Dr. Buckingham’s Q&A

Traditionally, facelifting involved large incisions that were difficult to hide and necessitated extended down time to recover.  These procedures often gave an unnatural appearance.  At the Buckingham Center for Facial Plastic Surgery we specialize in the newest techniques to give you a natural, rejuvenated appearance.  Facelift surgery can now be accomplished without many of the historical inconveniences.  Lower facelifting is the procedure we utilize to lift the areas from an oblique line drawn from the corner of the mouth to the top of the ear and below.  This includes elevating the jowls to restore the jawline, restoring the youthful acute angle of the neck and chin and reducing sagging neck skin.  We tailor the procedure based upon the patients needs.  Younger patients (age 35-45) with only a lack of definition in the neck or chin can often be treated with neck liposuction and a platysmaplasty (tightening of the neck muscles) with or without a chin implant.  Patients with minimal aging and good bony structure, who are concerned mainly with their jawline, can benefit from one of the less invasive facelifting techniques.

Minimally invasive facelifting techniques involve limiting the length of the incision around the ear and the dissection of the deeper facial structures to achieve the result required for a patient with lesser degrees of aging while minimizing the recovery period.  These procedures have come to acquire many different names which have been confusing to the public including “S”-lifting, “lunch-time lift”(none of these procedures can be done over lunch by the way), mini-lift, Lifestyle Lift™, and many others.  Lifestyle lift ™ deserves a small amount of further discussion.  Lifestyle Lift™ is nothing more than a limited facelift.  The term has been trademarked and mass marketed as a unique procedure and then performed in a corporate setting.  Be a cautious and well-educated consumer when considering cosmetic surgery, there are many examples of these remarkable new and exclusive procedures that are not what they seem and may not accomplish the desired result.
At the Buckingham Center for Facial Plastic Surgery, we take all the time necessary to develop a relationship with our patients and customize a treatment plan that will best achieve the patient’s goals.  Additionally, your safety is of our utmost concern and we take that into consideration during the entire process.
Dr. Edward Buckingham specializes in the full range of limited facelifts from incisions just under the chin to full deep plane facelifts.  A limited incision facelift it is commonly done in our office operating suite with oral sedation and local anesthesia.  The incision is limited to around the ear and the deeper tissues of the face, known as the SMAS (sub-muscular aponeurotic system), are incised and tightened.  The skin is redraped and excised and carefully sutured into hidden locations in and around the ear and hairline.  (Please view our before and after photos for examples of hidden incisions.)  A full lower facelift is more comfortably performed in an outpatient surgery center.  Patients deemed to need a full lower facelift receive an incision under the chin.  The necessary amount of liposuction is performed followed by a platysmaplasty to tighten the midline neck muscles and eliminate platysmal banding.  We then make an incision around the ear to gain access to the SMAS.  In the most severe cases we dissect under this layer completely out into the jowl region which allows us to release the connections between the mandible and the skin to get the most powerful, but natural lift we can.  Again the skin is then redraped, excised and sutured.  Prior to closing the skin we then spray tissue sealant, Tisseel, under the skin flaps.  Tisseel is the last two molecules your body naturally uses to stop bleeding.  When used in facelifting it seals any vessels and “glues” the skin flaps together.  This eliminates the need for any drain tubes and we only use a light dressing overnight without the use of any bulky pressure dressings and no elastic bandages.  The best way to appreciate these procedures is to visit our photo gallery or come in and have a personal consult with Dr. Buckingham.  We look forward to your comments.