IS THE FACELIFT
OBSOLETE?
WHEN YOU look in the mirror and your appearance doesn’ t reflect the person you feel like, you may ask yourself, how did that happen? Maybe you think a facelift is the answer, but the idea of a risky cosmetic surgery just doesn ' t appeal to you. We will discuss what leads to the appearance of aging, its underlying causes, and how the causes can be slowed down and, to some degree, reversed. Let me introduce you to the three Ds.
DEFLATION
We used to perform facelifts with an incision made around the earlobe and the muscles were pulled and reattached. This would lift up the lower face, the skin would be re-draped, and the extra skin would be trimmed off. However, you don ' t grow more skin as you age. Ever use your hands to pull your face back to simulate a facelift? Nature doesn ' t work that way. Your muscles and connective tissue do not get longer, your face simply deflates.
Take a look at a grandmother, mother, and daughter of the same family. You’ ll be able to observe deflation firsthand. You ' ll notice that the grand mother ' s temples are hollow; you can see the outline of her eye sockets; and the bulges of her cheekbones. You ' ll notice that her jawline looks a bit bony. The deep fat pockets that create the shape of a youthful face have deflated. Because our faces are constantly exposed to ultraviolet light, and light travels through our skin, the fat pockets that define our youth deflate, get smaller, and eventually reveal the skull as we age.
Now you can understand why we are getting away from facelifts that involve lifting the muscles back up over a deflated face, and instead turning to re-inflating deep fat pockets. The beauty of this new technique is that it is done with tiny little injections that can restore the fat pockets to their original volume. When this happens, skin that looks saggy re-drapes itself into a more youthful appearance.
These fillers range from semi-permanent to permanent. We will sometimes use permanent fillers in the deepest fat pockets and use the semi-permanent fillers closer to the skin. Instead of pulling back the face, tightening the muscles, and trimming off the skin, we are correcting the very cause of facial aging more naturally.
DETERIORATION
When you notice uneven skin tone, diminished texture, decreased smoothness, uneven color, and lines, you might again think that a facelift is an option. The fact is, facelifts will do nothing for any of these conditions. What you see is a result of years of environmental exposure, mostly sunlight. Even if you don ' t spend much time in the sun, you are still constantly exposed to light which deteriorates your skin over time.
To correct this, you should consider gentle laser and micro-needling procedures that entail minimal downtime. The laser procedure involves scraping off the sun damage and makes very controlled injuries deeper into your skin allowing it to restore itself. The micro-needling procedure involves a mechanical device that does a similar thing. We generally use these two procedures together.
We also use something called Platelet-Rich Plasma, or PRP, at the same time. This is a process using your own blood by extracting your wound-healing platelets and placing them on your skin right after the laser and micro-needling procedures. This process rapidly heals the skin and stimulates new skin growth.
DESCENT
As we talked about earlier, much of the sagging in your face is largely due to the deflation of your deep fat pockets. The first treatment step is using fillers to restore volume in your face. If you still see some sagging, the next step is using a deep-heating energy device. Use of this device will create an injury to the connective tissue below your skin and cause facial tightening. The most effective devices involve laser sources; high-intensity, focused, ultrasound sources; and radiofrequency energy sources. The right device for you is based on your skin type, the thickness of your connective tissue and other factors. This can be determined by a consultation with your doctor at Allure.
Give us a call at 586-992-8300 and schedule an appointment with one of our experts.
2017 WINTER 25