Lower Face Lift

A lower face lift is performed to tighten sagging facial skin, which gives you a more youthful look. This type of procedure greatly eliminates the appearance of jowls and hanging neck. These are caused by excess fats at the neck area, and laugh lines and frown lines around the mouth due to aging. When you reach the age of 40, you could become more concerned about how you look.

When looking at yourself in the mirror, you might notice signs of aging are starting to appear on your face. This can really be frustrating. One of the most common signs of aging is the development of jowls and formation of wrinkles in the neck.

Lower Face Lift Overview

In terms of a face lift, the human face has three sections – the upper section, the midsection and the lower face section. The lower face section includes the cheek region, the jaw portion and the neck area. A lower face lift rejuvenates the lower third area of your facial skin, and helps tighten the underlying structures of the face brought about by old age. Aging, stress and gravity are some of the factors that affect the displacement of human bodily tissues.

With a lower face lift, droopy skin is placed back to its original position and the underlying tissues are tightened. In the mouth area, laugh lines and frown lines are eliminated, making the skin look fresh and smooth. In the jaw region, excess fats or platysma are eliminated to avoid the onset of jowls. After the lower face lift operation, the patient is guaranteed to look ten years younger than his or her real age.
People showing signs of aging, and who are wishing for a more youthful and glowing appearance, are the best candidates for a lower face lift procedure. Those with droopy necks and deep lines around the corners of the mouth are the ones who might need and want a lower face lift procedure.

In this procedure, the underlying structures are tightened and held in place for a more elastic and fresher looking skin. Most operations are performed under local anesthesia. A lower eyelid lift, forehead lift, nose lift, cheek lift and smile lines removal might be done to complete the package and create best results. For example, a lower eyelid lift balances the overall symmetry of the face. A lower face lift surgery gives the cheeks a rejuvenated look, as it keeps the elasticity of the facial tissues to maintain that youthful glow. The patient might have smile lines and folds that appear on either side of the lips. Through the lower face lift procedure, these fine lines could be eliminated and would give the patient a more rejuvenated and youthful look.

Lower Face Lift Procedure

In the lower face lift operation, a very thin incision is done in front of the ear, extending down until the back of the ear, to hold tissues back in place in the cheek region. Working through the incisions, the surgeon carefully separates the skin from the tissue below. Excess fat is removed, facial muscles are tightened and restored to youthful positions, and skin is smoothed before the excess portion is trimmed away. The surgeon completes the lower face lift by closing the incisions with sutures. After strategically tightening all the loose tissues, any excess skin is trimmed or eliminated. The wounds brought about by the operation should be closely and properly treated to avoid infection.

Another way of tightening skin tissues is through an endoscopic face lift. With this procedure, an endoscopic camera is inserted through small incisions for a specific and more accurate enhancement of facial areas. More patients prefer this treatment rather than the traditional face lift because it requires fewer incisions, less scars and less chance of risk as well.

Risks and Complications

As with any other operations performed, a lower face lift procedure is also associated with some risks and complications that patients have to know. The patient has to select an experienced and qualified aesthetic surgeon practitioner. All the medical records are given to the surgeon so that he or she will know if the patient has allergies to certain medications, or has had some illness like asthma or heart disease which could be detrimental to the operation. After the operation, the patient must strictly follow the doctor’s advice to avoid any complications like prolonged healing of wounds, infection of the wounds, or clotting of blood at the underline tissues which would cause a lot of pain. Patients have to be prepared for the possibility that they will not satisfied with the result of the procedure. If ever this happens, another procedure may be performed for patients to obtain the results that they want.

Lower Face Lift Recovery Period

Prior to the lower face lift operation, it is important that a patient must stop smoking to eliminate any further factors that could complicate the healing process. Smoking can greatly affect the blood supply to the skin and can cause scars and skin discoloration to some areas of the face. The affected areas caused by the procedure can be painful. Surgeons may prescribe the patient with painkillers in either a tablet form or by injection.

After the surgery, the patient may be confined in the hospital for about 1 to 3 days depending upon the extent of the procedure. Patients will continue with the healing period at home and will be advised to avoid any bending or heavy lifting for about two weeks after the surgery. Several other precautions may also be advised and must be observed in order to speed up the healing process.

Depending on the extent of the procedure, the sutures will be removed about 5 to 10 days after the operation. Since a lower face lift rejuvenates the lower part of the face, it is expected that after the healing period, the patient will have a younger and fresher appearance, as well as rejuvenated skin.