Traditional Face Lifts

Traditional Face Lift Only When there is excessive skin that needs to be removed, a Mini-face lift will not be enough. Whereas the Mini face lift may require minimal anesthesia and 1 day for recovery, the traditional face lift require general anesthesia and 3-4 weeks for full recovery. Case 1: This lady shown here had a traditional face lift because she has excessive skin around the neck, which can not simply be pulled up with a mini face lift alone. Excessive skin needs to be removed surgically by a conventional face lift. For a conventional face lift, recovery is in 3-4 weeks. In contrast, recovery after a mini face lift is one day. However, a mini face lift can not remove musch excess skin. Case 2: this is a 57-year-old smoker who has discolored and damaged skin from years of working close to hot glass (600o F). In this case the patient had a traditional face lift, upper and lower blepharoplasty with breast augmentation. Face Makeover vs. Face Lift A face lift only lifts the face, sun damaged skin, does not eliminate age spotsor brown spots, does not correct thin skin, does not correct bone lossEnd does not restore collagen elasticity. Consequently, even after a traditional facelift, skin damage, collagen damage, and volume lossmay need to be treated with other modalities. This is called a face makeover. In this case the patient has a lot of skin damage, as well as bone volume loss. As a result, she will need:

1. Since she she is scheduled to get intense pulse light treatments (IPL) for discoloration followed by fractional laser resurfacing of the facial skin.Laser resurfacing of her skin
2. An estradiol cream to treat her thin skin.
3. A collagen cream with growth factors to build up her collagen and reduced wrinkling in the future.
4. Oral prescription medication to treat her bone loss, such as Evista, Boniva, etc.
5. Her vitamin D level was low, so she will need vitamin D supplements with calcium.
6. She is a smoker which ages the skin and destroyed is her collagen. Beyond just a collagen anti wrinkle cream, she will need to stop smoking.
7. An effective sunscreen, is always a good idea.

Traditional face lifts are very popular with the cosmetic surgeons of ShapeMedUSA of Hinsdale, Illinois. The traditional facelift takes about 2 hours to perform and the patient goes home the same day. The patient should be able to drive in 1-2 days, but is required to wear a binder that goes around the ears for 30 days. For this reason we say that full recovery is an 30 daysafter a traditional face lift. Swelling and bruising is mainly confined to around the ears-especially behind the ears.