Facelift Tampa Face Lift Surgery St Petersburg, Clearwater, Florida

As you can imagine, face lifts are common procedures at our Clearwater Center for Cosmetic Surgery. In educating you about face lifts I would like to emphasize that there are dozen and dozens of variations of face lifts. I can not adequately describe each and every one of them here. However, I have categorized them as traditional face lifts, mini-facelifts, Rejuvenation, and non-surgical facelifts. Within each of these categories there may be variations in techniques but I will focus on the broad differences.

Traditional face lift

A traditional facelift is probably the one that most people are familiar with when seeing patients who have had a face lift. In fact, there are probably some celebrities that come to mind when you think of a face lift. This is usually the face lift method that is MAY be obvious to you. You may even point them out to one another in the mall. However, rest assured that not all traditional facelifts have this “swept back”, “wind blown”, or “wind tunnel” effect.

This “wind tunnel” effect comes from the manner in which the skin and underlying muscle are pulled. For simplification purposes, imagine that the underlying “muscle layer” (called the SMAS) is pulled in a vertical direction and the skin in a diagonal direction. If the skin or muscle are pulled too much in their line of pull then the “wind tunnel” effect can occur. Not all traditional face lifts result in this effect. There are many Tampa area patients that have had a traditional facelift at the Clearwater Center for Cosmetic Surgery that do not have this appearance. You just don’t point them out at the mall. This “swept back” appearance is one of the POTENTIAL downsides of this type of face lift. However, for some this is clearly the best option. Generally, I use this method mostly on women over 60 years of age. Take a look at some of the traditional face lift patients in the photo gallery.

One of the main advantages to the traditional face lift is that one can obtain long lasting results. Some last as long as 10-15 years. Also, when someone has a very loose neck and very loose facial skin this option is the best because it is also slightly more aggressive a pull than the other methods I will describe. The traditional facelift elevates and pulls the muscle, SMAS, and restores the normal anatomy of the muscle, SMAS layer.

Some of the disadvantages include slightly longer operative time of about 3-4 hours, longer recovery of about 2 weeks, and higher risk of injury to facial nerves. These are relatively mild disadvantages but ones that as facial surgeons we try to minimize. These are the main reasons some of the newer mini-face lift methods have been developed.

Mini-face lift

A mini-face lift attempts to improve upon the shortcomings of the traditional face lift. In particular the risk of injury to nerves and recovery time are improved with the various techniques. A mini-face lift may involve a shorter incision, different incision line, and may even involve different methods of pull of the SMAS layer. In fact, some methods barely address the SMAS layer. Many of these variations are up to the individual facial surgeon.

I choose to vary my mini-face lift method to suit the needs of the patient. So I really have no set way of doing the mini face-lift. After I evaluate you I use my experience and knowledge to plan the method I think will work best for you. During your evaluation I will discuss these options with you and tell you the pros and cons to each method.

A mini-face lift typically takes between 1 ½-2 ½ hours and has a shorter recovery of about 7-10 days in most cases. The results last about 10 years. There is also a much lower chance of injury to the facial nerves because the pull of the SMAS is generally done without elevating it. Since the nerves are underneath the SMAS, the chance of injury is considerably lower. Generally, this method is designed for people between 45-65 years of age. Check out the photo gallery for plenty of before and after photos of Tampa, Sarasota, and West Central Florida mini-face lift patients.

Rejuvenation Lift

I classify a Rejuvenation Lift as a type of mini-face lift. It utilizes sutures to pull the SMAS layer to the normal anatomic position. I like this procedure because it can achieve excellent pull of the neck and jowls with a very natural appearance. Over the last few years, I have modified this method to achieve even better results in my opinion. I have incorporated many of the best parts of the traditional face lift methods but in my opinion without increasing the down time or risks appreciably. In particular, I am able to use this method for more and more really loose necks. Look at the before and after photos in the photo gallery for some examples. I also like this method because there is generally less bruising and swelling. Many women are back to work or comfortable attending a formal social gathering in about 10 days after surgery.

Non-surgical face lift

Non-surgical facelifts involve utilizing various methods of facial rejuvenation that do not involve an incision. In my practice this can involve laser or injectables like Botox, Restylane, Juvederm, and Sculptra to name a few. As always, I tailor each individual modality to each and every patient. With these non-surgical facelift options, the recovery time is anywhere from an hour to a few days depending on what is chosen. Typically, most these methods can be done in about 1 hour or less. The best non-surgical facelift options often combine many of these methods for the best results. There are so many possible combinations of one or more of these methods that if this is what you are interested in then you should see me for an evaluation to best discuss this option with you. You can get more information about each individual injectable or laser method by visiting those sections of this website.

For more information on the most frequent non-surgical facelift methods click on the following links:

• Laser
• Botox
• Restylane
• Juvederm
• Radiesse
• Sculptra
  

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