Question:
Do you recommend a midface lift for sagging cheeks? It looks like I have lost a lot of weight, which I haven’t. But the skin sags down and makes me look like I am frowning?
Answer:
I used to perform a lot of midface lifts and have used a variety of techniques to do so including a temporal approach combined with a facelift, an approach through the lower eyelid and an endoscopic approach with a browlift. In each case I was underwhelmed with the result and especially the longevity of the result. Then I had a lightbulb go off which is mentioned in your question. “It looks like I’ve lost a lot of weight, but haven’t.” That is the answer to sagging cheeks. Cheeks age because of volume loss not tissue descent. Therefore the fix to the problem is to add the weight or more specifically the volume back. That can be accomplished with short term results (1-5 years) with the use of various fillers or it can be accomplished with long-term results (10-20 years) by transferring the patient’s own fat cells from their body to their face. Please visit the fat transfer section of our website for more information and photos.
Posted by Dr. Buckingham
