A facelift can take virtual years off your face. As we age, our skin loses its elasticity and begins to sag and wrinkle. Exposure to the sun and the stress of daily life take their toll. Rhytidectomy, is the surgical removal of wrinkles. This surgery removes excess facial skin with or without tightening of underlying tissues and re-drapes it on the patient’s face and neck. The result is a face that appears smoother, firmer and fresher. Most men and women who undergo facelifts are in their forties to sixties. Facelifts can be completed successfully on the elderly as well.
A facelift is day surgery and can be performed under local anesthetic, with a sedative to help you relax. The surgery can take several hours and involves deep incisions, placed in the hairline to make scarring as inconspicuous as possible. Fatty deposits are removed, sagging muscles are tightened, and any resultant slack in the skin is trimmed away. Facelifts are often combined with other procedures such as blepharoplasty (eyelift).
Following surgery, slight skin discoloration or bruising, puffiness and a feeling of tightness or numbness are quite common but these effects are temporary and you’ll be feeling “normal” within two to three weeks. You’ll be up and about within a day or two but healing is gradual and it will take several weeks or even months before you’ll be able to see the full effects of your facelift. Of course, your face will continue to age with time, but the effects of a facelift are very long-lasting and years later you’ll continue to look fresher and younger than you would had you not undergone the surgery.
Cost of Rhytidectomy (facelift)
The cost of a facelift varies according to the individual needs of the patient.