Question:
If a facelift lifts and tightens the skin, what do you then do about wrinkles in the skin?
Answer:
When I discuss facial rejuvenation with a prospective patient I focus on a couple of different issues. The first issue is the amount of excess skin of the face or skin QUANTITY. As you have stated, a facelift is a good way to deal with excessive skin of the face. The second issue is the fullness of the face. Like a balloon, the face will deflate over time and simply pulling the facial skin tightly will not bring back the youthful fullness of the face. In many facelift patients, I also perform fat injections to the face to help add volume to the aging face. Finally, I spend a great deal of time with my patients discussing skin QUALITY and how this impacts the appearance of the face. In order to address skin quality issues procedures such as, chemical peels, fraxel laser, and ablative laser skin resurfacing need to be considered. The exact treatment that we choose to perform will depend upon the status of the skin, the depth of wrinkles, and the tolerance for down time that the patient may have as the more invasive the procedure the more dramatic the results may be, but the longer the recovery time will also be.
Posted by Dr. Philip Schoenfeld