No Better Doctor Anywhere to Be Found!!! - New York, NY

Run to Dr. Yang...you won't be disappointed! Exceptional doctor who achieves outstanding results. Couldn't sing his praises enough!

Specifics of the procedure itself..MiniLift with Necklift

I am almost 58 years old and have liposuction under my chin twice for a neck/chin profile which always bothered me. I tended to have a little "extra" fat under there which created a little tenting of the skin and not a nice chiseled neck profile.
I was about 45 when I had it done first, then again at about 53 or so.
After the last time, as I started to heal from the lipo, my platysmal bands started to really show, and while I didn't have any fat under there, the liposuctiuon actually caused the "banding" of those muscles to become more prominent. One side was more obvious than the other, and also developed just a little extra loose skin typical for someone my age. Not a huge amount of jowling, but my neck was something that I felt really aged me.

As I said earlier in my first post, I saw doctor Yang about two years ago, and at that time was only considering the necklift alone, not a facelift. However, two years later, we both felt, if I was to have the surgery it made sense to address it all in one procedure since I was not getting any younger :)

We decided on a mini facelift, and necklift, and Dr. Yang, with a small incision under my chin, sutured the platysmal bands together so they would not be separated as two distinct muscles, and trimmed off excess neck and facial skin.
The incisions were placed on the outside of the tragus of my ear, went around behind
my ear and a short scar into my hairline. There were numerous discussion about placement of the incisions in front of my ear rather than having the incision come down in front, and wrap inside the ear over the tragus and then outside the ear.
Dr. Yang decides based on your anatomy of your ear as to what is best for you and takes pride in his technique of retaining the integrity of what you had before the surgery so that there would be NO distortion of the tragus/ear area which are tell tale signs of a face lift. He can pick them out right away, and so can I.
Even done properly, as he can, the post-tragal incisions often look odd.
We had endless discussions about this and even though I was dubious about having a potentially uninterrupted scar, I trusted him implicitly to do what was best, which for me was saying alot :)
I had a choice to have the surgery in his office under local anesthesia, but opted to have it in an operating suite with local and iv sedation. The benefit was that Dr. Yang could use tissue glue which has the benefit of less bruising and he said he might be able to do a little deepr undermining of the face with this deeper anesthesia.

I didn't feel one thing, although Dr. Yang said I was awake and could talk...but I have no memory of anything. I awakened with no ill effects, went home bandaged and was at my kitchen sink cooking and washing with no pain and felt great.
My head and neck were completely bandaged and was told to sleep upright for a few days, and ice the chin through the bandages on and off for a day or two.
Day two I saw Dr. Yang for him to check for hematomas, and I had none.
Day 3 or 4 I removed my own bandage and was able to shower for the first time.
I did take some pain meds for the first few days, but there really was little pain, just
a bit of stiffness and tenderness under my chin...couldn't open my mouth really wide for a few days..but overall the recovery was easier than I thought it would be.
Day 5 some stiches came out along the side of the ear, then day 8 which was a Saturday, I met Dr. Yang in his office for the last of the stiches to be removed. Steri strips were applied which were carefully and meticulously cut and placed over the incisions in front of the ear and under my chin. They were supposed to fall off after a few days, and they are still paritally on. I have to say, they camoflauged the surgical
area very well and I was out and about and NO one could tell!!!!! I find this amazing really that even at one week, it was almost impossible to know that I had anything done.
He feels it is very important to remove them at the exact time, even on a weekend :)
During this whole time, he instructed me to wear an ace bandage wrapped around my head under the chin, for 16 hours the first week, 12 hours, the second week and 8 hours the 3rd and 4th week.
I had some visible bruising and yellowing on my face and neck for about one week...but honestly was astounded at how fast the bruising faded.
I am not a bit more than two weeks post surgery and I look like a better version of my previous self. I do not look wndswept, or face-lifted, but a natural result, which is healing incredibly well. My neck is the most marked difference in my appearance, and it is just amazing. I now say, "What was I waiting for?"
Still have a little swelling under the chin and behind my ears, which are resolving a little bit each day. I will see Dr. Yang at my 6 week post op visit on May 22nd, 2012.

Dr. Yang exceeded my expectations in every way.