Facelift – Improve Your Facial Contours For A Prolonged Youthful Look

If you wish to defy visible signs of aging on your face, facelift or rhytidectomy can be very helpful. This is one of the numerous procedures that we perform at our practice Body by Bloch. The cosmetic procedure involves surgery to minimize signs of aging on the face and neck. Some of the signs of aging improved by rhytidectomy include:

• Mid-face sagging
• Nasolabial folds
• Deep creases forming below your lower eyelids
• Jowls that form on the lower face
• Excess skin and fat under the jaw area or chin

These factors can also be caused by gravity, stress or environmental factors. Once you visit our Chicagoland facility, we will evaluate your face and recommend the right procedure.

What happens during a facelift?

A facelift may be done by various techniques. In the traditional technique, an incision from the front of your ear on the temple area that runs along your hairline to the other temple. This incision will remain inconspicuous even after surgery. Next, your skin will be lifted, which allows tightening of lax facial muscles and removal of extra fat and skin. The skin is then re-draped and closed it with sutures. To enhance healing, we may place tiny temporary drains on your ear sides before dressing your surgical area with bandages.

What to expect after surgery

Your face will be bandaged after the surgery. The dressings are usually removed 1 to 2 days later. If a drainage tube has been placed (usually behind the ear), it will also be removed 1 to 2 days after the surgery. Your doctor will remove your stitchesin 5 to 10 days.

Your doctor may prescribe medicines to relieve pain after the surgery. Expect to have swelling and bruising of the face. Cold compresses can help relieve these side effects. Your doctor may instruct you to keep your head elevated and still as much as possible.

It is important to avoid smoking and even second-hand smoke for 2 to 4 weeks before and after surgery. Tobacco smoke increases the risk for skin and tissue death and will delay your face’s healing process and make scarring worse.

Most people can return to their normal activities 2 to 3 weeks after a face-lift.

Are there any risks with a facelift?

Like most cosmetic surgeries, rhytidectomy has its own risks. In observing one of the ABPS ethics, we will discuss the potential risks of the rhytidectomy during your consultation to help you decide if you want to benefit from the surgery and if the risks are acceptable. Some potential risks include:

• Anesthesia effects
• Infection
• Bleeding under the skin
• Numbness – this may last for about 6 to 12 months
• Scarring
• Hair loss
• Tissue loss

To book a consultation with Body by Bloch you can fill out the form on www.bodybybloch.com or call us at 847-432-0840.

What a facelift won’t do

As a restorative surgery, a facelift does not change your fundamental appearance and cannot stop the aging process.

A facelift can only be performed surgically; non-surgical rejuvenation treatments cannot achieve the same results, but may help delay the time at which a facelift becomes appropriate and complement the results of surgery.