If you’ve ever heard someone talking about taking a “holistic approach” to solving a problem, it may sound a little touchy-feely. When it comes to facial plastic surgery, however, there is really no better way to describe how I assess facelift surgery patients at my Nashville, TN, practice during the initial consultation.
One definition of holistic is that it involves the “comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected … ” When applied to examining a patient’s face, it describes how I look at the interconnection of different areas, the facial anatomy, and the quality of the skin to create a treatment plan that will produce the best natural-looking results.
It’s this approach that led me to develop my signature Reflection Lift, recognizing that facelift surgery alone often didn’t address all of the concerns that a patient may have about their appearance. By combining different procedures—both surgical and nonsurgical—I can produce transformational results without fundamentally changing a patient’s appearance. My facial plastic surgery patients look like themselves but younger.
When a Facelift Isn’t Enough
Women and men who come in for facelift consultations are typically concerned about jowls and loose neck skin. Facelift surgery can tighten skin along the jawline and minimize the grooves that extend from the nose to the corners of the mouth called nasolabial folds. Combining a neck lift with a facelift is common.
But for many of these patients, signs of aging affect other areas of the face. A facelift alone won’t produce the comprehensive results that they want. When I describe how combining procedures creates the type of outcomes you can see in the gallery of Reflection Lift before-and-after photos, they understand why a facelift alone isn’t enough.
You can also see the results in these before-and-after photos we recently posted on Instagram:
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What Procedures Are Included in a Reflection Lift?
A Reflection Lift is divided into 3 levels. I tailor my facelift techniques to the severity of sagging in the jowls and neck. Other facial plastic surgery procedures I recommend to patients depend on their concerns. A standalone facelift rarely addresses each of the concerns described during a consultation.
These are among the most common procedures and treatments combined with a Reflection Lift:
Laser skin resurfacing
Surgically tightening skin doesn’t improve the texture of sun-damaged skin or erase age spots. The thermal energy delivered below the skin’s surface by fractional CO2 laser skin resurfacing triggers a natural healing response that stimulates collagen production. In addition to smoothing rough skin and minimizing discoloration, laser skin resurfacing treats acne scars and fine wrinkles.
Blepharoplasty
Getting a facelift without addressing sagging upper eyelids and puffy lower eyelids can leave patients disappointed because the area around the eyes is so important to looking more youthful. Surgery on the upper or lower eyelid—or both—creates a more alert and rested appearance.
Neck lift
As mentioned earlier, a neck lift is usually performed along with a facelift. In some cases, this may be a procedure that tightens the skin and platysma muscle. Other patients, however, can benefit from neck liposuction to remove excess fat and sculpt a more well-defined jawline.
Fat transfer
I often use fat as a natural filler for facelift patients. Fat transfer, also called fat grafting, involves using liposuction to retrieve unwanted, excess fat from an area of the patient’s body, such as the abdomen. Then we purify the fat cells and re-inject them into areas of the face with age-related volume loss.
As a double board-certified facial plastic surgeon in Nashville, I’ve created customized surgical plans for thousands of facelift patients. If you’ve been considering a facelift, give our office a call at (615) 942-8016 or contact us using the online form to request a consultation.
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