What is a Facelift?

What is a Facelift?

One of the most common questions asked regarding anti-aging and skincare is: What is a facelift?

What is a Facelift?

A facelift (technically known as a rhytidectomy) can improve the visible signs of aging of the face. Most people looking for a facelift have wrinkles and sagging skin on their face and neck. It is important to understand facelifts carefully because there are many types of facelifts being performed. There is the traditional facelift that can involve anywhere from 1 – 4 hours of surgery, to techniques that do not require any surgery.

A facelift in its “simplest” definition involves lifting the skin from the face and pulling it upwards and backward to eliminate the facial wrinkles and sagging, then removing the excess skin. As this was the facelift procedure in its infancy, two main problems were noticed from this. The first was an “artificial pulled look” and recurrence as the skin has stretched back over the years.

Newer approaches in face lifting have involved lifting the underlying muscle and fat pads of the face instead of just the skin. This surgery is a little more extensive and requires a longer healing time of up to 3 weeks but has the advantage of providing a less pulled more natural look with longer-lasting effects.

As with everything, there are have been many advances in the field of facelifts. Today there are many forms of surgical facelifts as well as non-surgical facelifts that provide results.

Once you have defined what is a facelift, you now need to understand the different facelift types, comes a large range of differences between the facelift costs, recovery time and risks. To ensure your safety and that you get exactly what you are looking for, you need to educate yourself.

First, you must look at what do you want to accomplish with your facelift. Do you have a certain problem area that needs more attention than others? Next, you will need to understand what your budget will be. While you may want a certain procedure done it can be cost-prohibitive. Last but not least will be the side effects of the different techniques. What are they and are you willing to take the risks?

These questions are not meant to scare you, they are simply stated to make sure that you ask the right questions to the experts so that you get exactly what you are looking for and understand what steps are to be taken to get you what you want.