Facelift

Facelifting has been around for decades during which time many changes and refinements have taken place. Such changes have involved incisions (placement, length), level at which the lifting is done (just skin, skin and deeper layers), types of sutures used (thread lifts), etc. This huge amount of information is often confusing and it is difficult to understand the differences from sources other than a plastic surgeon.

Let’s start with the basics of what a facelift is. The conventional facelift procedure provides “lifting” of the neck and cheek tissues. This improves the jowls, looseness in the neck, and wrinkles caused by loose skin. The old-fashioned procedure was simply a skin pulling procedure. Most plastic surgeons no longer do a “just-skin” lift and now do procedures in which the deeper tissues of the face are also lifted. This provides more improvement in jowls and neck, but also tends to be longer lasting. Terms that are often used when referring to these techniques are: subperiosteal, deep-plane and SMAS lift.

As plastic surgery has evolved, a greater emphasis for minimally invasive procedures occurred. In facelifting, such changes have brought the development of procedures with smaller incisions, less surgery and quicker recovery.

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MACS Facelift

The procedure that Dr. Mast recommends for minimally invasive facelift is called the MACS Facelift. MACS stands for Minimal Access Cranial Suspension. This technique uses an incision which is about one half the length of a conventional facelift and is dependent on suspension sutures to pull up the deeper tissues and the overlying skin. This technique has been subjected to excellent research studies and has been published in the top Plastic Surgery journals. The procedure provides the same or nearly the same results as the conventional facelift in properly selected patients, while allowing quicker recovery with less risk for complications.

Safety is our number one priority. Using the MACS Facelift adheres to this ideal: it is a procedure that has been documented as an effective and safe technique, the results are long lasting.

Other minimally invasive face lift procedures you may have heard of include the Thread Lift and the Lifestyle Lift. Due to a number of reasons, including lack of significant research studies on the surgery technique, Dr. Mast does not offer these procedures.

Call 352.265.8402 or contact us today to schedule a consultation.

Learn about more facial surgery options.