All cultures throughout history have had an interest in and commitment to appearance – hence the facelift. In modern Western culture today facial aging and the quality of the skin is of major importance. The facial appearance especially below the jawline and into the neck is perhaps the most obvious telltale sign of aging. What happens to the neck includes stretching and looseness of the skin, the underlying muscle, and in some instances fat. These changes don’t usually begin to occur significantly until our 40s and 50s.
Therefore, in my opinion when these changes begin to be significantly noticeable then facelifts and neck lifts can be seriously considered. Although I have done facelifts on 30-year old’s who have shown facial aging sooner than expected.
Facelift
In addition to the sagging and noticeable banding skin texture and wrinkles are also a problem. Non-surgical treatment of the aging face will include Botox, fillers, PRF, PRP, and possibly fat transfer as well as lasers to deal with volume loss and skin texture. To achieve the best result and the most long-lasting result the cheek and neck must be addressed and evaluated first.
The cheek and neck are the foundation upon which further age-reducing measures must be based. Remember that these measures do not stop the aging clock but significantly alter its outcome on our faces. The quality of the face and neck lift is best judged by how the angle below the jawline has been improved and the extent to which these vertical bands have been eliminated.
THOMAS TREVISANI, MD
BOARD-CERTIFIED PLASTIC SURGEON
MEMBER OF AMERICAN SOCIETY OF AESTHETIC PLASTIC SURGERY
