Different Ways to Approach to the Traditional Facelift
As one of the most popular and heavily in-demand plastic surgery procedures of all time, the facelift has gone through an interesting renaissance throughout the years. With iterations that began as early as the 1960’s, throughout its long history, the facelift itself has in some ways, gone through a facelift in itself – with different versions offering patients a wide variety of different results, and overall procedure types. According to Dr. Richard Swift, the top facelift specialist NYC has to offer, aside from an off-year here and there, the facelift has firmly solidified its place amongst the top five cosmetic plastic surgery procedures across the United States. This is especially interesting, as throughout the years we have seen a drastic increase in minimally invasive procedure methods, including injectable dermal fillers, Botox and other neuromodulator injections, as well as a variety of different laser skin rejuvenation techniques – many of which have shown patients amazing non-surgical results.
One of the most important factors for the facelift and similar facial plastic surgery procedures, according to Dr. Swift, the top facelift specialist NYC has in practice, is the ability to reduce the presence of premature signs of aging. As we age, the diminishing production of vital compounds, proteins and fundamental building blocks such as collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid can lead to the gradual breakdown in skin firmness or elasticity, volume and texture. This process can vary from person to person in how quickly or slowly it occurs, depending on both genetic and environmental factors.
Over the years, no matter where patients are looking to achieve their desired enhancement, non-surgical options have begun to sprout up quite a bit – allowing us to address the fairly common aging concerns, we previously mentioned. According to Dr. Swift, the top facelift specialist NYC has in practice, issues such as skin tone and texture imperfections cannot be corrected surgically – but when it comes to achieving more dramatic, longer-term improvements in age-related shifts to skin, fat and other tissue in the face and neck, a facelift or rhytidectomy surgery is still the most effective option. Many surgeons will even note that the minimally invasive procedures can and have served as a gateway to a facelift. According to the best facelift surgeon NYC has to offer, such minimally invasive procedures can, in a way, warm patients up to the idea of additional facial enhancement procedures and the concept of cosmetic procedures in general – even taking things one step further, and opting for surgery.
In many cases, as patients look to deal with their facial issues over time, they will often slowly decide to move up the ladder, higher and higher. Often, this occurs due to the realization that non-surgical procedures are not enough to get the results they are looking for – or they may simply grow tired of the discomfort, inconvenience and expense that come with having to repeat minimally invasive treatments to continuously maintain their results. This is the case because non-surgical methods, like Botox or injectable dermal fillers will need to be repeated every 6 to 12 months. This is important to understand, as facelift procedures since their initial inception have consisted of simply tightening and pulling the skin tightly, into its new position, then removing (cutting off) the remnants of unwanted skin tissue. But relying on a one-dimensional approach resulted in the well-known, unnaturally stiff and mask-like appearance that many individuals outside the medical community have come to associate with the procedure.
In order to get the best results possible, it means a much longer-lasting and far more natural approach to facial rejuvenation – incorporating techniques that work on the fat, as well as the sheaths of tissue beneath the skin itself. According to Dr. Swift, the best facelift surgeon NYC has to offer, making a small flap through incisions in the skin allows a surgeon access to the stronger, deeper layers of tissue between muscle and fat, known as the SMAS (superficial muscular aponeurotic sheath). Precise manipulation of the skin flap can reposition the SMAS to achieve a multi-dimensional result that both tightens and lifts the face to result in better volume and contour of the cheeks, definition of the jawline and firmness of the neck. This type of procedure is sometimes referred to as a high-SMAS or deep plane facelift – which also often means removing fatty tissue immediately beneath the skin’s surface tissue, along the neck, chin, jawline and more. In addition to the conventional facelift option as outlined above, according to Dr. Swift, the best facelift surgeon NYC has practicing, there are also less extensive versions of the procedure as well that might be right for those patients who might not require as severe of a level of correction as others. These modern, less invasive methods of the facelift include procedures such as the mini facelift, S-lift, neck lift and more. For more information on the many options for your facelift, be sure to contact Dr. Swift today.