Cooper advises against getting dermal fillers if you're planning to get a facelift. First, injecting the filler into the upper cheek area can affect the surgical procedure.
To enhance and prolong your facelift results, it is highly recommended to maintain a regular regimen of skin rejuvenation therapies and injectables, such as fillers and BOTOX.
According to a study in the February issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (the American Society of Plastic Surgeons). Patients who have undergone a facelift rate themselves as looking at an average of 12 years younger after facelift surgery.
Discontinuing the treatment will not make your wrinkles worse. When the effect wears off, the treated area will go back to its original appearance. With dermal fillers, most people think your skin will become wrinkly or saggy if you stop getting injections. This is not necessarily true.
Facelift recovery time
You should look and feel normal after 2 – 4 weeks. Keep in mind that facelift surgery cannot stop natural aging, so we encourage patients to continue to take care of their skin and make healthy lifestyle choices.
Why? When the facelift is performed, the skin is tightened and it can flatten out the jowls because the skin is tighter. However, over time as the skin relaxes, the full fatty jowls will restretch out the skin and the jowls will reappear. Weight loss prior to face lift surgery is very important for these people.
The corner of the mouth/lower lip is pulled down by the depressor anguli oris muscle, which is innervated by the marginal mandibular nerve. This nerve is one of the branches most commonly weakened after a facelift. Usually movement will recover in 6 to 12 weeks, although complete recovery may take longer.
The most serious risk associated with dermal fillers is accidental injection into a blood vessel. Filler that enters a blood vessel can cause skin necrosis (death of tissue), stroke, or blindness.
With today's cosmetic technology, patients of all ages can have facial rejuvenation with injectables. The primary aim for patients over 60 is to soften lines while maintaining natural-looking results.
“The short answer is no,” says Dr. Miriam Hanson, board certified dermatologist and cosmetic expert in Austin, Texas. “Wrinkles do not become worse after having dermal fillers.” Dermal fillers comprise a family of injectable medications that restore volume in areas of the skin where it has been lost.
Visible scars are glaring signs of plastic surgery. Generally, facelift incisions run from the hairline at the temple and continue in front of and behind the ears and extend to the lower scalp.
In most cases, a facelift works best for people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s when signs of aging begin to become prevalent. Deep lines, wrinkles, fine lines, and sagging skin are the result of the aging process and can be best corrected through surgical techniques rather than non-surgical ones.
Not surprisingly, the most common age for a facelift is around 58 or 59, with that age increasingly skewing younger.
The most dramatic yet natural-looking results occur with a full SMAS facelift with the incisions on either side of the face beginning at the temple and extending down and around the ear to the lower scalp. These incisions are well hidden within the hairline.
There is no age at which an individual is too old for any cosmetic enhancement, so long as they are healthy enough to undergo the rigors of surgery, anesthesia and recovery from the procedure.
1 Week Post-Op
During the first week after your facelift, you can expect swelling and bruising around your lower face, ears and neck. Swelling may be uneven, so don't be alarmed if your results don't look perfectly symmetrical at this stage.
For most patients, results from a facelift will last about 10 years. The skin on your face will continue to age after you have a facelift, which is why the results aren't permanent.
Ingredients in your normal anti-aging skincare regimen can be very irritating during this time. Our experts recommend pausing on ingredients like retinol, hydroquinone, and vitamin C two weeks before surgery and discontinuing their use for four weeks afterwards.
AVOID BENDING OVER OR LIFTING heavy things for one week. Besides aggravating swelling, this may raise the blood pressure and start hemorrhage. AVOID HITTING OR BUMPING YOUR FACE, HEAD AND NECK. It is wise not to pick up small children and you should sleep alone for one week after your operation.
Dermal fillers are most commonly used in the lips, cheeks, temples, and forehead. Generally speaking, a facelift is recommended when patients are experiencing more advanced signs of aging, whereas dermal fillers might be more suitable in treating the early stages of facial aging.
Procedures that can make sagging worse include jawline slimming with masseter injections. Similarly, excessive use of filler worsens the appearance of jowls, exaggerating a square rather than a v shape to the jawline.
Although injectable fillers such as Juvederm, Perlane, Radiesse, Restylane, and Sculptra are great for reducing the signs of aging like fine lines and wrinkles, it's best to wait a few months before you use any of these products if you have recently had a facelift.
Windblown Look: caused when the surgeon stretches the facial skin beyond a natural point, making the face look pulled back and unnatural. Visible Scars: poor technique could lead to visible scars near the hairline or the ear, which can be hard to cover with makeup.