As baby boomers continue to age, plastic surgery continues to be more popular. Rhytidectomy, better known as face lifts, is a surprisingly common aesthetic facial procedure. So long as it is performed on the right patient using the correct techniques and proper planning, the result of a facelift can be nothing short of excellent, wiping years off the face of the patient. There are numerous different types of facelifts available but the skin only or subcutaneous method is the oldest and most original technique.
History of Face Lifts
To understand facelifts, it is important to go back over 100 years where surgeon Hollander first described using surgery to lift the face in 1901. Over the next decade, prominent surgeons such as Lexer, Kolle, and Miller, refined what the description of what a facelift is. It was Lexer who first suggested that skin flaps in a subcutaneous plane could be dissected instead of making a primary closure following skin excision.
Until the start of the 1970s, the subcutaneous facelift was the operation of choice. The surgical concept remains the same and the only advances were made in relation to the incision. However, surgeon Skoog changed things in 1974 when he discovered a method to elevate the neck and lower face’s platysma without actually detaching the skin. He developed a deep layer method and truly changed the way rhytidectomy procedures were delivered. The skin only facelift is no longer as popular, but it is still the right procedure in some patients and it continues to be the basis for most other face lifts.
Determining Whether a Patient Is a Suitable Candidate
If a patient requests a facial rejuvenation procedure, it is vital that they are properly evaluated by a physician so that their personal desires and specific problems are recognized. If someone wants to have a skin on the face lift, then it is important that the only problem they have with their anatomy is that there is too much skin. For instance, if a patient has had a facelift in the past whereby the skin was tightened and they feel this needs to be touched up, they could be perfect for the procedure.
Women who have a good bone structure and underlying skin tone are also very good candidates for this procedure. Someone who has a less than perfect bony framework and perhaps a heavy your face will find it more difficult to obtain a result that appears as natural because the skin flaps will need to be pulled more tightly. Similarly, women who have a cervical mental angle or significant jowling should consider a different approach.
It is also very important that a surgeon explains the limitations of the procedure to the patient so that they can make an informed decision about whether or not to go ahead. A facelift is a major type of surgery and the decision to have this should not be taken lightly. Hence, it is vital that is surgeon is open, honest, and transparent with their patients at all times.