Surgical Facelift

Patients may wish to have a full facelift or, if suitable, a smaller S-lift (MACS) which involves a shorter length incision.

As well as eyelid surgery and forehead lifting (brow lift), botox can be used to reduce the appearance of wrinkles around the outside of the eyes and between the eyebrows. A neck lift involves an incision under the chin and recontouring of a sagging neck line. The neck muscles (platysma) may need to be tightened and fat removed by direct surgical excision although liposuction may also be needed for this purpose. In addition, 3-D fillers or fat injections can be used to enhance the contour of both lips and other under-filled areas of the face. These procedures all have their own indications and risk profiles that you should speak with Mr Banwell about.

There are both general and specific risks to the treatment and Mr Banwell will talk to you in detail regarding these. General risks include bruising and swelling, bleeding, wound infection, problems with general anaesthetics, abnormal scarring and keloid scarring. Specific risks include haematoma (collection of blood under the skin), excessive scar formation, poor healing, possibly associated with tissue necrosis (skin death), hair loss around the scars (alopecia), deformity of the ear lobe, asymmetry, numbness, loss of movement to the facial muscles of expression and disappointment with the extent of improvement in both the contour of the face and neck.

You will have bandages around your neck and forehead for one day. After you leave hospital and go home, the hospital nursing staff or our office will contact you after the operation to ensure that you have no problems during your convalescence. For a period of a few weeks there will be significant swelling and bruising of your face. There will be two drains to drain any extra fluid and these drains will generally be removed the day after surgery. Your sutures will be removed on day five. The clips in the hair will be removed after 10 days.

Whilst facelift surgery may make you look considerably younger, your face will continue to age at a rate that it otherwise would have, but you should always remain more youthful than you would have been without the surgery.