Facelift
3 December 2019
The blog you are reading is one of the most comprehensive online resources on facial aesthetics in Turkish. In the face and neck section, you can find many articles with detailed information about different facelift techniques.
The purpose of this post is to offer an introduction into the basics of facelift.
This information will enable you to follow both technique-specific articles and articles about my facial rejuvenation philosophy more easily.
By the time you’re done reading, I hope you will think, “Oh, I didn’t know that.”
Even if you think, “No, you didn’t tell me something I don’t know,” don’t get disappointed. The content of the blog contains in-depth information that not only potential patients but also plastic surgery professionals will benefit from.
So let’s get started.
Facelift Terminology
“Facelift” is a medical term that has been mistranslated into our language.
In Turkish, it is called “yüz germe”.
Yüz (Face), Germe (Stretching)
So the correct translation of the term should have been “yüz kaldırma” (facelift) rather than “yüz germe” (face stretching).
Back when this surgical procedure was invented, the only thing we could do to lift the face was to stretch the skin.
From this point of view, the fathers of the profession may have taught, “A face stretching or a facelift – Both are the same.” They probably matched the term “yüz germe” (face stretching) with Turkish phonetics better because of the vowel harmony. In the end, the name of the procedure was permanently adopted as “yüz germe” in Turkish. This terminology has not bothered anyone for a long time until modern facelift surgeries emerged.
The Element of “Stretching” in Facelift
As conventional facelift surgeries stretched and tightened the facial skin, people had a tight expression on their faces. Surgical stretching was an acceptable trade-off for many, as it alleviated the signs of aging, but outsiders could immediately tell that the face had been operated. Over time, the “tight and stretched” appearance created by the facelift began to make the society tense as well from a spiritual point of view. As things were about to evolve into a horror movie, we discovered the surgical importance of the deeper layers of the face. Modern facelift surgeries are becoming more and more common today and no longer use skin tension or stretching to lift the face. Facial tissues are raised in blocks and repositioned on the facial skeleton. It is the deep tissues that bear the load. Excess skin is still removed, but there is no tension in the skin.
What is the Extent of the Face that a Facelift Impacts?
Another misinformation about facelift surgeries is that this surgery affects the entire face. However, facelift surgery has a direct impact only in the cheek area. In facelift, the cheek should be stretched and lifted at a minimum, and the chin contour should be corrected.
Facelift surgery indirectly affects the facial units (around the mouth, lower eyelid, midface, under the temple, neck, etc.) adjacent to the cheek. Facial units adjacent to the cheek cannot be completely corrected in facelift surgery. If we aim for the ideal result in these areas, we should combine a facelift with exclusive surgeries (nasolabial fillers/excision, lower blepharoplasty, midface lift, temporal lift, neck lift, etc.).
A facelift does not affect other facial areas such as forehead, upper eyelid, nose, lips and chin in any way. So if we want a “harmonious” facial rejuvenation, we should integrate the surgical operations of these areas (forehead lift, rhinoplasty, lip augmentation, lip lift, upper blepharoplasty, etc.) into the plan.
Skin Procedures in Facelift Surgery
In facelift surgery, the excess facial skin is always reduced without exception. It is not right to call surgical procedures not reducing excess skin a “facelift”. In facelift surgery, an incision is made around the ear, the tissues are repositioned, and the excess skin is surgically excised. Without removing the excess skin, it is impossible to achieve a reasonable result in areas where the surface area is large, such as cheeks and neck, and where facial mobility is high. The amount of skin excised and the length of the scar vary depending on the scope of the facelift technique, the dissection plane and the technical details. However, even in a “mini” facelift, there is always an incision in front of the ear. These scars turn into very gentle and unobtrusive scars within 6 to 12 months.
A facelift which never was
At the beginning of this post, I explained that even the Turkish term for facelift (“yüz germe” – face stretching) actually originated from a mistranslation. There are other similar naming errors in facial aesthetics.
They include orta yüz germe (midface stretching for midface lift), endoskopik yüz germe (endoscopic face stretching for endoscopic facelift), ameliyatsız yüz germe (non-surgical face stretching for non-surgical facelift), sıvı yüz germe (fluid face stretching for fluid facelift) and iple yüz germe (thread face stretching for thread facelift).
All of these techniques lift the face in a certain area, at a certain rate and for a certain period of time. However, they have nothing to do with the original facelift surgery. Therefore, they are not an alternative to but just complement a facelift. I won’t go into further details on this because I have long articles on the blog describing the differences between these procedures and facelift surgery.
The blog also offers exclusive posts and articles on the following:
- The way facelifts are performed,
- The risks of a facelift,
- Recovery after a facelift,
- Patients eligible for a facelift and the right time for surgery,
- The duration of the effect of a facelift and the cases when it should be revised, and
- Facelift surgery techniques as well as many other subjects.
We present visual materials on facelift surgery during examination.
For detailed information on facelift surgeries,
1) You can continue reading,
2) You can contact us and pay a visit for examination.
Take good care…
… of yourself and your beauty.
OB