First facelift
Eugen Hollander said in 1932 that he performed a facelift in 1901 on a Polish aristocrat. He cut out skin only.[1][2]
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History
From skin-only lifts in the early 1900s to the deep plane: the steps that changed the operation.
Timeline
Eugen Hollander said in 1932 that he performed a facelift in 1901 on a Polish aristocrat. He cut out skin only.[1][2]
Erich Lexer lifted the skin over several centimeters and anchored his stitches in the temple fascia. He is credited with the first modern facelift technique.[1][2]
Suzanne Noel performed a facelift in France. Her petit operation set rules short-scar facelifts still follow: short incisions hidden in the hairline and no tension on the skin.[1][2]
Bettman described one continuous incision from the temple scalp, in front of and behind the ear and onto the mastoid, close to the one used today.[1]
Skoog lifted the layer under the cheek fat together with the platysma as one unit and fixed it higher.[1][2]
Mitz and Peyronie named the superficial musculoaponeurotic system, the SMAS. They found lifting under it safe over the parotid gland and dangerous further forward.[1]
Furnas described the ligaments that tie the cheek skin to the bone and showed they must be released for the skin to move up fully.[1]
Hamra carried the dissection under the SMAS past the fold beside the mouth and lifted skin, cheek fat and platysma as one flap.[1]
Stuzin, Baker and Gordon described the face as layers and showed that the facial nerve branches in the cheek lie beneath the deep fascia.[1]
Coleman published controlled demonstrations that fat moved within the body survives long term in the face.[1]
Tonnard and Verpaele published a short-scar lift held by purse-string sutures anchored at the temple, done under local anesthesia.[1]
Rohrich and Pessa showed that facial fat sits in separate compartments. The lift-and-fill facelift later grafted fat into them during the lift.[1][2]
Jacono combined deep-plane release with a vertical pull and a cut in the side of the platysma, so the neck is pulled in its own direction.[1]
The Auersvalds closed the space under the skin with a running stitch. Patients with the net had no hematoma in the first three days, against 14.2% of their earlier patients.[1]
Pioneers
Their papers set the methods in use today.
Lifted the skin over several centimeters and anchored stitches in the temple fascia, the first modern facelift technique.[1]
Her petit operation, with short hidden incisions and low skin tension, is the basis of the mini-lift and short-scar facelift.[1][2]
Lifted the fascia of the cheek with the platysma as one sheet, the first facelift through the deeper layer.[1][2]
With M. Peyronie, named the SMAS and showed that working under it is safe over the parotid gland and dangerous in front of it.[1]
Reported more large hematomas in men than in women, and later described the lateral SMASectomy.[1][2]
Described the retaining ligaments of the cheek and showed they must be released for the skin to move up fully.[1]
Described the subperiosteal mask lift, which frees the soft tissue of the cheek from the bone.[1]
Published the deep-plane facelift and later the composite facelift, which adds the muscle around the eye.[1][2]
With Thomas Baker and Howard Gordon, showed that the facial nerve branches in the cheek lie beneath the deep fascia.[1]
Showed in a controlled test that fat grafted into the face survives long term.[1]
Mapped the spaces of the cheek and jaw and showed that the jowl forms as the space over the chewing muscle stretches with age.[1][2]
With Alexis Verpaele, published the MACS lift, a short-scar lift held by purse-string sutures anchored at the temple.[1]
With Joel Pessa, showed that facial fat sits in separate compartments, and later grafted fat into them in the lift-and-fill facelift.[1][2]
Combined deep-plane release with a vertical pull and carried the release into the jawline and neck.[1][2]
With Luiz Auersvald, published the hemostatic net, a running stitch that closes the space where blood collects.[1]
Measured what comes out in deep neck lifts and found most of the volume under the platysma.[1]
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