Facelift
Why Facelift?
Are you sometimes surprised by what you see in the mirror? Do you look sad, grumpy, and weary even when you’re not? If lines around the mouth and sagging cheeks and jowls are starting to creep up on your appearance, making you look older and more tired than you really are, a face lift may be able to help.
At Reflections Cosmetic Surgery in Cartersville, GA, our lifts give patients natural results that are both youthful and beautiful.
At Reflections Cosmetic Surgery we are pleased to offer lipo 360. This procedure also uses Vaser Liposuction to allow for a smoother, and gentle, more controlled liposuction procedure for precise body contouring and figure refinement.
Read on to find out if this cosmetic surgery procedure is a good fit for you.
What Is a Facelift?
The facelift is an outpatient treatment that can smooth over wrinkles, remove the excess skin, and bring back the natural position of the cheek and contour the jawline. Patients who have undergone this treatment enjoy a refreshed and more relaxed appearance. Patients sometimes opt to combine this type of lift with fat transfers to the face and other cosmetic treatments, such as laser resurfacing. There are multiple types of facelifts: full face, lower face and neck, SMAS resection face lift and deep plane face lift just to name a few. In this content page, we will focus on the lower face and neck with a SMAS resection.What Happens During a Lower Face and Neck Lift?
The facelift is an outpatient treatment that can smooth over wrinkles, remove the excess skin, and bring back the natural position of the cheek and contour the jawline.
Patients who have undergone this treatment enjoy a refreshed and more relaxed appearance. Patients sometimes opt to combine this type of lift with fat transfers to the face and other cosmetic treatments, such as laser resurfacing.
There are multiple types of facelifts: full face, lower face and neck, SMAS resection face lift and deep plane face lift just to name a few. In this content page, we will focus on the lower face and neck with a SMAS resection.
What Happens During a Lower Face and Neck Lift
A lower face and neck lift take about two hours to complete and involves the use of general anesthesia. Incisions made near the temple and run along the front of the ear, underneath and on the back of the ear and into the hairline on the side of the head, directly behind the ear.
The skin is elevated and a strip of the SMAS (superficial muscular aponeurotic system) is resected. This allows for the face connective tissues and muscle to be elevated. This in turn allows for excess skin to be removed.
The aim is to tighten the lower face and neck a way that minimizes sagging skin and creates a more defined jawline. At the conclusion of the treatment, the incision will be closed, the area will be cleansed, and your head and face will be bandaged.
What Does Recovery All Entail?
Most patients complain more of the bulky head dressing the first 24 hours than the actual surgical pain. Patients usually only require about two days of narcotic pain medications like Percocet.
Following this period, most patients do fine with Tylenol. Plan to spend about a week recovering at home after this treatment. During this time, you’ll be advised to keep your head elevated and refrain from strenuous exercise.
When you leave after your treatment, you’ll have specific instructions on how to care for your facelift over the next few days.
Is This Treatment Permanent?
A facelift can resolve your concerns about your mid and lower face semi-permanently. No surgical procedure is truly permanent.
As we age and our skin loses collagen and our facial fat continues to atrophy (breakdown) the skin will start to become looser again. However, your skin will still be more taught than if you never had the facelift performed.
Most patients enjoy the facelift their entire life and rare go back 15-20 years later for another lift. Your face will continue to age and evolve, but the lifting and tightening associated with this treatment offer long-lasting results.
What Other Options Do I Have for Face Renewal?
Along with the lower face and neck lift, there are plenty of other options to maximize your results. If the muscles on the neck are loose and separated then a platysmoplasty can be performed. This is suturing the muscles on the neck back together.
Most people who are at the level of wanting a facelift also have facial fat atrophy. Everyone believes that fat is the enemy, however in face, this is the complete opposite. The fat in our face atrophies and the muscles and ligaments tend to stretch with gravity and time. This fat can be replaced with a fat graft or fat transfer. Simply put, the fat is removed from a donor site on the body and placed back into the face. Recovery for this is minimal and may cause some bruising.
A facelift addresses the loose, redundant skin, however it doesn’t address the skin quality. Most people who require a facelift also require skin resurfacing. Increasing the amount of collagen in the skin and remodeling the elastin helps to create a more youthful skin that will compliment the facelift. This can be achieved with deep chemical peels, CO2 lasers, and microneedling with RF.
What does Facelift Surgery cost in Cartersville, GA?
The cost for any cosmetic procedure is extremely variable. It depends on patient’s goals, their body habitus, and their physiology. It also depends on the surgeon’s experience and expertise.
Price shopping for a cosmetic surgery is something that isn’t recommended and must be done with caution. National averages can be seen on the American Society of Plastic Surgeons website found at plasticsurgery.org/cosmetic-procedures.
Choose the surgeon and practice that makes you the most comfortable and is the correct fit for you.
Dr. Gusching will discuss the cost of your individual procedure with you at your consultation. We are proud to offer CareCredit® and Patientfi financing to our clients whom wish to use convenient monthly plans. For more information, visit our financing page.
Why Choose Us?
We Offer A Complete Range Of Plastic Surgery Services
Meet Your Surgeon...
“It takes heart, commitment, and unending dedication to become an exceptional surgeon. Dr. Justin Gusching has worked hard at developing each of these special qualities.”
Dr. Gusching completed his cosmetic surgery fellowship through the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery (AACS) at Southern Surgical Arts.
He has since been refining his artistic eye and his excellence in cosmetic surgery.
Read more about Dr. Justin Gusching