Face Lifting - Case

Follow Joan as she undergoes a Rhytidectomy or face lift surgery under local anesthesia. Joan’s face lift procedure included a platysmaplasty, placing smas into the smile or marionette lines, the removal of buccal fat and an upper blepharoplasty.
Successful facial plastic surgery is a result of good rapport between patient and surgeon. Trust, based on realistic expectations and exacting medical expertise, develops in the consulting stages before surgery is performed. At Spalding Plastic Surgery Dr. Paul Nassif will answer specific questions about your specific needs.
For the Rhytidectomy or face lift procedure Dr. Paul Nassif begins the incision in the area of the temple hair, just above and in front of the ear, and then continues around the lobe, circling the ear before returning to the point of origin in the scalp. The skin is raised outward before Dr. Paul Nassif repositions and tightens the underlying muscle and connective tissue. Some fat may be removed, as well as excess skin. For men, the incision is aligned to accommodate the natural beard lines. In all cases, the incision is placed where it will fall in a natural crease of the skin for camouflage.
Joan also had a platysmaplasty or neck lift performed while under local anesthesia. Joan did not like how the muscle bands in her neck (platysma muscle) were becoming more and more apparent. She was noticing how pronounced they were when her neck was turned in different positions (before and after photos). A platysmaplasty or neck lift was performed to provide a nice, smooth contour to her neck. The only incision was under the chin.
The SMAS layer was bluntly elevated and incised horizontally below the zygomatic arch for 5-6 cm and vertically inferior to this cut along the dissection plane in the preauricular region along the posterior border of the platysma. SMAS was harvested along the vertical component of the dissection to be used for grafting into the nasolabial folds.
Joan also had her buccal fat pads removed during this procedure with Dr. Paul Nassif. The lower dissection was connected to the neck dissection. The buccal fat was prolapsed and identified. A hemostat was used to gently enter into the capsule of the fat pad. The fat pad was teased out and the base was cauterized. 1.5 cc of buccal fat was obtained.
Finally Joan had performed an upper blepharoplasty, in upper eyelid surgery, doctor Paul Nassif first marks the individual lines and creases of the lids in order to keep the scars as invisible as possible along these natural folds. The incision is made, and excess fat, muscle, and loose skin are removed. Fine sutures are used to close the incisions, thereby minimizing the visibility of any scar.
A few days earlier from this procedure Joan also had some fat harvested from her stomach via liposuction and transferred to her lower cheek and lateral temporal region.
Due to this procedure being performed under local anesthesia Joan was able to walk away from the surgery with no anesthesia hangover (a feeing commonly related to being under general anesthesia for long periods of time.