Is It Time to Have a Conversation About a Facelift?
Here is a not so secret, secret: A youthful appearance is like a two-faced friend. You can do everything right to appease the skincare gods, but your genetics, general health, wellness, and even your environment can betray you. Despite taking the utmost care with SPF, products, and fillers, and neurotoxins you may have started to notice more sagging, pooling, and wrinkling and even more disappointingly, only partial correction with injectables. If this is you, then this may be the right time to consider the next step on your rejuvenation journey: A facelift.
A facelift? You?
A facelift offers exciting opportunities to rejuvenate your face and enhance your features, with natural-looking results. but this is not a decision you must make alone or in haste.
My patients are often surprised to learn that a facelift is not an “all or nothing proposition.” There are many options in addition to a full facelift. Sometimes a brow lift plus fillers may be the way to go, or just a mini or mid-facelift will give you the refreshed look you want.
Patients are also surprised to learn that the decision to undergo a facelift is never solely based on age. Their reaction sometimes is “I’m too young for that!” The truth is everyone ages differently, and the year of your birth is just one of several factors to consider before deciding if you are a candidate for cosmetic facial surgery. Some people able to starve off a facelift until age 60 and others are candidates in their late 40’s? Let’s explore.
The Two Faces of Aging
Aging is not just dependent on a calendar year. There are Intrinsic and extrinsic factors that contribute to the way we grow older. Intrinsic aging is caused by inflammation, stress, and your genes (thanks mom and dad!). In short, much of intrinsic aging is beyond our control and results in atrophy, thin skin, dry skin, and fine lines, and wrinkles.
Extrinsic aging or photoaging is not as capricious as intrinsic aging and we can take some steps to fight back. SPF, antioxidants, proper diet and favorite hydrating products go a long way to protecting the skin. Refraining from smoking and alcohol consumption helps keep our outsides and insides young and supple. Equally as important are environmental factors.
Environmental elements that are unkind to the skin include pollution, climate, gusting winds, and harsh water. All of which can lead to dry, tight skin, deplete skin of moisture, collagen, and elastin. Studies on twins revealed that the environment has a big impact on our skin. Twins who lived in skin-friendly climates showed less damage than their twin sibling who lived in harsher climates.
Dr. Hove Facelift Patient:
Before After
Pump up the Volume. Here is what a facelift can do
Loss of volume due to aging contributes to droopy skin. Neurotoxin treatment marketed under the brand names Botox®️ and Dysport®️ and dermal fillers comprised of hyaluron to plump the skin, do a great job in temporarily tightening the brow, and restoring youthful contours to the face, but they do not address laxity, lack of elasticity, or tightening the muscle.
Only a facelift can do this.
Simultaneously, excess fat around the neck can be removed with liposuction, cheekbones defined with fillers and implants, brows tightened and skin retexturized, and brightened with a CO2 laser.
A facelift is no longer just tightening skin, it is about reconstructing the look you want and restoring your confidence.
A gift with a lift - Your confidence will thank you.
Just as no one ages the same way, no one’s needs are the same.
There are so many ways a qualified facial plastic surgeon can make you feel and look better. Be sure to select a surgeon who is a board-certified facial plastic surgeon and an ENT surgeon. You want to entrust your face and neck to a specialist who is focused solely on the face and neck.
There is no time like now to explore surgical options – who would have thought working from home could be so convenient?
Dr. Christopher Hove in Paoli, PA, is a board-certified facial plastic surgeon who has dedicated his career to performing cosmetic and reconstructive surgery of the face. A graduate of Cornell, Temple and Stanford Universities, he focuses his plastic surgery expertise on refining areas such as the eyes, brow, nose, lips, cheeks, ears, neck, and chin.
