A facelift is certainly the gold standard for facial aging, but does it always treat the neck? What’s the purpose of a neck lift? Which procedure do you need? This blog answers these questions and more, so you can choose the right procedure for your needs.
Choosing the Right Procedure for Your Facial Aging Concerns
Facelifts have long been regarded as the ideal procedure for patients experiencing facial aging. When skin sags, tissues become lax, and contours become more blurred; it may be time to consider the procedure.
While facelifts provide the most comprehensive facial rejuvenation results overall, a common question patients ask is: Will it address my neck, too?
The answer is that it certainly can. We’ll discuss the possibilities and limitations of a facelift—and when it’s necessary to combine procedures below.
What Can a Facelift Achieve?
While we all have unique features, genetics, and lifestyles that affect the rate at which we age, the face typically ages in specific ways. Volume decreases as collagen and elastin production slow, resulting in thinner, less supportive skin. We also tend to lose fat in the mid-face and gain fat in the neck. As this happens, the skin loses some elasticity and wrinkles become more pronounced, while the jaw and neckline sag. The areas of the face most obviously affected by these aging issues are those that a traditional facelift treats: sagging, undefined tissues in the cheeks, jawline, and neck.
Facelift Procedure Steps
The goal of a facelift is to subtly lift sagging features to a natural, youthful position. Essentially, you want a result that places your tissues back into the position they were at a younger stage of life, and not into positions they never were. Additionally, the deeper tissues need to be re-positioned more vertically and the skin more horizontally. The skin should not have any tension applied to it. When skin is stretched tightly, patients look “windswept” and odd. That type of outcome should be a thing of the past.
Dr. Patti Flint is a board-certified plastic surgeon in Scottsdale who is passionate about providing long-lasting, natural-looking facelift results. Her approach to facelifts involves combining surgical and non-surgical treatments to achieve the best possible outcomes for her patients. This philosophy of multimodal treatments, when properly balanced, yields better and more complete results. Most patients over 45 years of age benefit from a combination of medical-grade skin care, BOTOX® Cosmetic, filler, surgery, and laser treatments. Knowing how to combine these treatments in the proper way is where the results obtained become dramatically better than surgery alone. Dr. Flint chooses to provide all of these treatments herself to ensure excellent results.
Dr. Flint uses an extended SMAS facelift technique, which generally involves the following:
- The skin of the mid-face, jawline, and neck is lifted after making incisions around the ears and under the chin.
- The deeper tissues, called the SMAS, are then lifted separately. The SMAS is made up of connective tissue, muscle, and fat.
- The SMAS is lifted vertically and sutured into a more youthful position.
- The platysma muscle in the neck is in the same layer as the SMAS in the face, and it is also tightened with sutures to correct banding and laxity in the central neck.
- Excess fat is removed from the jawline and neck.
- Dr. Flint then redrapes the skin without tension in a horizontal or backward direction while avoiding tension, as tension can make the face look pulled or unnatural.
- Excess skin is then removed, and the incisions are closed with sutures.
The reason Dr. Flint prefers an extended SMAS technique is that it allows greater customization of the direction the tissues are moved. This is in contrast to a deep plane lift where both the skin and deeper tissues are moved straight vertically. In her opinion, moving skin vertically, especially in patients over 50, can result in very operated-looking results.
How Does a Facelift Improve the Neck?
Facelifts can address certain areas of the neck to an extent. When the tissues are lifted and the skin is draped appropriately, jowls in the jawline are tightened and reduced. A facelift can address mild to moderate concerns as long as they are close to the treatment area, which, for most patients, they usually are. However, it is rare for a patient with jawline laxity not to have neckline laxity, so the vast majority of the time Dr. Flint performs a facelift, she also includes a neck lift.
What Is a Neck Lift?
A neck lift is a rejuvenation procedure specifically designed to address concerns throughout the length of your neck. A neck lift can treat:
- Excess skin that hangs down and is lax under the chin, sometimes called a “turkey neck.”
- Deposits of fat under the chin and around the neck.
- Neck bands, or vertical bands throughout the neck (lax muscle).
- Wrinkles, creases, and a lack of definition.
Neck lifts are most often necessary for patients with more severe facial aging, and are typically paired with a facelift—most patients won’t need a neck lift alone, unless they had a facelift already, and therefore the neck looks more aged by comparison.
Which Procedure Do I Need?
The best way to determine which procedure will be best for you is to schedule a consultation with a board-certified plastic surgeon who can examine your face and give you an assessment. They will be able to advise you on whether a facelift might be sufficient for your neck aging concerns, or if pairing it with a neck lift will be the best option.
Want to Learn More About Facelifts in Scottsdale, AZ?
Call Dr. Patti Flint today at (480) 945-3300 or complete the contact form to schedule a consultation for an honest assessment and helpful guidance for your facial rejuvenation procedure.
Categorized in: Facelift