63 year old bald man wants facelift. Worried about scars - what procedures are available in this situation?

Great question and this will require a consultation with an experience plastic surgeon to discuss options based on your goals and anatomy. choosing your plastic surgeonFacelift: choosing your plastic surgeonSurgeons can be qualified for a variety of reasons, but you can help select one with the following info:Board Certified by The American Board of Plastic Surgeonsnot ..... Board of Cosmetic surgeonsmember of ASAPSyears of experiencereferral from a friend who is happy

The facelift scars can be altered to deal with your hair loss pattern.  If you shave your head completely as opposed to leaving some around the sides, camouflaging the scars will be a bit more difficult.

In typical male alopecia, there is hair in the sideburn region and in the post auricular region that can be used to hide the scar, so a facelift can be successfully performed in these patients.  It is harder to hide brow lift scars in this population of patients. 

Careful placement of the incision is more critical in male patient due to male pattern baldness.  I advise asking to view before and after photos of male facelift patients.

I suggest you consult a board certified facial plastic surgeon
to receive the highest quality knowledge, treatment, care and skill available. A consultation provides you the opportunity to relay your concerns and desired outcome to the surgeon while the surgeon can assess your health profile and discuss his/her pertinent advice. There are both surgical and nonsurgical options to address your concern. Please check out the attached video for more information.

If the facelift is being done to primarily address sagging skin of the neck, sometimes the incision can be done entirely on the neck without having to place incisions on the sides of the face on a bald man.  Pictures or an exam would be needed to determine if you might be a good candidate for such a procedure.   

There are ways to hid incisions on bald men seeking a facelift.  In men that are bald, the incisions have to be hidden in a few areas:1)  In the natural crease in front of the ear2)  On the backside of the ear3)  Underneath the chinAll 3 of these incisions can be well hidden so your incisions will not be visible after a facelift.  Of note- Limiting the extent of your incisions may limit how aggressive of a facelift that can be performed.  You should take this into consideration if you have a very heavy neck.  I hope this helps.  

 This is a very good question.   Facelifts on men are different than in women.   On bald men surgeons need to know where to place the incisions .   This is a unique challenge.   The goal of a facelift is to give a result that has hidden scars.   This can still be accomplished on a man with no hair.   It is more difficult and requires more skill.   The goal of a facelift in a man is to achieve a strong neck and jaw line.   Also the face must be lifted to give a great result.   The usual placement of incisions on a patient with hair is different then on a patient with no hair.   This is the more difficult challenge in a patient with no hair.   The same results can be achieved however the incisions are limited and the surgeon must know how to work around those limited incisions.   Having trained in this area, I enjoy doing facelifts on men with no hair.   There a particular surgical  steps that must be utilized to give the same result in a patient with hair.   And again placement of these incisions is critical and must be placed in the spot where they cannot be visualized after surgery.  Also on the addition of fat transfer in facelifting gives a better result and should be utilized in men with no hair.   Finally it is possible to get a great result for a facelift on a bald man and good luck with your search.  Thank you for your question.  

Your face is your diamond.  Polish it very well.

The incision placement and scars are a major concern of male patients. It is difficult to advise our prospective patient without a photo. Typical male pattern baldness poses a minimal problem and the incisions can be camouflaged similar to a female facelift.  If the male patient has a light beard then the incision in front of the ear can be place behind the tragus (small piece of cartilage in front of the ear) or "inside" the ear just as would frequently be done for a female. If the beard is heavy the incision in front of the ear is placed in the natural crease most men have and that heal very well and almost invisibly in most cases.  See our photos on the web links below. If you are totally bald it is more difficult. In that situation we would do a "short scar lift' with incisions mainly in the creases in front and behind the ear.  This limits the amount of lift especially in the neck and sometime results in "bunching" behind the year that takes time to resolve.  Never the less results are good with minimal scarring.

Thank you for your question.  It is a little difficult to fully answer your question without a picture of your hair pattern, but in general it is very possible to do a facelift and/or necklift for a man that is bald.  It somewhat depends if your concerns are mostly in the lower face and jowls, or if you are concerned about your neck as well.  If there is absolutely no hair, then some of the incisions (and scars) will be visible.  Remember that scars fade with time, and that scars are a trade off that sometimes have to be made in order to get the correction needed during surgery.  The best advise would be to schedule a consultation with a Plastic Surgeon who has experience with facelift surgery.  Best of luck!