Long-Lasting Youth with Facelifting
One day, when each of us looks in the mirror and realizes that our face has succumbed to the force of gravity, we spontaneously try to keep our head up to make our face look taut. That is the moment when the signal is given that it is time for us to meet "facelifting."
It is not possible to eliminate wrinkles caused by strong mimic muscles in a non-sagging face with a facelift operation. This is only possible by eliminating the function of the muscles. However, this procedure can also create a motionless, expressionless facial appearance.
Eliminating the traces left by years and living conditions is one of my patients' primary wishes. The face is defined as the "window to the soul." A person expresses their inner world with the style of expression reflected by their facial muscles. While 60 muscles need to contract to create an ugly appearance on the face, the function of 10 muscles is sufficient for a smile.
There are three downward-sagging areas on the face that need to be tightened: the forehead, cheeks, and neck. The aging and sagging of the face are in harmony. Therefore, its tightening must also be in harmony. My patients who want to correct facial sagging usually complain about the sagging of one part of the face and want this situation to be corrected. This is because they have repeatedly stretched that sagging area with two fingers in front of the mirror. The most typical movement is to hold the neck skin between the thumb and forefinger and pull it behind the ear. This is because the most noticeable sagging is there. However, leaving the other areas of the face in their old state and only tightening the neck disrupts the harmony, thus actually giving the entire face the appearance of an operated face.
However, after a facelift operation, the rejuvenated expression of the face should be natural and the facial structure should maintain its harmony. Even if the result of the operation takes the person's appearance back years, this young appearance should not be perceived as a strange face, moving away from the familiar facial expression known by the patient's relatives and ingrained in their memories.
For me, the most pleasing words a plastic surgeon can hear are when others say to their patient, "You look beautiful, young, and rested" instead of "Your surgery was very well done." This result can only be achieved by operating on the face with a harmony-preserving plan after a good analysis.
This beautiful appearance will undoubtedly positively affect the person's social and emotional life. Feelings of self-confidence and feeling good will undoubtedly increase. However, it is still not right to overstate this effect and, as Dr. Ulrich Hinderer said, always perceive and define such aesthetic surgeries as "psychotherapy with a knife."
"Facelift" can erase the traces of bad memories and emotions experienced in the past, but it can never erase the mental depression being experienced at that moment... Facial aesthetic surgeries I performed at times when storms were raging in my patients' inner worlds, which I had not noticed before, were a source of distress for both my patient and me.
The only thing I say to my patients who desire a facelift operation is: "If you feel young, vibrant, and dynamic, but when you look in the mirror you see a tired, old face, it is normal to want to eliminate this difference with surgery."
When you hear "facelift surgery," you might imagine the entire facial skin being separated from the subcutaneous structures and all wrinkles being stretched away. If all wrinkles are removed, the face will appear expressionless, giving it a mask-like look. However, wrinkles around the eyes and lips, and in the middle of the forehead, can be treated separately with additional methods.
In facelift surgery, procedures can be performed at three depths. The outermost layer is the skin, and excessive tightening of this layer alone can result in a face that looks like "a person walking against the wind." The second important layer is the SMAS layer, which gives the face harmony and stability. Tightening this layer, along with the neck and forehead muscles, or rather, bringing them back to their original positions from their sagging state, restores the face's naturalness and dynamism. The third layer is the periosteum, which is the layer above the bone. Lifting this layer is typically done using endoscopy. This method can rejuvenate the face and also create significant changes in facial expression. The possibility of these changes must be discussed with the patient before surgery.
My patients always ask me one question during consultations: "How long does the effect of this facelift last?" My answer is "lifelong," and there's a reason for it from my perspective. I have performed various aesthetic surgeries on many identical twins simultaneously. Twins usually want to have surgery at the same time because they always want to remain alike. In one case, I performed a facelift on only one twin sister; the other didn't want the surgery because she had to take blood thinners. Even after many years, the patient who had the surgery still looks much younger than her twin sister who did not. Of course, it is not possible to completely stop the biological clock, but it is clear that this advantage will last a lifetime.
The second frequently asked question in consultations is, "Should I have this surgery now, or should I wait longer?" I answer this question with a counter-question: "When you have the opportunity to own something that can make you happy, that you like and would enjoy, would you prefer to experience that happiness immediately or postpone it for 4-5 years?" In my opinion, there is no age limit for facelift surgery; what is more important than age is whether there is sagging in the tissue. If you have no sagging in your face, you don't need to knock on a plastic surgeon's door. Because there is no surgery to prevent sagging in the face; there is surgery to treat sagging in the face. The time for this begins when the sagging becomes noticeable. The method and scope of the surgery to be performed are also related to the degree of this sagging.
Of course, surgeries performed at a younger age do not require extensive incisions. The stability of the tissues is provided by the initial surgery performed at a younger age. Ten years later, a more limited facelift procedure is repeated in the same way, and the face maintains its refreshed appearance. A patient I operated on with three mini-lifts at the ages of 37, 47, and 55, no one outside her immediate family understood that she had undergone a facelift, and she continues to receive compliments on how young and beautiful she looks.
It should not be forgotten that:
"Nothing that makes you happy makes you sick."