What is a face-lift?

A face lift is a surgical procedure to remove excess skin and to tighten the appearance of face and neck. A facelift surgery can make your face look as young as you feel. A forehead lift or brow lift can smooth out your wrinkles and correct drooping brows and heavy lids to provide a younger, friendlier appearance. A mid-facelift or cheek lift can remove facial wrinkles and lift sagging cheeks, while a neck lift can tighten loose, sagging skin under your chin. These procedures can be performed alone or in combination with laser resurfacing and volumising fillers or fat transfer.

How is traditional facelift surgery performed?

Traditional facelifts are customarily performed under general anesthesia or deep sedation. These are conventional methods which are probably quick and easier for the surgeon, but the majority of patients do not require full anesthesia. These may produce more tightness but majority of patients do not prefer a pulled, stretched 'wind-tunnel' type appearance. We now know that procedures like the awake facelift using virtually no general anesthesia yield less bleeding and swelling, provide an overall faster recovery, are much safer for the patient and provide natural results. In recent years there has been a shift towards minimally invasive options and combination of these with lasers, fillers and/ or fat transfer can provide very pleasing results.

What are the advantages of face lift surgery under local anaesthesia ?

• A natural look
• Quick recovery
• Minimal complication risk
• Minimal scars
• No hair loss

Before and After pictures of face-lift

Before treatment	After face & neck lift
Before	After face lift surgery
1 week later, stitches have been removed, notice carefully placed stitch line	1 year later in a different patient. The scar is barely noticeable. A hidden scar and normal looking ears are best. Pixie ear is a giveaway that you had facelift surgery,

How is facelift surgery performed ?

We perform a tumescent face lift. Tumescent anaesthesia is a special type of local anaesthesia invented by a US dermatologist Dr Jeffrey Klein. It is an excellent technique that Dr Gheyi has been using for past decade for a variety of surgical procedures enabling him to give up general anaesthesia altogether. Our facelift surgery is customized for each patient depending on tissue laxity and skin excess. It may be a smaller lift such as weekend or mini-facelift, short scar face lift, S-lift or a full facial and neck lipo-lift. Pre medication is recommended to relax the patient. A special local anaesthetic solution is injected in front of the ears. This solution numbs and gently lifts the skin from underlying structures. One side is operated at a time. The skin is lifted, underlying layer is tightened, excess of skin is removed and finally the skin is repositioned and closed with fine sutures.

What types of facelift options do you offer ?

Facelift surgery can be very complicated to understand due to various marketing terms applied to it. It can be very difficult to compare different options offered by different doctors and clinics. Let us simplify it here. Essentially a facelift only lifts cheeks, lower face, jowls and upper neck. Upper face surgery is described as a brow lift.

It is best to consider facelift procedures on a sliding scale. Less invasive procedures are quicker to perform, cheaper and provide less lift but are less risky also. So, from least invasive to more invasive [relatively!] these are your options-

Liquid facelift-

Using reversible fillers or fat transfer when more volume is desired. This is your no knife option.

Thread lift -

Using silhouette soft sutures. Again this is a non-surgical procedure suitable for younger patients with minimal skin laxity. Results are subtle.

Minimally invasive facelift [ also called one-stitch facelift ]-

this is our least invasive facelift. There is about a 3cm long incision hidden under the lowermost sideburn hair. The incision is limited and the lift is limited. To see if you would benefit from this surgery, place your fingers in front of the midpoint of your ear and lift it upwards by about 2 cm. If you like what you see then you can benefit from this procedure.

Mini-facelift

Under pure local anaesthesia - This can be considered a medium type facelift surgery. The scar is traditionally called a short scar or s-lift because the scar of a conventional facelift is much larger.  Typically there is a 3 cm scar under the lower sideburn hair as in the above option-but the scar then extends down in front of or hidden in the ear, curves backwards below the earlobe attachment and extends 1-4 cm in the crease behind the ear. This allows better exposure to tighten the underlying layer called SMAS layer. The excess of skin is then trimmed and sutured back.

mini face lift markings

short scar below and behind the ear

How do you see if you are suitable ? If you can pinch and pull up 2 cm or more of skin along your jaw line then you are suitable for this procedure. Any less -then benefit is not going to be great so perhaps wait or consider lesser options!

Bigger face-lift/ neck-lift -

Here the scar is longer than the above option and can extend up and back behind the ear and this can be combined with neck muscle tightening also known as platysmaplasty. This is suitable for patients with moderate amount of [5-6 cm] lose skin along the jaw line.

Bigger face-lift scar

Neck-lift-scar

What types of facelift options you do NOT offer ?

We do not offer traditional deep-plane facelift. It is a much bigger operation then the options mentioned above in following respects-

Scars may be much longer, general anaesthesia may be required, deeper layers may be cut and removed. In so called deep plane facelifts, the deeper facial tissue is lifted off at bone level and pulled up and sutured. These are major surgical procedures that require hospitalisation and longer recovery period. These also carry more risks.

How will I look after facelift Surgery ?

The change following your surgery can be dramatic. The use of small instruments and fluid to separate the skin from deeper tissue results in a bloodless procedure. There may be minor bruising or swelling. You may elect to return to work in 2-5 days or wait till your stitches are removed in 7-10 days.

Patients today have busy lives. So the beauty of tumescent face lift is that it usually requires only about three days to recover from a surgical facelift allowing the patient to stay awake and enjoy a much kinder and gentler post-op experience. Face-lift surgery has undergone a lot of technological and technical innovations in recent years. It is now possible to have this operation under local anaesthesia with minimal recovery time or bruising.

Advantages of our technique are-

Shorter scar, less risky, quicker recovery and a natural look. If you wish to appear like you have had work done and a tight stretched appearance then we are not the clinic for you.

What are the alternatives to a facelift ?

A laser face-lift to firm up lower face and jaw line. CO2 laser skin resurfacing, radio frequency treatment and volumising fillers or fat transfer. 

Coltishall Clinic offers a full range of Cosmetic Medical and Surgical Laser procedures. We offer a range a solutions including non-surgical face and neck lifts, liquid facelifts, one-stitch facelift, thread lifts and also the innovative laser facelift.

How much does a facelift cost ?

Thread lifts from £1800. A one stitch or minimally invasive facelift from £ 3000. Laser facelift from £ 4500. A Short scar SMAS facelift from £ 6000. Additional procedures such as larger face or neck lifts or fat transfer [ if required] cost extra and a definite quotation can only be provided after a medical evaluation has taken place.

How can I make my face lift results last longer ?

We now know that face sags due to a number of changes that occur with ageing. These can be particularly pronounced and rapid after menopause, stress, life events, illness or sudden weight loss. We lose collagen, facial fat and even bone with ageing. In addition muscle hyperactivity in the neck pulls the jawline down. All Face lift surgeons have patients where results do not last as long as they had hoped for. By applying a global approach to facial rejuvenation you can make your results last many years or even decades.

What do I do next to arrange my facelift surgery ?

Contact us to arrange your consultation and further discussion about your treatment options.