Q. I’m 49-year-old woman and so frustrated with my drooped, hooded eye lids, lots of wrinkles on my forehead, severe nasolabial folds and have lost the elasticity in my face. I recently saw one of the customers looked very young for her age after she had gotten a facelift done by Dr. Peter Lee who is famous for facelift surgery. I’m wondering if the effects of a facelift lasts a lifetime. I would like to hear advice from experts. Thank you.
A. As I am sure you have heard previously; there is no particular best age for a facelift. We all age differently and are exposed to different stresses including the sun (UV), weather, personal stresses, dietary imbalances, the heredity provide by our parents and many others.
A properly performed facelift for the correct areas will provide the longest lasting of the temporary options as no facelift is permanent or lasts forever. There are minimally invasive and non-surgical options to improve elasticity, sun-damage, folds, wrinkles, lines, hooding which will improve the longevity of your facelift investment. Many patients will return in 5 to 20 years for smaller tucks or mini-lifts to maintain the primary improvement.
Surgical lifts would be likened to pulling the bedspread and or top-sheet of your bed up to the head-board and removing the excess material.
Minimally invasive procedures such as fillers provide volume such as adjusting a pillow under the bedspread. Botox and Dysport act by pulling the top-sheet which drags the bedspread upwardly. If the bedspread (or skin) continues to fall to the foot of the bed despite fillers, Botox or Dysport you will need to consider a facelift.
Non-invasive options such as laser and light therapies, skin tightening products and technologies perform their tightening and smoothening of the skin similar to sending your bedspread to the dry cleaners. A more refreshed, even colored, glowing smoother and tighter spread covers the surface of the bed.
The most popular of the fillers, Restylane and Perlane, a jelly-like clear skin filler is used to fill lines, wrinkles and folds. Juvederm and its longer lasting “cousin” Juvederm Ultra Plus are similar skin fillers, used to soften and fill the nasolabial (“parentheses”) and marionette folds, the brow (“number 11”) lines and fill and lift the cheeks and lateral brow or chin.Voluma is the longest lasting, up to 2 year duration HA filler. Each one is used to expand or volumize the loss of tissue associated with expression, weathering or aging. All the fillers come with numbing anesthetic!.
Non-surgical facial contouring is possible with fillers such as Radiesse, a bone mineral for the nose or cheeks, jaw and chin as well.
Scuptra is the latest of the injectables stimulation collagen at different levels of the skin adding volume but primarily firming and adding resistance to the formation of wrinkles, folds and descent.
Botox and Dysportt oo have been found to rebalance excessive facial expression, provide a non-surgical brow lift and lip lift and reshape the nose, as well as reducing wrinkles!
Dr. Obagi’s new, second generation ZO Skin Health programs may be added to personalized chemical peels, light and laser resurfacing and tightening and will, smoothen and even the color of your skin.
IPL and fractionated lasers such as CO2 and erbium and now RF (radiofrequency) are additions to smooth the texture of the skin, tighten and reduce red and brown uneven pigmentation.
If you can pinch more than an inch of skin along the jawline in front of your earlobe, you should consider a surgical option to redrape and remove extra skin.
You may consider: a traditional face and neck lift, short scar face and / or neck lift.
The recent resurgence of the S-Lift (created in the early 1900’s), also called by other names as the Quick-Lift, Lifestyle-Lift, Swift-Lift, Soft-Lift, MACS-Lift and others; are a single modification of the S-lift targeted to elevate sagging lower cheeks jowls and lateral upper neck. The shorter scar, limited undermining and second layer lift achieve the “quicker” procedure but not necessarily the quicker recovery or the improvement you desire.
Face lift and / or neck lift or any of the other procedures and their combinations should be discussed following a proper examination with a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon who performs all of these options so you will not receive a biased approach because he limited in his skills.
I wish you the best! Is a 49-year-old woman too young for a facelift?
Q. I’m 49-year-old woman and so frustrated with my drooped, hooded eye lids, lots of wrinkles on my forehead, severe nasolabial folds and have lost the elasticity in my face. I recently saw one of the customers looked very young for her age after she had gotten a facelift done by Dr. Peter Lee who is famous for facelift surgery. I’m wondering if the effects of a facelift lasts a lifetime. I would like to hear advice from experts. Thank you.
A. As I am sure you have heard previously; there is no particular best age for a facelift. We all age differently and are exposed to different stresses including the sun (UV), weather, personal stresses, dietary imbalances, the heredity provide by our parents and many others.
A properly performed facelift for the correct areas will provide the longest lasting of the temporary options as no facelift is permanent or lasts forever. There are minimally invasive and non-surgical options to improve elasticity, sun-damage, folds, wrinkles, lines, hooding which will improve the longevity of your facelift investment. Many patients will return in 5 to 20 years for smaller tucks or mini-lifts to maintain the primary improvement.
Surgical lifts would be likened to pulling the bedspread and or top-sheet of your bed up to the head-board and removing the excess material.
Minimally invasive procedures such as fillers provide volume such as adjusting a pillow under the bedspread. Botox and Dysport act by pulling the top-sheet which drags the bedspread upwardly. If the bedspread (or skin) continues to fall to the foot of the bed despite fillers, Botox or Dysport you will need to consider a facelift.
Non-invasive options such as laser and light therapies, skin tightening products and technologies perform their tightening and smoothening of the skin similar to sending your bedspread to the dry cleaners. A more refreshed, even colored, glowing smoother and tighter spread covers the surface of the bed.
The most popular of the fillers, Restylane and Perlane, a jelly-like clear skin filler is used to fill lines, wrinkles and folds. Juvederm and its longer lasting “cousin” Juvederm Ultra Plus are similar skin fillers, used to soften and fill the nasolabial (“parentheses”) and marionette folds, the brow (“number 11”) lines and fill and lift the cheeks and lateral brow or chin.Voluma is the longest lasting, up to 2 year duration HA filler. Each one is used to expand or volumize the loss of tissue associated with expression, weathering or aging. All the fillers come with numbing anesthetic!.
Non-surgical facial contouring is possible with fillers such as Radiesse, a bone mineral for the nose or cheeks, jaw and chin as well.
Scuptra is the latest of the injectables stimulation collagen at different levels of the skin adding volume but primarily firming and adding resistance to the formation of wrinkles, folds and descent.
Botox and Dysportt oo have been found to rebalance excessive facial expression, provide a non-surgical brow lift and lip lift and reshape the nose, as well as reducing wrinkles!
Dr. Obagi’s new, second generation ZO Skin Health programs may be added to personalized chemical peels, light and laser resurfacing and tightening and will, smoothen and even the color of your skin.
IPL and fractionated lasers such as CO2 and erbium and now RF (radiofrequency) are additions to smooth the texture of the skin, tighten and reduce red and brown uneven pigmentation.
If you can pinch more than an inch of skin along the jawline in front of your earlobe, you should consider a surgical option to redrape and remove extra skin.
You may consider: a traditional face and neck lift, short scar face and / or neck lift.
The recent resurgence of the S-Lift (created in the early 1900’s), also called by other names as the Quick-Lift, Lifestyle-Lift, Swift-Lift, Soft-Lift, MACS-Lift and others; are a single modification of the S-lift targeted to elevate sagging lower cheeks jowls and lateral upper neck. The shorter scar, limited undermining and second layer lift achieve the “quicker” procedure but not necessarily the quicker recovery or the improvement you desire.
Face lift and / or neck lift or any of the other procedures and their combinations should be discussed following a proper examination with a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon who performs all of these options so you will not receive a biased approach because he limited in his skills.
I wish you the best! 
