New Facelift Techniques
If you've ever gotten a facelift or know someone that has gotten one, you'll
notice the obvious scarring that incision can leave behind. A new facelift
technique that places the surgical incision in the temple area or a sideburn may
offer patients more options for concealing scars and styling their
hair.
A recent report by the journal of the American Society of Plastic
Surgeons, describes a new facelift technique for manipulating the growth of hair
follicles at the location of the temples. This new facelife technique allows
hair to grow over and cover the actual location of the facelift incision, hence,
hiding any scarring. Facelifts are one of the most common types of cosmetic
plastic surgery. The facelift is designed to erase wrinkles and other signs of
aging from the face. A facelift procedure will pull the skin back and remove
excess skin, allowing a firmer, more youthful complexion.
During a
traditional facelift, also called a rhytidectomy, a plastic surgeon makes
surgical incisions behind or above the ear, near the hairline. During recent
studies, researchers took hairline strips from the temples of 16 fresh cadavers
and studied the hair follicles for the direction and angle of hair growth. They
found that by making a surgical incision at a certain angle (30 to 45 degrees)
into the skin, this allowed the hair to grow through the actual scar and reduce
visibility of the scar completely. Researchers also noted that women can wear
their hair pulled back and men can grow sideburns without feeling self-conscious
about showing a scar or lack of hair growth. This would eliminate any obvious
signs that they had a facelife procedure done..
Predictions are that
demand for surgical procedures that produce better results without obvious signs
of having had a facelift are going to continue to increase. Although, new laser
treatments and injectable wrinkle fillers such as Botox may have enticed many
that are 45 and older potential facelift patients to delay having facelift
surgery. The botox and wrinkle filler injectables are less expensive and carry
fewer risks than plastic surgery does. It has been suggested, though, as we get
older our brow lines, jowls and wrinkles can become too deep for botox or
wrinkle fillers to smooth out. When facial aging is to the point that an
injectable can not achieve the desired result, cosmetic surgery through facelift
is the only option.