What to Do About Remaining Jowls After Lower Facelift?

Mini lifts are notorious for leaving behind jowls. They just don't pull efficiently on the deep layer through the mini surgery dissection.
Neck Lifts alone seldom produce good results on the jowl, since the face has not been lifted above the jowls.
If either of these is the cause, the facelift should be redone with a proper facelift and necklift done by an excellent plastic surgeon.
If this was already done, there may be anatomic reasons why some patients have residual jowls including bone structure, thickness of fat around the facial artery bundle, chin configuration, fat loss around the mouth, etc. These are all addressable as well.

The lower face addresses the neck and jawline (includes the jowls). It sounds like you had a necklift only.
If the jowls were lifted by your surgeon and still there, most likely you will need another procedure to correct the residual sagging jowls.
It may also require lifting the cheeks or midface area to remove the jowls.

Hi,
Thank you for your question!
It is difficult to determine what is best for you without examining you. There are so many different versions of facelifts that vary from surgeon to surgeon. Your best option would be to find a plastic surgeon who specializes in this area. Most likely you will need another procedure or to redo the facelift all together. Do not be fooled by all of the brand name facelifts out there.
Best regards,
Dr. Speron

I am not sure what you exactly mean by a lower facelift. A facelift in general treats the lower face, meaning the neck and jowl area. You may just have had a neck lift which may not have corrected the jowl area. If your incision goes around the ear anteriorly, up to the sideburn area, then you had a formal face lift and should have had correction of the jowl area. If the incisions are limited to around the ear lobe and mainly posteriorly only then you essentially had a neck lift which does not correct the jowls appropriately.

Jowls can be attributed to skin and/or fat. Depending on the cause, different options are available for managing the condition. This may require additional tightening of the SMAS or skin. Alternatively, conservative liposuction is another possibility. In some instances, treatment of the area in front of the jowl, the so called pre-jowl. labiomandibular line, or marionette line. This area of the jawline can be augmented with fillers, fat, or implants

Hi Oakley54 - Your answer depends on when you had your facelift. If it was several weeks or a few months ago, you may have some residual swelling. However, if it has been a while, you may want to consider a modified lower facelift that only addresses the jowls. It won't be as extreme as a full facelift and the recovery should be easier. Consult with several plastic surgeons before proceding with any further surgery.

The facelift can address the jowls in most cases. However sometimes the depression between the jowls and chin (called prejowl sulcus) will continue to make the jowls look prominent. In those cases you need to fill it up with a filler.
Regards

During Facelift surgery, the jowls are corrected by a combination of lifting the deeper tissue/skin and Liposuction. If you have significant jowls remaining after having had surgery and are not happy with the results, I would advise you to seek consultation with a plastic surgeon experienced in facial surgery. You will most likely need to have another procedure done but it is difficult to make a recommendation without seeing you.

Dear Oakley
Jowls and neck cords are two significant indications for a Lower face lift. A surgeon that can't correct these issues for whatever reason should know in advance and prepare you for this possibility to manage disappointment. Generally, this happens because the surgeon does not adequately understand the surgical management of these issues.
Facelifts are not taught in any depth in a residency training program including general plastic surgery. Surgeons learn facelifts in fellowship training or on the job. Learning on the job is not impossible just a whole lot more difficult. This is part of the reason why it is common to see disappointing results. It is possible that liposuction of the jowl will improve the area.
However, it is more likely that the whole area around the jowl was not properly supported during surgery. This means that in addition to liposuction, it may be necessary to better support the deep layers of the face that contribute to the jowl and trim out additional skin that also contributes to the jowl. This does mean a potential revisional facelift. Your original doctor is probably not the person for this.
I would also avoid the heavily marketed proprietary facelift practices as their surgeons probably lack the skills necessary to correct an issue like this.

 The way to correct jowls that remain after facelifting are either redo the facelift and suspend the jowls with or without liposuction. See an experienced facelift surgeon and let him feel the area and tell you what would be best.