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Post full brow face and neck lift?
I had full endoscopic browlift, full face lift and full neck lift with tightening 7
months ago, April 15 2013. It was done by a reputable board certified plastic surgeon
which cost over 21000 dollars. Is it normal to have saggy skin in the lower face and neck?
Do I need a redo to correct the problem? Please help find the answer to my problem. Thank
you Jo pilot.
Thank you for your question!
You submitted a question stating that 7 months ago, you had an full endoscopic brow lift,
full face and neck lift and neck tightening. In the photo you are showing an area of skin
that appears to be loosening. You gave details about the cost and the board certification
of the doctor.
As an oculofacial plastic surgeon and as someone who is also boarded in facial cosmetic surgery,
I have a lot experience with doing facelifts. I have done a lot of facelifts and I continue
to do a lot facelifts. I want to always teach my patients that face lifting surgery can
be extremely technically well but the factor that you cannot control is the skin quality
and the elasticity of the tissue. So, whether you are using any of the techniques whether
it's the SMAS tuck or tightening or deep plane facelift that some doctors claim to be the
only ones able to do which is not true. It's not about just the technical execution. An
experienced cosmetic surgeon regardless of board certification will most likely be experienced
enough and capable enough every type of variation of a facelift and it's always appropriately
individualized to maximize the patient's results.
So what happened with you? Mostly likely, your skin has a little bit of thinness and
as the swelling resolved, may be the skin didn't spring back as well as you would hope
but it is also based a lot on the age and thickness of skin. Lighter skin, blonde hair,
blue eyes and advanced age are all factors.
Does that mean that the whole surgery needs to be redone? No. When that primary surgery
is done, a fair amount of repositioning and tightening is already accomplished. In my
practice, what I tell my patients is, is that we will allow the full wound healing process
to be completed that is about 6 months to a year. Once we reach that point, we know
that things have settled down and decide if it is appropriate to do some enhancement.
In my practice, we have our own operating facilities so we have the flexibility of doing
our enhancements whenever we need to. Every surgeon has to do enhancements. That is part
of the nature of plastic or cosmetic surgery.
I think you need to meet with your doctor. I am sure that this is a scenario that they
are very familiar with and discuss the options as to how to improve the results that you
have. It is also important, as a general perspective, when you look at yourself and you see that
more than 90% of desired result has been achieved, sometimes it is not worth it to go and pursue
every last millimeter. If it turns out that a little bit of lifting can be accomplished
with the procedure, there's an improvement, by all means it's fine. But understand, no
matter what, there's always going to be some degree of regression no matter who does the
surgery or how tight they do the surgery.
Meet with your original doctor, discuss your options. Sometimes minimally invasive procedures
will also be beneficial. Sometimes injectables like Botox can be helpful. Improving the skin
quality and radio frequency heating devices with a limited application. So you have a
few options. Don't lose faith and meet with your doctor. I hope that was helpful and thank
you for your question!