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How much will it cost? The fee for facelift can be located in the suggested fees . Please call my office for an accurate price quote or make an appointment for a personal consultation to discuss your specific concerns. My suggested quotes include professional fees, anesthesia fees, operating room costs, house calls, before care and after care. They do not include hospitalization costs, prescriptions, home nursing care, preoperative history and physical examination, laboratory costs, or pathology fees. If you compare prices, make sure that you consider all these costs. In addition, facelift surgery requires some time off work for a safe recovery. I require complete payment two weeks in advance of all cosmetic surgery. What can I do about my sagging, aging face? The combination of aging and sun damage lead to facial and neck sagging. Facelift surgery freshens the face by removing extra skin and fat while tightening facial muscles. Will I ever be exactly the same on both sides? It is normal for the face not to be the same on both sides. Surgery can reduce these differences but not eliminate them. It will be necessary for you to adjust to some facial asymmetry after your surgery. Will there be scars after surgery? Scars are part of all surgery. It is important to understand where facelift scars will be placed. The traditional facelift scar extends from the scalp above the ear down in front of the ear beneath the earlobe onto the back surface of the ear up to the top of the ear and into the scalp behind the ear. A portion of the scar in front of the ear can be hidden behind the tragus of the ear. Endoscopic facelift scars are multiple short scars in the hair-bearing scalp. These can easily be covered with makeup or hairstyles. What are the risks of facelift surgery? There are risks with any surgery. Infection, excessive bleeding, abnormal scarring, poor healing, slow healing, skin loss, changes in skin sensation, muscle or nerve injury, although uncommon, can occur with any surgery. Fortunately, most problems that result from such complications are correctable with additional surgery. Some temporary numbness of the cheeks and neck is expected. Permanent numbness of the earlobe is possible. Nerve and/of muscle injuries can occur although they are usually temporary. They manifest themselves as weakness of facial movement. There is also a risk of skin loss particularly if you are a smoker. You must understand your risk of complications completely before you choose to have a facelift. During facelift surgery, the scalp is lifted up. This procedure reduces the blood flow to the hair follicles and may result in some hair loss. Permanent hair loss is rare. You should not look like you just got off of a rocket sled after a facelift! The result should look natural. You should look refreshed and rested. I expect your friends to ask if you have changed your hairstyle, makeup style or just returned from vacation. I have heard about so many bad things on television, is it safe to have facelift surgery? There are always risks with facelift surgery. When severe complications are combined with inexperienced surgeons, poor results can occur. I believe that facelift can be done safely with a high degree of patient satisfaction. Serious problems are usually related to poorly controlled high blood pressure and/or smoking. Most poor results can be improved with additional surgery. What can you tell me about this new technique that I saw on television? Everyone in America wants the latest in medical care. This is not always the best medical care. At times media presentations will leave out critical information about potential complications, quality of result, and FDA regulation. I am open minded when it comes to new technology but I would rather not use my patients to try out the newest techniques. Recent advances in facelift include endoscopic facelift and facial muscle tightening. It is questionable if these new techniques add anything to traditional facelift techniques. For general health reasons, I recommend that all my patients stop smoking. It is clear that smoking increases your risk for developing all sorts of cancers. Breathing problems like emphysema and circulatory problems including heart attacks are also linked to smoking. Smoking can increase the risk of coughing after your surgery that can lead to unwanted bleeding. Smoking also reduces blood flow that can result in skin loss during the healing period. Both of these problems can ruin the results of your facelift and lead to revision surgery. It is always best to stop smoking. There are other choices when it comes to facelift. These include laser resurfacing, collagen injections, fat graft injections, facial implants, direct excision if face wrinkles, acceptance of a deformity, and changes in makeup or hairstyle. Always understand all your options before having a facelift. What is the difference between facelift, necklift, upper facelift, and forehead lift? Generally a facelift refers to surgery that refreshes the appearance of the neck and face up to the level of the cheekbones. A necklift refreshes the neck only from the jawline to jawline. An upper facelift restores the face from the jawline to the cheekbones on both sides. Finally, a forehead lift corrects problems with the forehead from the cheekbones to the forehead. What additional procedures can I consider that will enhance the result? Surgeries can be combined to yield dramatic and complimentary results. For safety reasons, I recommend the length of surgery be limited to six hours and no more than two areas of the body be treated at the same time. Facelift is frequently combined with other facial rejuvenation surgery (upper eyelid surgery, lower eyelid surgery, forehead lift, and laser resurfacing), facial liposuction, buccal fat pad excision, facial implants, hair restoration, and nose surgery. Am I a good candidate for a facelift? This is a question that can only be answered after a personal consultation. Facelift surgery is suggested to patients with sagging of the neck skin, jowls, and prominent lines near the corner of the mouth. I feel strongly that facelift should not be done if high blood pressure (hypertension) is not well controlled or if you are smoking. There are other things to consider as well including psychiatric conditions, life stress, medical illness, obesity, and motivation. You should be a healthy nonsmoker, within twenty pounds of your ideal weight. Major life stresses (i.e. grieving a death and divorce) must be absent in your life. The ideal candidate is motivated by an internal desire to look better. How many times can I have a facelift done? When a facelift is done, extra skin is removed stretching the remaining tissue and tightening the face. Redoing the surgery may overly stretch this remaining skin giving an unnatural look. For these reasons, I recommend that a facelift only be done once or twice. What additional procedures can I consider that will enhance the result? Surgeries can be combined to yield dramatic and complimentary results. For safety reasons, I recommend the length of surgery be limited to six hours and no more than two areas of the body be treated at the same time. Breast enlargement can be easily combined with liposuction, breast lifting, and tummy tucks. It is interesting to note that nose surgery is frequently combined with breast enlargement. Am I a good candidate for the surgery? This is a question that can only be answered after a personal consultation. Breast enlargement surgery is suggested to women with small breast size. There are other things to consider as well including psychiatric conditions, life stress, medical illness, obesity, and motivation. You should be a healthy nonsmoker, within twenty pounds of your ideal weight. Major life stresses (i.e. grieving a death and divorce) must be absent in your life. The ideal candidate is motivated by internal desires to look better. How many times can I have the surgery done? Each time surgery is done, scar tissue is created in the surgical site. This scar tissue detracts from the natural result. For this reason, I recommend that breast enlargement surgery not be repeated more than two or three times at prescribed intervals
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