Facelift Incisions - Concerned About Raised Sideburns?

your are justified in your fear of having raised sideburns.  in my opinion it makes people look like alians.  favor techniques that avoid this.  well placed and closed pre(inter)trichial incisions heal well and the scars can be quite difficult to see. 

Thank you for your question. My preferred technique for facelifts is a MACS lift, which does not raise the sideburn. The scars are very good, and I patients do not express any concern about them post-op. The key to good scars is that no tension is placed on the skin, but on the deeper tissues. When done properly, you should be able to keep your sideburn and not worry about the scars. You should look for a board certified plastic surgeon who has extensive experience with facelifting proceedures. Good luck.

There are many different approaches to facelift surgery incisions.

The best approach, in my opinion, is to place the superior portion of the incision above the temporal hairline. It is angled in such a way and placed high enough that there is no obvious raising of the sideburns. More importantly, there is no visible scar below the hairline in this region.

An excellent vertical vector to this portion of the facelift can still be carried out with a very natural final result using this approach. This incision can also be connected to an endoscopic brow lift incision if elevation of the brow is desirable at the same time as your facelift surgery.

A hair transplant could be performed at the same time as a facelift procedure, but is generally not necessary.

Thank you for your question. A hair transplant is best after the facelift is performed.  Discuss your concerns with your Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, and there may be options available for you which protect sideburn height. I hope this helps.

I use incisions that follow the horizontal hairline (sideburn hairline) so that I am not removing any hair and not changing the hairline.  If the incisions are placed properly in front of the ear and behind the ear, the hairline will not be changed at all.  If a patient has had surgery that raised the hairline, then hair transplants can be done to correct this.  

Use of the sideburn-sparing incision, where essentially a horizontal incision is made just along the bottom edge of the sideburn, is able to save the sideburns.  This is my preferred technique, because of its significant advantage.

 

A modern expertly performed facelift should not have any easily visible incisions. Furthermore, there should not be any hairline distortions in the sideburn or in the back of the ear. It takes experience and talent to place the incisions and then meticulously close the incisions in such a way that even a hairdresser should have difficulties locating these incisions. These goals are not easily achievable by a casual facelift surgeon. Make sure you seek out a facelift expert. Insist on seeing many before and after photos. In our practice we routinely encourage our new patients to observe our postoperative patients when they come in for a routine follow up.

Most facelift operations are designed so that there is minimal displacement of hair lines. The incision can be adjusted to eliminate even these modest changes.

Most of us who are in practice over 10-15 years learned an incision that goes up into the hairline above the ear. This could raise the sideburn hairline un-naturally. More modern incisions follow around the sideburn or "temporal tuft." If closed with meticulous technique, this incision should be barely visible and then only to the trained eye.

Short scar, double-S, MACS, etc. facelifts have the common result of keeping the sideburn in its preoperative location. Most of the time, the scars are faint, difficult to see. However, every patient is different and a complete evaluation is necessary before making the decision on which type of facelift is right for you.

If your main concern is the side burn, then the incision along the hairline is the right choice.

Hair transplantation can be done, but in most cases is not necessary with this approach, especially if careful beveling at the hairline has been performed.

I don't recommend hair transplantation at the same time as rhytidectomy.

Good luck.