Procedure guide

Facelift

A facelift lifts the sagging tissue of the cheeks, jawline and neck and removes loose skin through incisions around the ear. Modern facelifts lift the deeper SMAS layer and cheek fat, release the ligaments that hold them down and may add volume with fat grafting.

Facelift in Florida Techniques

The operation

What a facelift changes

Rhytidectomy and meloplasty are the medical names for the facelift.

The first facelifts in the early 1900s cut away skin beside the ear, and for about sixty years the skin alone carried the lift. Skin stretches, so those results relaxed and faded.

Since the 1970s surgeons have lifted the SMAS, the layer of fibrous tissue and muscle under the facial fat. Techniques now differ by the layer lifted, the ligaments released and the direction of pull.

No single technique is the standard. Comparisons find similar results across the main methods, and the right choice may differ by patient.

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What it changes

Jowls and a softened jawline
Loose skin of the lower face and neck
Sagging cheeks, when the lift moves the cheek fat with the skin
Neck bands and loose neck skin, when the platysma muscle is tightened or suspended
Lost cheek volume, when fat grafting is added to the lift

What it does not change

Lifting does not put back volume lost with age; fat grafting is added for that.
The fold beside the mouth relapses first: in Hamra's long-term follow-up the jawline lift held and the fold improvement faded.
Aging continues: patient ratings fell from nearly all very good at one year to about two in three at about 12 years.
Tightening the neck skin and platysma alone leaves fat, glands and digastric muscle under the platysma untreated.

The guide

The facelift, section by section

TechniquesDeep plane, SMAS, short scar and mini lifts: the layer each one moves.
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Anatomy and SMASThe five layers of the face and the one a modern facelift lifts.
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HistoryFrom skin-only lifts in 1901 to the deep plane and the surgeons who changed it.
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Recovery and risksWeek by week after surgery, the risks in numbers and how long results last.
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QuestionsAnswers to the questions patients ask most, with sources.
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Florida surgeons of noteFlorida facelift surgeons ranked on facelift.studio, with their galleries.
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Florida

Facelift surgeons in Florida

Plastic, cosmetic and facial plastic surgery practices across Florida. Bars stand by Google reviews.

Every Florida market

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Facelift research on facelift.studio

facelift.studio keeps the long-form science: every technique, the papers behind it, recovery week by week and the surgeons who publish.

Facelift procedures Deep plane facelift SMAS facelift techniques Short scar facelift and MACS lift Facelift recovery timeline Facelift complications and outcomes History of the facelift Papers that changed the facelift Surgeons behind the modern facelift Facelift surgeons in Florida