Facelifts today are better than ever. Modern techniques help surgeons to create natural-looking results without the telltale signs of plastic surgery. Forget about the frozen, windblown facelifts from your grandma’s day and enjoy taut, youthful contours, and ageless beauty.
To truly appreciate the artistry of a modern facelift, you must look to the past and see how far we’ve come.
The First Facelifts
The facelift isn’t a new procedure. It’s over 100 years old with the earliest reports of facial rejuvenation surgery occurring in the early 1900s. Early facelifts focused solely on skin removal, not lifting sagging tissues.
As surgeons mastered this original facelift, the technique became more advanced. Surgeons began to lift and tighten tissues, rather than simply removing excess skin. This technique improved results and led to facelifts that lasted much longer.
Improving the Basic Facelift- How SMAS Transformed Facial Rejuvenation
Aging affects much more than the skin. Early facelifts focused on skin-only rejuvenation. While this smoothed wrinkles and revitalized the skin, it did little to change patients’ facial shape and structure from the signs of aging.
As you get older, the muscle and connective tissues under your skin begin to droop and sag. In the 1960s and 70s, the basic facelift that was developed in the early 1900s got an upgrade. Surgeons began tightening the SMAS, basically the soft tissue in the face. Tightening the SMAS as well as the skin restores a youthful face shape and dramatically improves results. Variations on the SMAS facelift are still performed today.
The Modern Facelift
Facelifts today use the techniques created and honed over the last century to provide comprehensive facial rejuvenation that looks highly natural and refined.
- A Customized Approach – Aging affects each face differently. Using a customized, comprehensive approach ensures that each patient achieves optimal results. The modern facelift focuses on the areas where you have aging.
- Dermal Fillers – Aging isn’t just sagging skin. Changes in facial volume are common as you get older. Dermal fillers restore facial volume, helping patients to maintain youthful fullness in the cheeks and mid-face. Fillers can also smooth deep wrinkles and creases like nasolabial folds and crow’s feet. We often pair fillers with our surgical facelift.
- Fat Grafting – Fat grafting is a longer-lasting solution to facial volume loss. This technique uses a patient’s own fat, in place of synthetic fillers, to volumize, smooth, and revitalize aging skin. Fat is first extracted using liposuction and is transplanted into the face. Results can be very long-lasting.
- Paired Procedures – Wherever you age, we have a treatment. Modern facelifts pair beautifully with eyelid lifts, brow lifts, and a variety of other facial surgeries.
Combine these advanced techniques with the latest safety equipment and a skilled plastic surgeon, and you’ll achieve facelift results that are unrivaled throughout history.
Explore the modern facelift with one of Birmingham’s top plastic surgeons, Dr. Michael Clinton. Call our office at (205) 408-9787 to schedule a consultation or to learn more.
