, pulled or unnatural look. The deep supporting layer (SMAS) of the face and the fatty tissues that have dropped to the jowls and neck are raised and re-supported aiming to reclaim more youthful facial tone and contours. The folds of excess skin around the mouth, jowls and neck are attached to this underlying SMAS are therefore lifted along with it. The excessive skin removal associated with many older skin-only facelift techniques is avoided therefore preventing the pulled or tightened look. Naturally the most important way of avoiding an overdone or unnatural facelift is to choose your plastic surgeon very carefully. Most patients want to look refreshed and rejuvenated without looking at all like a different person and without visibly obvious tell-tale signs of surgery so modern techniques offer many advantages. Surprisingly, the vast majority of people attribute the refreshed and better look from surgery to the person having lost weight or enjoyed a great holiday. It doesn’t enter their minds that they may have had surgery. 

Thank you for your question. Do your homework prior to surgery. Get multiple consults. Ask to see before and after photos. Ask to speak to prior facelift patients of surgeons you are considering. ask for computer imaging. The nicest surgery is that for which you never know someone has had it done. Best wishes.

A well done facelift should not leave a patient looking windswept.  Make sure you do your research when you are looking for your facelift surgeon. Review their before and after photos and make sure they resemble results you are hoping for.  During the first few weeks after surgery there may be some unavoidable swelling and after a mid facelift, and deep plane face lift, the swelling may result in a temporarily distorted appearance that should become more natural with time and by 2-3 months after surgery you should have a natural rejuvenated look.  

You are not alone - patients (and most surgeons too!) are afraid of the "overdone" look after a facelift procedure. This may be described as a "wind swept" look, or even worse the "open cockpit of an airplane" look. This is something that is easily avoided by skilled surgeons.
As each surgeon's techniques and results will vary somewhat, look at a surgeon's before and after pictures from facelift procedures to see if their patients look natural or strange after surgery. Be sure to mention your concerns with your surgeon during your consultation as well.
All the best,

Thank you for your question. The windswept look is often a result of bad facelift surgery.Your surgeon should listen to what you would like to achieve. I have pioneered a new type of face lift called Concept Facelift. It is performed under local anaesthetic and addresses the lower face including the jowls. As it is done under local anaesthetic the recovery is much quicker and more appealing. My concept is very much like a traditional facelift but I use absorbable stitches, there are no drains or bandages afterwards and unlike other Local anaesthetic facelifts I work on the muscle as well as the skin which gives much better results which last between 7-10 years. My results are very natural and some people do not tell their friends and family that they have had this procedure! I wish you all the best and hope you find the procedure and surgeon which fits your desires.