Rhytidectomy Or Facelift Surgery in Delhi

What exactly is a facelift procedure?

Facelift, also known as rhytidectomy, is a procedure to improve the visible signs of ageing on the face and neck. It addresses the atrophy of the underlying facial tissues. Aging results in jowls and a rectangular lower face. A facelift lifts the jowls back into the face, augmenting the upper face and narrowing the lower face producing the inverted cone of the youth. This change in overall facial shape from rectangular to heart-shaped is subtle but real and is a benefit that no other treatment modality can provide.

What are the benefits of facelift surgery?

The benefits of a facelift are many.

A. Multiple areas can be dealt with by a single procedure or surgery. The areas dealt with are as follows :

• Sagging skin around midface, jawline, or neck.
• Deep creases that extend from your nose to the corners of your mouth making prominent nasolabial folds.
• Lines that extend from the corners of your mouth to your chin (marionette lines).
• owls or a double chin.
• Displaced facial fat or lost volume of the face.

B. Toning and tightening the sagging or the loose skin – The facelift procedure tightens the sagging and the loose skin by lifting the skin flap from the underlying muscle and tissues called undermining. Once the underlying muscle and the loose tissue are tightened, the excess skin is trimmed and redraped effectively, hence smoothing away the wrinkles and firming the skin.

C. Creating a well-contoured jawline and neck – Due to the effect of gravity, and as one ages the facial fat atrophies, and the skin also loses its elasticity, hence the excess skin hangs below the jaw forming the jowls and the double chin. A facelift procedure can remove the excess skin and fat and results in better redraping of the skin.

D. Can be combined with other facial procedures - A facelift procedure can be combined with other facial procedures like a brow lift or blepharoplasty procedures.

What are the layers of the face?

There are five layers of the face from point of view of critical anatomy:

1- Skin
2- Subcutaneous tissue
3- Superficial musculoaponeurotic system (SMAS)
4- Thin layer of transparent fascia
5- Branches of the facial nerve

A facelift is directed around SMAS and tightens this layer to give you a completely rejuvenated look.

What is classical facelift?

A classical facelift involves a complete facelift of the face along with the brow lift and neck lift. the long scar is hidden along with the ears and the hairline, ensuring scars are not visible later on.

What is mini facelift?

Mini facelift only involves tightening of the lower third of the face. incisions are made along the contours of the external ears.

What is liquid facelift?

This involves adding volume to the face through the fillers, botox, or nano fat grafting. This is a quick method of a facelift but the procedure needs to be repeated every 8 to 12 months.

If you are keen to undergo the procedure, what is the next step, and what to expect during initial consultation?

It is important to meet our plastic surgeon Dr. Ashish Khare, who is one of the best cosmetic surgeons in India if you are keen to undergo the procedure.
He will assess your face and let you know what corrections are possible with the facelift procedure.
Smoking to be stopped before the surgery for best results.
Blood-thinning drugs would also be stopped.
Relevant investigations would be ordered before the surgery.

What are the techniques of a facelift?

There are mainly 3 TECHNIQUES OF FACELIFT, you would be explained all this during your consultation with the surgeon and he would decide which method is best for you out of the following:

1. Simple MACS – LIFT (minimal access cranial suspension lift) - The incision begins at the lower limit of the ear lobe extends preaurically up to the level of the lateral canthus. The skin is undermined at a subcutaneous level over 5-6 cms in the anterior direction. The inferior limit goes caudally up to the insertion of the platysma. Usually undermining is marked 2-3 cms below the mandibular angle. The purse-string suture is anchored to the deep temporal fascia and runs downward to the mandibular angle and the second purse-string is directed obliquely towards the jowls. This loop of suture lifts the SMAS and pulls it, thus causing elevation of the SMAS.

2. SMAS ectomy - A strip of SMAS is excised on an oblique line between the angle of the mandible and the lateral canthus. The mobile SMAS is then sutured to the immobile SMAS causing tightness, accomplishing all the benefits of both the traditional and extended SMAS procedures. This is preferable for patients with bulky faces.

3. SMAS Plication – Instead of excision of the SMAS, the SMAS can be plicated along
the same line without removing any tissue.

SMAS plication has various advantages :

• Simple in design.
• Less time consuming than any other techniques.
• It provides the malar augmentation of the extending SMAS with more efficient effect on the jowls.