Should you get a facelift?

There are five basic components to an aging face:

• Fine lines and wrinkles
• Skin pigment changes such as age spots
• Loss of volume such as hollow cheeks
• Loss of elasticity
• Gravity

It’s important to understand the proper way these can be treated.

Fine lines, wrinkles and age spots are best treated with skin resurfacing techniques like laser treatments, peels and microdermabrasion.  Wrinkles are further improved with the use of injectables like Botox® Cosmetic.  Volume loss in the cheeks and around the mouth are treated with fillers like Juvéderm Voluma®.  The loss of elasticity and the effects of gravity on the face can only be improved with traditional facelifts. 

Dr. Steven C. Schmidt, a board certified plastic surgeon with Plastic Surgery & Skin Specialists by BayCare Clinic has been doing facelifts for 20 years.

“Facelifts are not for fine lines and wrinkles of the skin. This is where people get confused,” Schmidt says.  “They are intended for the structures underneath the skin.”

Characteristics that would make you a facelift candidate:

• Sagging skin around your midface or jawline
• Descent of cheek fat (loss of the youthful round contour)
• Deep creases from your nose down to your chin
• Jowls
• Sagging skin in your neck

We offer in-office facelifts.

For the past eight years, our plastic surgeons have been offering facelifts in the office rather than at a hospital.  This greatly reduces the cost.

“Doing facelifts in the office is safer than doing them in the operating room,” Schmidt says. “In addition, it cuts the cost by two-thirds so it really opens up facelifts to a lot more people.”

How long do they last?

Facelifts can be minimal or more extensive depending on each patient’s needs.  The instant that the facelift is done and the patient leaves the room, they continue aging. 

“We can’t stop the clock. What we do is set the clock back and it keeps ticking. Time keeps marching on,” Schmidt says.

“Minimal facelifts set the clock back three to five years and more significant facelifts set the clock back five to 10 years.”

What are your next steps?

Plastic Surgery & Skin Specialists by BayCare Clinic is unique in that it is full service.  Aesthetic services, plastic surgery and dermatology services are all under one roof.  Patients can be confident that they are getting the proper treatments to help them achieve their individual goals.

“Patients can be evaluated and steered in the right direction,” Schmidt says.  “We work with the aestheticians and dermatology service providers to make sure the patient is getting the maximum benefits from their endeavors.”

If you think you could be a candidate for a facelift and would like to schedule an appointment, call 920-288-8240 or request an appointment online.

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