As we age, the supporting structures of our skin, collagen and elastin, begin to weaken. Simultaneously, our skin’s production rate of these essential proteins and fibers slows drastically year-over-year. One of the most common side effects of this aging process is wrinkles that can’t be treated with anti-aging creams. Today, we’re looking at whether a facelift at Salas Plastic Surgery can eliminate facial wrinkles.
Can a Facelift Eliminate Wrinkles?
A facelift can absolutely eliminate wrinkles. This is achieved by tightening the facial tissues that support the skin. However, this isn’t the only aesthetic enhancement that can be derived from undergoing this procedure. Besides eliminating wrinkles, there are several other benefits provided by this procedure. For example, this procedure can be used to remove excess skin and smooth out the deepest folds.
What Can’t This Procedure Do?
While this procedure provides many benefits, it has its limitations. For example, a full rhytidectomy (facelift) can smooth out the deepest folds and most stubborn wrinkles and tighten and lift the underlying tissues that support the skin.
However, the scope of this procedure does not include the eyebrows or upper eyelids. Therefore, if you have concerns about the appearance of your eyebrows or eyelids, you will need a brow lift or eye lift to achieve your desired aesthetic.
The Scope of the Procedure
The scope of a full rhytidectomy is to lift the tissues beneath the skin and tighten the skin of the middle and lower face. In some cases, it is also used to enhance the appearance of the neck by removing excess muscle, fat, or skin tissue from the neck, as well as restructuring the neck muscles.
What Can I Expect During This Procedure?
What happens during this procedure depends on the exact goals you are trying to achieve. For example, if you are more concerned about your jowls and excess neck skin, the procedure will focus on removing excess skin and excising excess fat from the region of your chin and neck.
If you are concerned about deep wrinkles and sagging skin affecting the middle region of your face, excess skin will be removed and the underlying facial tissues around your cheeks will be tightened and lifted. During your initial consultation, we will review your aesthetic goals to determine the best way to proceed and then give you a better idea of what to expect during your procedure.
How Long Do the Results of the Procedure Last?
How long the results of the procedure last depends on several factors, including your age, skin health, overall health, and lifestyle. Perhaps the most significant factor affecting how long the results of the procedure last depends on your age. Remember, wrinkles most often develop because the tissues that support your smooth skin weaken, die and are not replenished. This worsens with age.
The older you are, the sooner you can expect to need a follow-up procedure. For example, if you have a rhytidectomy when you are 35 years old, you may not need a maintenance procedure until you are 51 years old, an incredible 16 years after you received your first procedure. If, however, you waited until you were 45 to receive your first rhytidectomy, the final results of your procedure may only last for 10 years.
How Can I Extend the Results of the Procedure?
Though you can’t reverse your chronological age, you can slow the inevitable aging of your skin. To accomplish this, you must make taking care of your skin health a priority in your life. During your initial consultation, we will discuss your lifestyle to identify habits you can change to protect the health of your skin and the efficiency of your skin’s collagen production.
Two of the most important things you can do for the health of your skin are abstaining from any product containing nicotine and keeping your alcohol consumption to the AHA’s guidelines. Specifically, females should consume no more than one unit of alcohol daily and males should consume no more than two units of alcohol daily. However, these lifestyle changes may be too drastic to be realistic. Here are some actionable steps you can take today.
Drink Enough Water
Although you may not be able to eliminate nicotine consumption or drink fewer than three units of alcohol today, you can make sure you are hydrated. Unfortunately, feeling thirsty is a lag indicator of dehydration rather than a lead indicator. By the time you feel thirsty, you have been dehydrated for a long time, and many people mistake their thirst for hunger, anyway.
To verify that you are hydrated, check the color of your urine. You should make an effort to consume liquids, like water, coffee, tea, soup, or water-dense fruits and veggies until your urine is translucent or very pale. If you drink milk for hydration, drink whole milk because all other types of milk are heavily processed, and make sure it fits into your calorie budget. Juices and sports drinks should be avoided due to heavy processing and sugar.
Wear Sunscreen
If you’re not already providing your skin with adequate protection from the sun’s UVC rays, start today. As a good general rule of thumb, if you have a great deal of melanin in your skin, you may be able to get by with a sun protection factor of 35. However, if you have very little melanin in your skin, you need a broad-spectrum sunscreen with a sun protection factor of at least 55.
If you’re not sure what sun protection factor you should be looking for to protect your skin, ask your dermatologist. Even if you have a good deal of melanin in your skin, he or she can advise you if you need extra protection due to your family or personal medical history. It’s important to note that you must use broad-spectrum sunscreen as most sunscreens on the market do not protect against UVC rays, the rays that damage collagen and slow its production rate.
Consume Lean Protein With Every Meal
Something else you can do today to improve the health of your skin and strength of your collagen is to start eating lean protein with every meal. For example, you could have a turkey omelet for breakfast, spinach and strawberry salad with chicken for lunch, and tuna and asparagus for dinner. Eating enough protein is crucial because collagen is a protein and getting collagen from natural sources in your diet will help your skin produce its own collagen.
It’s okay if you want to get protein from high-fat sources, like whole milk, whole yogurt, or raw nuts. However, you must be sure to consume these foods in moderation because fat is over twice as calorie-dense as protein and carbohydrates.
Eat Plenty of Fruits and Veggies
Another thing you can do today to improve the health of your skin is to start eating at least a fruit or vegetable with every meal. Your end goal should be to consume your RDA (recommended daily allowance) of micronutrients through a healthy diet rather than a nutritional supplement. To help you reach that goal, make a conscious effort to eat several colors of fruits and vegetables.
For example, eat orange produce to get your daily dose of vitamin C. Eat dark green produce to get plenty of vitamins A and K, both of which are crucial for the health of your skin. Purple produce, such as eggplants, purple grapes, and purple cabbage are very high in B vitamins. If you need help meal planning to make sure you’re getting enough nutrition, seek help from a licensed nutritionist.
Am I a Good Candidate for This Procedure?
An initial consultation will reveal whether you are a good candidate for this procedure. Generally, we look for an individual who is self-conscious about the appearance of his or her facial skin. He or she struggles with wrinkles or loose and sagging skin, but the skin is still fairly healthy.
Furthermore, the ideal individual should be in fairly good overall health. Here’s a closer look at a few of the factors we look for in the ideal candidate:
Dissatisfaction With the Appearance of the Facial Skin
When determining who is a good candidate for rhytidectomy, we look for an individual with cosmetic concerns that can be treated by the procedure. Remember, this procedure addresses the middle and bottom of the face and the scope of the procedure can be extended to the neck.
If you are only concerned about the appearance of your upper eyelids, eyebrows, or forehead, you are a better candidate for other procedures.
Overall Skin Health
When considering who is a good candidate for this procedure, one of the first things we look at is the health of an individual’s skin. While weak collagen and elastin cause the wrinkles that can be treated with a rhytidectomy, your facial skin should still be fairly elastic. In other words, it should snap back flush against your body fairly quickly when it is pulled from the body.
Age
Another factor that we consider when determining who is a good candidate for this procedure is the age of the potential candidate. Few people feel the need to receive this procedure until at least the age of 35, though your skin’s production of collagen starts to slow significantly at the age of 25.
Most people feel the need to receive this procedure between the ages of 35 and 45. Assuming fair skin health and a fairly healthy lifestyle, a follow-up procedure should not be necessary until the age of 51 or 61. However, most people don’t undergo this procedure after the age of 64 because they tend to have medical conditions that preclude them from being a good candidate.
Overall Health
Another very significant factor we look at when determining who is a good candidate for this procedure is overall health. It is important to have a healthy heart and lungs because the stronger these organs are the safer it is to be put under general anesthesia. General anesthesia is a medication administered to numb the entire body and induce unconsciousness so there is no pain, discomfort, uneasiness, or anxiety during the procedure.
If your heart and lungs aren’t healthy enough for you to be put under general anesthesia safely, we will assess the safety of putting you under local anesthesia and sedation. If you’re not healthy enough for that, then you will be precluded from receiving rhytidectomy.
Discover How to Achieve the Smooth Countenance of Your Youth Today
Though we have yet to discover the Fountain of Youth, a facelift can make you feel like you’ve found it. This safe, effective procedure doesn’t just eliminate wrinkles. It eliminates wrinkles for far longer than any alternative on the market. If you’re ready to restore the flawlessly smooth countenance of your youth, contact Salas Plastic Surgery to book an appointment.
