Facelift after tightening procedures?

Question

64 year old caucasian female - in my 50s, I had Thermage, Ultherapy, and sculptra. I-was told in one consult that the tightening procedures I have had will made surgery more challenging. first time I have ever heard of this. Wondering if that is the experience of other plastic surgeon

Jeffrey Lisiecki, MD · Answer

Yes, prior energy treatments and sculptra do make a facelift somewhat more challenging to perform.  That being said, it is certainly not impossible, and anyone who regularly performs facelifts in this day and age is very used to doing facelifts on people who have had prior tightening treatmnts, fillers, threads, etc.

Stephen Prendiville, MD · Answer

Thank you for the question.  Unfortunately, Thermage, Ultherapy and other energy devices will cause an additional degree of difficulty with your procedure.  However, the good news is that this experience is relatively common nowadays and an experienced facelift surgeon will have seen many similar cases and this should not affect your overall result.

Kevin Sadati, DO · Answer

Thermage and Ultherapy use heat or sound waves to target tissues beneath the skin, aiming to tighten and rejuvenate. However, these treatments can sometimes compromise the integrity of the underlying tissue over time. For individuals who have undergone these procedures and desire more significant, long-lasting results, the Preservation Deep Plane Facelift is the ideal solution. Unlike other facelifts, this advanced technique carefully lifts and repositions deeper facial tissues while preserving natural structures, ensuring minimal disruption and optimal blood supply. It offers a safer, more effective rejuvenation, delivering natural-looking, long-lasting results even for those with previous non-surgical skin-tightening treatments.

James M. Economides, MD, FACS · Answer

Non-invasive and minimally invasive tightening procedures have become very popular in recent years. 
Unfortunately these procedures are often performed by non-surgeon practitioners who do not have an eye to the future of their patient's rejuvenation needs.  It is still possible to have a facelift or necklift if you have had one of these procedures, but they increase the complexity of surgery by increasing scar tissue and tissue adherence.  As general rule of thumb: as the depth of treatment increases, so does the difficulty during surgery.  Procedures such as RF microneedling, which do not penetrate beneath the dermis have less scarring than those which are beneath the skin (fillers, threads, FaceTite, etc).

Brian M. Harmych, MD, FACS · Answer

In my practice, the majority of all facelift and deep plane facelift patient have had prior treatment, including fillers, neuromodulators, ultrasound and other energy-based therapies. Many patients have had prior facelift surgery, as well. While it is true that some of these treatments may increase the difficulty of a facelift or neck lift, an experienced surgeon will be able to explain precisely what challenges and limitations may be a result of prior treatment. However, (excluding serious prior complications from treatment) prior treatment (whether surgical or non-surgical) wouldn't increase the difficulty or chances of risks behind a small degree.

Ronald J. Edelson, MD · Answer

Previous non surgical procedures will have no impact on a facelift done later.  I don’t know why any surgeon with any experience would think that. Maybe to justify a higher fee

Jacob Tower, MD · Answer

Hello, hope you are well. Thank you for posting your question--it's something we encounter quite frequently with the proliferation of non-invasive and minimally invasive skin tightening treatments. The treatments that do not completely penetrate the skin usually do not pose much of a challenge (microneedling with or without RF, etc). Treatments that penetrate the skin and/or leave foreign material under the skin (threads, semipermanent fillers in certain areas, bipolar RF, etc) are more likely to create a challenge because they leave scarring or alter tissue properties more significantly. As a contrived example, if you have had liposuction, NeckTite, deoxycholic acid injections, cryolipolysis, and threads in your central neck, you can imagine it makes a significant difference when considering a surgical neck lift in the same sense that revision surgery is inherently more challenging (there is scarring, tissues adhesions, impaired tissue perfusion, etc). 
Best,Dr. Tower

William Portuese, MD · Answer

The previous non-invasive treatments that you have will have no effect moving forward performing a lower face and neck lift procedure. Study your prospective surgeon's before and after facelift photo gallery to make sure that the results look very natural.

Facelift after tightening procedures?

Answers (8)

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