Face Lift Surgery

Rhytidectomy

This procedure is aimed to stretch the facial skin by means of the removal of the excess facial skin and relocation in the facial structure, to improve the different angles and to attenuate the wrinkles, produced by the aging process and the loss of sustentation of the tissues produced by gravity.

This process, plus the exposure to sun light, bad skin care and the loss of collagen fibers and muscular activity, produce wrinkles in the skin and deform the natural angles of the face. With the face lift procedure, although the youth doesn't return, it allows the patient to relocate the facial tissues, to attenuate this aging process and regenerate her facial contour again.

This procedure can be carried out as an isolated procedure or along with other procedures like eyelid surgery or nose surgery (rhinoplasty). It is a frequent procedure in the adults in their near 40’s, men and women that want to improve their facial aesthetic aspect.

Pre-surgical Evaluation

The patients should discuss with the Plastic Surgeon the real possibilities of improvement with this procedure, likewise this first interview should be aimed to clarify the patient's medical antecedents, their illnesses, smoking history, medication taken lately, drugs that affect blood clotting like: steroids, aspirin, antinflamatory drugs, vitamin E, etc.

The patients with smoking history should suspend it two weeks before and two after the procedure, clarifying that this it is an antecedent that has to be taken care of because it causes damage to micro circulation, which is produced by nicotine.

Area manipulated by the procedure

Surgical Procedure

The face lift is a surgery of precise care and detail on behalf of the Plastic Surgeon, it can be carried out with General anesthesia and in very particular patients with local Anesthesia plus sedation, since it is a procedure that lasts approximately 5 to 7 hours. It requires of special operative preparation to allow the Surgeon to place the incisions immediately in the scalp above the auricular pavilion, surrounding it and in the later part of the same, this ensures that at the end the scars are very not very notorious in most of the patients that don't have any alteration in their scaring process.

The skin of the cheeks is taken off the muscles and is lifted as necessary, it is tensed to remove the skin surplus and relocated to recover the facial angles, equally the muscles of the face can be relocated by means of tension sutures to give a better stability to the facial tissues, you can also use other surgical procedures like facial implant of synthetic material or relocation of the patienets same fat tissue to improve the facial contour when this is required.

Post-Surgical Recommendations

When concluding the procedure the patient will have a bandage that will cover all their face, this bandage it is used initially to fix the tissues and to avoid as much as possible the bleeding and hematoma formation, this bandage will be retired 24 hours after and changed , the patient will be able to wash the hair to retire the excesses of spare hair as a result of the surgical procedure, a Shampoo is recommended that has rinse and to pass a comb of wide teeth before rinsing it to make this cleaning more effective.

The patient is allowed to go home the following day and the use of cold compresses is recommended to diminish the edema and the postoperative pain being careful of not burning the skin with the applied cold. It is recommended to sleep with the head at 45°, you can use pillows for this purpose. The patient will be able to, and it will be better, to stroll in their house, to take the medicine recommended for the pain and the inflammation, the smokers to abstain from smoking for 24 hours, reduce activities that require visual effort if the surgery was carried out along with the blepharoplasty.

Scar produced by the otoplasty

The patient should return to the clinic the fourth day to remove the eyelid stitches, the seventh day to remove the facial stitches and to the fourteenth day to retire the stitches in the scalp.

If hematomas are formed the use of cloths of cold water the first three days and cloths of lukewarm water starting from the fourth day with arnica help to reduce the effects very quickly. The use of solar protector during the first three months is recommended to avoid the pigmentation of the skin and to abstain from tanning during this time. The patient will be able to put on makeup after the first week and to renew their daily activities. Exercise and other physical activities can be restarted after the first post-surgical month.

Possible Complications

These are really few, but bleeding is frequent, if hematoma is presented and there is delay in its evacuation the patient may present the necrosis or death of the skin, for that reason if any sudden pain is presented the doctor should be consulted immediately, transitory or definitive facial paralysis can also be presented, but it is strange; in few cases infection and alterations of the scaring process may require to alter the result in a second surgery to ensure a well camouflaged scar.

Time needed to remain in Cali.

8 days.

Contact Dr. Bernardo Camacho right now to get more information!

Before-and-after surgery photos

Contact Dr. Bernardo Camacho for more information!