What is a non-surgical Facelift?

In the past, surgeons would cut through the skin and deeper structures in order to physically pull these tissues “up”. Many of us have seen actors and actresses with post-procedure results resembling a bit of a “plastic appearance” much as if they had had saran wrap wrapped around their faces in order to tighten their features. Although these surgeons do great work for people with serious medical conditions and birth defects restoring normalcy to these patient’s anatomy, surgery for cosmetic reasons will be demanded less in light of the excellent and scientifically proven, non-surgical procedures we now have available to improve the appearance of the face, neck and other body areas.

Generally, we can break down non-surgical procedures into A) semi-permanent paralysis of facial muscles in order to prevent wrinkling of the skin. Most people are familiar with botox and dysport brand products for this purpose. B) Use of injectable materials including gel fillers and sculptra brand injectable to build up volume in the face and “fill in” crevices such as the “comma” marks on both sides of the mouth. C) Laser treatments that penetrate deep, all the way through the skins outer layer in order to eliminate scars, deep wrinkles, tighten skin, and remove red and brown spots to improve complexion.

In our next issue of this series, we will discuss each of these techniques and how they have evolved and improved over the last 20 years.