Gravity affects everything: the brows, the upper eyelids, the face and the neck. The brow descends and causes hooding of the upper eyelid. The lower eyelids start getting bags and folds of skin. Facial skin descends and moves forward to produce prominent cheek folds and jowls. And the neck skin droops to give you double chin and unsightly skin and muscle folds. What to do?
Browlift
Browlift is a procedure that is often performed alone but is more commonly performed as a part of other procedures, such as upper eyelid reduction. The procedure involves making several two cm incisions within the hairline to make them unnoticeable. The brow is then freed from the bone and lifted to a higher position to achieve a younger look. It is important to take care with the brow position to prevent a pulled or surprised look. The position of the lifted brow is maintained with fixation to the bone. This procedure has been shown to maintain the position well for many years after surgery. Its main benefit is to improve the appearance of the upper eyelids and minimize the hooding that often accompanies upper eyelid ageing. A browlift will give your face a more open-eyed, brighter appearance.
An isolated browlift is performed under general anaesthetic on a day-stay basis. You would expect to have a week off work
Eyelid surgery
Most ageing problems in the eyelids can be corrected with surgery. In the upper eyelids, this means excising the redundant, hooded skin and muscle. This is the skin excess that is responsible for the "hanging curtain" appearance that can make you look tired or unhealthy. It is often combined with a browlift to improve the appearance and the longevity of the result even further.
In the lower eyelid, pouching or "bags" under the eyes are the most common target of surgical correction. This is often combined with folds of redundant skin and festoons of stretched muscle. Again, surgery is aimed at correcting both of these separately, although they are usually performed together. The beauty of this approach is that the treatment can be tailored to each individual, depending on where the main problem is.
Eyelid surgery is often performed as a separate, stand-alone procedure in day surgery. It is usually performed under general anaesthetic, though it can also be done under intravenous sedation. Recovery will usually take in the order of two weeks.
Facelift/necklift
Any of the following conditions may make you are a good candidate for facelift surgery:
- A deep line, or fold, running from the corner of your nose to the corner of your mouth
- Jowls, or loss of a well defined jawline associated with youthfulness
- Deep wrinkles in the cheeks and sagging of the "highlight" areas of the cheekbones
- Loose skin, wrinkles, vertical folds or excess fatty tissue in the neck
A facelift can improve all of these problems.
Although there are many variations to the facelift operation, incisions are hidden in the hairline of the temple and the natural creases in front of the ear. The incision then curves around the earlobe, behind the ear and is camouflaged in the scalp. After surgery, incisions can be easily concealed by your hair or with makeup.
Through the concealed incisions, the surgeon is able to free the skin from the underlying tissues to the extent necessary for the particular surgical technique selected. The deeper tissues may be repositioned in order to restore a more youthful contour to your face. The skin is then repositioned up and back and the excess is removed. If necessary, a small incision beneath the chin permits the removal of fatty tissue in that area and smoothing of the cord like structures of the underlying muscle in the neck.
How long does the operation take?
The operation takes three to five hours, depending on the extent of each case. Your facelift may be performed in a hospital or a day surgery centre. It is usually performed under general anaesthetic, but may be done under intravenous (twilight) sedation.
When surgery is completed, you will be taken into a recovery area where you will continue to be closely monitored. A bandage may have been wrapped around your face to help minimise swelling. Small suction tubes are sometimes inserted under the skin to drain away fluids that might otherwise accumulate, but you will not feel these. In fact, there is surprisingly little discomfort after the operation.
You would expect to recover after about three weeks and be back at work around this time.
Modern face-lifting surgery is designed to prevent the pulled or "wind tunnel" look of facelifts past. It should make you look younger and refreshed.
Combining procedures
Perhaps the most impressive results occur when some or even all of the above procedures are combined in the same operation. Combination procedures tend to produce the most balanced and complete results that literally take many years off your appearance. They do take longer to recover from but after four weeks or so you will be back at work and looking fantastic.
Dr Mark Kohout FRACS
Plastic Surgeon
Ph: 1300 551 151
www.drmarkkohout.com.au.
info@drmarkkohout.com.au
Leichhardt — Bondi Junction — Orange NSW
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