Defy the Visible Signs Of Aging With a Facelift

The onset of aging shows itself most visibly on your skin. Your facial skin sags and wrinkles, and your neck muscles and skin lose their firmness as well, leading to ‘turkey necks’ and sagging jowls. What’s worse, there are other factors which can speed up the process; exposure to the sun, changes in your weight, and your genes all contribute to make the skin sag much faster than the usual. Facelifts reverse the visible symptoms of aging by tightening the facial and neck skin; you can get rid of facial skin sags or a double chin, or minimize the eyelid and forehead creases through this cosmetic surgery procedure.

A facelift does two things: it removes excess facial skin, and it firms up the soft tissues on the same area. To have an understanding on how a facelift can be beneficial to you, try placing your fingers on the soft part of your cheeks, and then pull it gently upwards and back. Then pinch the soft skin right in front of your ears and pull it; this basically the amount of skin you could lose to obtain an ideal, youthful look. Face lifts may be performed in four procedures, depending on your condition: a two-layer lift, a subperiosteal lift, a skin-only lift, a neck lift, or an endoscopic lift. A facelift usually involves incisions at the ear contours, starting from the front, and continues on around the lobes and the hairline. The skin is separated from the muscles and then pulled up to be tightened, or the underlying tissue is tightened as well before being pulled up and trimmed.

The incisions are sutured or stitched, or metal staples may be used on the scalp to hold the skin. Patients who opt to smoothen out their chin and neck may also have a minor incision beneath the chin. In this case, a drainage tube is inserted under the skin to siphon out the excess blood, and to prevent inflammation. The head is thoroughly bandaged to aid in the recovery of the incisions and to prevent inflammation.

Ideal candidates for a facelift include those who experience skin sags on the face due to aging, or for those which bear medical conditions which also necessitate the procedure. It is a requirement though that the patient’s skin should still be elastic enough for the procedure, with a facial bone structure which is strong and definable. Most candidates are well within their middle age, but people who are in their senior ages (70-80) can benefit from the procedure as well.

Facelifts are invasive, and as such, they involve recovery periods which depend on the extent of the procedure. Swollenness and bruising is expected, and the face may temporarily lose any sensation to stimulus for months. Take note, however, that these are normal symptoms involved in the recovery process, and a doctor may guide the patient in dealing with them. Do avoid strenuous activities for the first few weeks following the procedure in order not to exacerbate the wound inflammation. Once the sutures and incisions heal, the resulting scars are evident, but these are conveniently located in areas which can easily be concealed by the hair, or with sufficient clothing.