Mary,
The timing of a facelift with regard to weight loss is not really important. A facelift is designed to improve the jawline and neck. The excess fat that exists in the neck will be removed during the procedure and so it is not necessary to lose the weight first. Having said that, significant weight loss in the face can lead to aging of the cheeks and lower eyelids. This can be corrected with a facial fat transfer. Usually the timing of this is not that important as long as you are not losing large quantities of weight. I usually use 30-40 pounds as a rough guideline of enough weight to make a difference. As long as you don’t have that amount of weight or more to lose then I feel it is OK to proceed with a facelift or fat transfer.
Ed Buckingham
Chris,
No an otoplasty will not affect your hearing, positively or negatively. The external auricle is only responsible for a minuscule amount of the gathering of sound waves to the middle and inner ear. The middle and inner ear are responsible for amplifying the sound to the brain.
Ed Buckingham
Jason,
It is a little unusual for a 27 year old to have loose skin on their face following weight loss of even a significant degree. Usually at that age the skin has enough elasticity to accommodate the loss of volume. In general however, loss of weight produces a loss of overall subcutaneous volume in the face. This can lead to the loss of skin tone or facial structural shape in a young person, and an aging appearance in an older person. Loss of volume in the cheek and area around the eyes can be replaced by performing a fat transfer. This involves harvesting remaining fat from the body or lower limbs and placing it into the appropriate areas of the face to add contour. This can include augmenting the cheeks or jaw area. Sagging neck skin usually is dealt with by performing a surgical procedure to tighten the skin. There is some anecdotal discussion about lasers producing skin tightening, but I have never been impressed with this in the neck. In someone of your age usually a tightening of the neck musculature called a platysmaplasty will be sufficient.
The best way for me to address your specific concerns is to come in for a consultation. There we would be able to discuss the procedures in more detail and be certain to meet your goals.
Ed Buckingham
Meg,
A fat transfer is utilized to restore lost volume to the face. One of the key features to aging is volume loss along with gravitational changes and skin changes. Look at photos of children and 30 year olds. The 30 year olds don’t look old, but they clearly look older than the 15 year old. Why is that? Now look at a 50 or 60 year old compared to the 30 year old. The difference if volume. Especially in the cheek region and the areas of bone around the eye, loss of volume allows the deeper bony structures to dominate the face instead of the soft full curves of youth. Fat transfer restore this lost volume.
A fat transfer is performed by choosing an area of fat excess on the trunk or extremities and harvesting the fat using a 3 mm cannula and syringe through a small puncture. The fat is then centrifuged to remove oil and fluid. The good fat remaining is then inserted with 1 mm cannulas through a small needle puncture into the areas of the face that are in need of replacement. The procedure is performed under IV sedation and local anesthesia and takes about an hour. While there are no true incisions, the procedure does have about 2 weeks of social down-time due to swelling.
We have many examples of fat transfer results as well as a video explaining the procedure. Please take some time to look around our site, and thanks for your question.
Ed Buckingham
Ann,
Deciding whether liposuction alone would suffice to treat a neck or whether a neck lift is needed depends on what components are involved and what the condition of the skin is. Three components contribute to the sagging neck, skin, fat and muscle. We tuck the muscle up on every neck, known as a platysmaplasty. Some necks have a fatty component that needs to be removed with liposuction and if there isn’t much redundant skin and the skin is elastic then you can expect the skin to conform to the new underlying neck anatomy and do nicely. If the patient is older or has considerable redundant skin however, then something may need to be done to reposition the skin as well, a neck lift. At times the decision is straight forward, but in other patients the decision is a little gray. As long as the patient understands that liposuction and platysmaplasty alone may not give perfect results, we may stick with the lesser procedure and reserve the neck lift for if the result is less than expected. I hope this has been helpful. Our before and after gallery can also help you compare your neck with other patients. As always we would be happy to see you in consultation.
Ed Buckingham
