| Our
face is the first and most important part of our body which shows our
age.There are many changes that occur in the various features of our
face that make us look old and sometimes much older than what we feel.
There are many changes occurring in the face which make us look
prematurely old. |
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The
most common causes of this include heredity, aging, chronic sun
exposure and sun damage, pollution, irregular sleeping habits and
chronic lack of sleep, significant fluctuations in weight, dietetic
indiscretions, and medical problems like hyper or hypothyroidism and
liver diseases. Along with heredity, sun damage another important
factor that contributes to aging is Gravity. There is descent of
tissues associated with loss of volume due to age. |
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| Recent
advances in cosmetic surgery now allow us to reduce and remove these
changes, a process called surgical rejuvenation or Face lift. The
medi-cal term for this procedure is Rhitidoplasty. |
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| Who should have it done? |
| Facial
aging includes loss of skin elasticity and firmness, sagging tissues
and wrinkles. Even an energetic and excited person can appear tired or
sad due to aging in the midface, jaw line and neck. Sagging, bulges and
folds around the eyes can make the eyes look old and tired. Descent of
the fat pad on the cheeks can make the naso-labial groove very
prominent. If you are bothered by these signs of aging in your face, a
facelift may be right for you. In general, adults with the above
problems, of any age who are in good health, moderately fit and overall
have good muscle tone are good candidates for facial rejuvenation. They
should not have any life threatening illness or medical conditions.
Pa-tients who smoke can have an increased risk of complications. |
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| Could you benefit from a Face lift- |
In
General, a facelift corrects sagging facial skin and muscles, removes
excess fat and restores firm-ness to create a more youthful, rested and
vibrant appearance. Facelift is best performed on adult men and women
who feel that their outward facial aging no longer reflects the youth
and vigor they feel physically and emotionally.
Its not likely to
change your life or the way people treat you. It might possibly improve
your confi-dence and self esteem when you start seeing a more youthful
and fresh you in the mirror. |
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| Where do I begin? |
| A
consultation with your Aesthetic Plastic surgeon at Aesthetics is the
first step to learn how facelift surgery can improve the appearance of
your face. This consultation will fully educate you in a non-pressured
environment and will include a discus-sion of your goals, options
available for facelift surgery, likely outcomes, potential risks and
com-plications. |
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| What kind of anesthesia is required? |
| Usually
the procedure would be done under a gen-eral anesthetic for improved
comfort, yet it is pos-sible to do it under local anaesthetic as well. |
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| The procedure- |
| There
are many techniques by which face lift can be done. Face lift is quite
an old technical proce-dure which has evolved over the last 70 years.
From a traditional skin only technique ( where the skin is lifted and
pulled) to SMAS technique ( where the underlying muscle sheet is
pulled). There are numerous other techniques, one more radical than the
other. what is important is to give a bal-anced rejuvenated look, by
the most simple and effective technique which leaves the least
compli-cations. Most of the modern day techniques for face lift achieve
an amount of mid face lift. Where excess skin is not a problem, then
limited access techniques may be used. |
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| What to expect after surgery? |
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There
might be bruising and swelling after surgery that should subside in 3 -
6 weeks. You will have a soft and comfortable dressing around your
head, cheeks and chin for firm support. You will also have a tube
draining accumulated fluids from each side.. The dressing and tubes
will be removed si-multaneously once the drainage stops. Immediately
after surgery, due to the swelling, you might ex-perience some
difficulty in opening your eyes. |
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| There
could be slight irritation and a feeling of dry eye. This rapidly
improves after the next day. Wounds normally heal in 7 days to 2 weeks.
Your plastic surgeon at Aesthetics and the assisting staff will fully
attend to your comfort and safety. You will be advised to apply an
antibacterial oint-ment to the eye and protect the eyes from sun, wind
and dust by wearing sunglasses. |
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| Risks and complications- |
| Although
there are very few risks associated with this procedure, a possible
general risk includes bleeding and collection of blood under the skin
(hematoma). Bleeding is rare but may have to be stopped. Any surgery
carries risks associated with anaesthesia. There are very few risks if
the proce-dure is done under local anaesthesia. These risks will be
fully discussed with you prior to your con-sent for surgery. The nerves
of the face can sometimes be bruised during the operation and takes 3 -
6 weeks to recover. This may lead to slight weakness in the muscles
supplied by that nerve. General risks like delayed wound healing and
infections are common to many other opera-tions and can be treated
satisfactorily. |
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| Progress and healing- |
| Incisions
usually heal in 7 days to 2 weeks. Stitches are removed around this
time. You will be able to return to work and light normal activity
sometime between 2 - 4 weeks. You will then be asked to use a
moisturiser and massage the face and scars. You will be able to return
to light work and normal ac-tivity at this time, and to resume wearing
contact lenses. Cosmetics can camouflage any bruising or redness.
Healing will continue for several weeks. Diligent sun protection is a
must for best results. |
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| Results and outlook- |
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Your
final result will appear over time, generally within several weeks. It
may take up to a year for incision lines to fully refine. Most of the
swelling resolves by three months. While facelift surgery can be
expected to correct certain conditions of ag-ing, you will continue to
age naturally.
What matters more is that the appearance of your
face matches the way you feel inside - youthful, vital and alert. |
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| Upper and lower eyelid blepharoplasty, extended subsmas facelift and neck lift- |
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