before face lift

after face lift

One of the greatest compliments a plastic surgeon can receive from their patients, comes in the form of comments those patients receive from friends and family following surgery:  “you look fantastic”, “have you lost weight?” “did you get your hair done?”  “new glasses?” etc....In other words, a successful cosmetic facial procedure is one that has transformed the appearance of the patient in a positive way, yet in-of-itself cannot be detected.

There are two fundamental principles that the Plastic Surgeon must bare in mind in order to achieve this type of result:

1. 1)maintain a natural appearance
   

2. 2)make changes that are proportionate and harmonious with the patient’s natural appearance.
   

Achieving these principles surgically, depends on an understanding of natural aesthetics and the technical maneuvers required to achieve them.  A good example is found in rhinoplasty, i.e. nasal reshaping.  There is a misconception that a cosmetically appealing nose is perfectly straight and short. In fact, if you examine the noses of any models or film stars, renown for their beauty or good looks, you will see that they all have some shape to their noses and rarely have linearly straight noses from root to tip.   The cosmetic ideal in rhinoplasty is to have parts of the nose (known as aesthetic or cosmetic subunits) defined by changes in angle and thus shape while maintaining refinement.

In rejuvenation of the face, such as facelift  or browlift surgery, these principles must also be respected.  The “wind-tunnel” look of past facelifts resulted from a misconception that more skin tightening would yield a better result, when in fact, more skin tightening yields a more unnatural result and more visible scars.  Current techniques in facelift surgery place the maximum tension on the layers deep to the skin, repositioning the fat, muscle and soft tissue that have descended as a result of sun, heredity and age.  With lifting of these deeper structures, comes the overlying skin, tension free, but more taught and more naturally repositioned.