Surgical Procedures - Facial Surgery

FACE LIFT (RHYTIDECTOMY)

Details of your facial cosmetic surgery: the face lift procedure & anesthesia.

How long does a face lift take?

A face lift usually takes several hours - longer if you've chosen to add additional facial cosmetic surgery procedures such as:

a forehead lift (browlift)
eyelid surgery
improvements to nose or chin

Where several facial cosmetic surgeries are required, your surgeon may schedule two separate sessions.

The procedure: how is a face lift performed?

Incisions usually begin above the hairline at the temples, pass down in front of the ear and continue behind the earlobe to the lower scalp. During your facial cosmetic surgery, a small incision may also be made under the chin to reshape the neck.

Your facial surgeon will begin your face lift by separating the skin from the fat and muscle below. Fat is delicately trimmed or suctioned to improve contours.

Then underlying muscle and membrane is tightened, pulling the skin back so it is smoother, and removes the excess.

Your facial surgeon may also bandage your head to minimise bruising and swelling after your standard or endoscopic face lift.

Endoscopic face lift - a new option.

Where there is minimal baggy skin some patients can benefit from a newer subtler approach: an endoscopic face lift.

To perform an endoscopic face lift an endoscope (a small television camera mounted on a thin tube) is inserted through several small and well-hidden incisions behind the hairline. Using this method the surgeon can modify and reshape soft tissues under the skin during the face lift and so can restore more youthful facial contours without long incisions and scars.

The endoscopic face lift is most suitable for patients who are relatively young and whose facial ageing problems do not involve much excess skin. Stitches secure layers of tissue and incisions; metal clips may be used on the scalp. To drain any blood that might collect behind your ears following your facial cosmetic surgery, a tiny tube may be placed temporarily under the skin.

Anaesthesia options for your facial cosmetic surgery.

The Hurlingham Clinic and Spa offers a modern, patient-friendly approach to anaesthesia, TIVA - Total Intravenous Anaesthesia. TIVA is a newer anaesthetic technique which has risen in profile within the last 5-8 years. It has been made possible with the advent of a new generation of intravenous medications with unique properties. TIVA patients sleep soundly during the entire operation, feeling no pain and experiencing no anxiousness. They wake up quickly and comfortably with no memory of their procedure. Many patients prefer this type of anaesthetic to traditional general anaesthetics since they feel comfortable, wake quickly, have less nausea, experience none of the 'hang-over' effects of a full general anaesthetic, and therefore can be discharged earlier. TIVA is safe, effective, extremely well tolerated and is the anaesthetic of choice of Hurlingham Clinic surgeons and most of their patients.

Alternatively, some patients and their surgeons may decide that a full general anaesthetic is still the best choice. Discuss your options for anaesthesia during your consultation with your cosmetic surgeon.

Find out more about TIVA