Today, plastic surgery presents more anti-aging solutions than ever before, but facelifts remain the gold standard. However, many misconceptions still surround this procedure.
If you’re considering getting a facelift to restore your appearance, it’s essential to sort the truth from the myths to make educated decisions. Board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Gabrielle B. Davis will help you determine whether this procedure will help resolve your concerns about aging skin and rejuvenate your appearance.
Read on to discover the realities behind the most common facelift myths and what this solution can help you achieve.
What Is Facelift Surgery?
A rhytidectomy, more commonly known as a facelift, is a surgical procedure to reduce the signs of aging in the face and neck. As you get older, your face’s underlying support structures weaken, and your skin’s collagen production declines. Lifestyle choices like sun damage, smoking, and stress can further exacerbate these issues. Genetics also play a crucial role.
While the years go by, you may develop aesthetic issues such as:
- Thinning or sagging skin
- Deepening lines between the nose and mouth
- Jowls
- Fat pads that shift down, causing volume loss in your mid-face
- Loose skin or excess fat on the neck
Modern facelift surgery simultaneously resolves multiple concerns so you look like yourself, only younger and more refreshed. During your private consultation with Dr. Davis, she will examine your skin and facial structures to determine which facelift option would best suit your unique situation.
With Dr. Davis, you can have confidence in your Beverly Hills facelift options. She offers the traditional facelift procedure and the short-scar minimal access cranial suspension technique. Both approaches involve tightening the supportive submuscular aponeurotic sheath layer and removing redundant skin. The MACS technique uses a limited incision for patients who have a modest degree of sagging and laxity in the lower two-thirds of their faces. Each procedure typically includes repositioning the deep fat and muscle tissues.
While nothing can stop the aging process, a well-performed facelift can make you look younger than your peers who have not had surgery. While there are many anti-aging solutions, facelifts remain the most effective. In addition to invigorating your look, the best Beverly Hills facelift can restore your self-confidence, renew your self-image, and improve your mental and emotional health.
Where Do Misconceptions About Facelift Surgery Come From?
Many people have outdated ideas about facelifts because they are only familiar with the obsolete techniques used in the past. For many years, facelift surgeons only pulled and tightened skin without addressing the underlying facial structure. This approach typically led to an unnatural “windblown” look and a permanently startled appearance.
Modern facelifts take a more holistic approach by treating the deep tissues, fat, and muscles in addition to the skin. As a board-certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Davis uses her training and anatomical knowledge to create natural-looking results. Though aging is inevitable, she makes it possible for her patients to age more gracefully.
The Truth Behind Enduring Facelift Myths
Many persistent misconceptions surround plastic surgery, specifically facelifts. These mistaken beliefs can stigmatize the patients who seek these procedures and the surgeons who perform them. While plastic surgeons aim for optimal aesthetic results when performing facelifts, they also focus on the practical and functional benefits.
Facelifts Are Exclusively for Wealthy People
Modern plastic surgery is more affordable than ever. After meeting with you and learning more about your goals, Dr. Davis can tailor a plan to address your concerns and fit your budget.
There Is Only One Type of Facelift
Each patient has unique facial characteristics, anatomy, aging concerns, and aesthetic goals for a facelift, so that fact alone busts this myth. While there are many rejuvenating facelift techniques, each addresses a unique issue, and there is no such thing as a cookie-cutter procedure. Typically, the best facelift methods involve repositioning the SMAS and addressing volume restoration for optimal results. During your consultation with Dr. Davis, she will create a surgical plan to provide the best results for your unique situation.
For full facial rejuvenation, many patients consider adding a brow lift or eyelid surgery to their facelift.
Non-Invasive Facelifts Give the Same Results as a Surgical Facelift
While injectable treatments have modernized the way we help patients age more gracefully, they cannot duplicate the results from surgical procedures.
Unfortunately, injectables like fillers and Botox cannot address loose skin, lost muscle or bone, or fat displacement. However, injectable treatments can complement a surgical facelift to temporarily diminish the signs of aging.
Non-surgical facelift procedures and treatments have their place to restore volume, tighten skin, and delay the need for a surgical facelift. Facial fillers can restore lost volume that occurs with aging and reduce the appearance of lines and shadows. Botox and other neuromodulators help relax the muscles that cause wrinkles like crow’s feet and glabellar lines. However, the results are not permanent.
Tightening procedures like Renuvion use radiofrequency and heat energies to stimulate collagen and improve your skin’s overall appearance. However, for many patients, non-surgical efforts may not be enough to address concerns like jowls or neck banding. The ideal solution for optimal, long-lasting results remains a facelift.
A Facelift Can Make You Look Like a Different Person
Above all else, Dr. Davis values honesty, integrity, and patient safety in her practice. She will never recommend or perform a procedure that is not in your best interests. Furthermore, Dr. Davis is transparent with her patients to ensure realistic expectations. While a facelift can provide a noticeable improvement, it will not make you look like someone else. Additionally, Dr. Davis encourages you to only get this procedure for yourself – not to fulfill someone else’s unreasonable beauty standards.
Facelifts Are Only for Women
The myth that facelifts are only for women plays on the stereotype that men are careless about their appearance. While most plastic surgery patients are women, more men are seeking plastic surgery solutions, including facelifts. Often, these men have seen how a facelift has helped the women in their lives look and feel their best, and they understandably want the same for themselves.
Since plastic surgery is no longer a taboo topic, each passing year sees more men electing to have aesthetic enhancements. The increase in remote work and daily video meetings have made more men aware of flaws in their facial appearance. Plus, working from home allows patients to have a more inconspicuous recovery time from facelifts and other cosmetic procedures.
While men and women experience facial aging equally, they typically have different concerns. However, people of all gender identities can benefit from expertly performed plastic surgery.
Facelifts Will Make You Look Strange or Overdone
Plastic surgery shouldn’t make you look fake or overexaggerated. Plastic surgery, specifically facelifts, should refresh, rejuvenate, and restore your natural, youthful look rather than attempt to change your appearance entirely. It takes a skilled plastic surgeon to choose techniques that artistically enhance your features and reveal your natural beauty.
We understand the kernel of truth at the heart of this myth. All too often, if someone looks like they’ve had “work done,” they probably had a bad plastic surgery procedure. Unfortunately, using the wrong technique or performing a facelift on someone who isn’t a good candidate can lead to an unnatural appearance.
One way to ensure you receive the results you’re looking for is to select an experienced and board-certified plastic surgeon to perform your facelift. Check their credentials, and make sure they routinely perform facelifts as part of their practice.
Be sure to choose the correct procedure. Another reason people end up with less-than-flattering facelift results is that the surgery didn’t fully address their concerns. Your plastic surgeon should be upfront with you if a facelift will not achieve the results you’re looking for and recommend alternative procedures.
Surgical Recovery Is Long and Painful
With any surgery, the anticipation of recovery can be daunting. Historically, facelift recovery was painful and prolonged. Fortunately, with today’s advanced facelift methods, recovery time is much shorter, typically taking around two to three weeks. While your natural healing ability plays a role in recovery, the extent of your surgery and how well you take care of yourself are also factors.
Typically, patients are back to most normal activities, including work, by two weeks post-procedure. Most people only experience pain in the first few days following the procedure. To address your pain concerns, Dr. Davis recommends using multiple methods, including cool compresses, elevating your head, and taking prescription pain medication as directed.
All Facelift Surgeons Are the Same
To ensure you receive the highest-quality surgical care, be sure to choose a board-certified plastic surgeon with extensive experience in modern facelift approaches. Always be sure to review your surgeon’s before-and-after patient results portfolio. It is especially crucial to look at photos of patients with the same concerns you are looking to correct.
You can give yourself peace of mind by choosing an experienced plastic surgeon who frequently performs facelift procedures, knowing that you will receive proper care before, during, and after your procedure.
Why Partner With Dr. Gabrielle B. Davis for Your Beverly Hills Facelift?
With extensive training and education, board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Davis works with each patient to determine the appropriate facelift procedure for radiant results. Dr. Davis takes an honest, direct approach to explain how high-quality plastic surgery results can enrich and enhance her patients’ lives.
She also offers a full range of minimally invasive treatment options for people who aren’t yet ready for surgery, including non-surgical facelift, laser skin resurfacing, neuromodulators, and dermal fillers.
With dedication to her patients and their exceptional results, Dr. Davis is your choice as one of the best facelift providers in Beverly Hills. Get ready to partner with one of Beverly Hills’ leading female plastic surgeons. Contact us today or call (310) 614-5898 to learn more about one of the best facelifts in Beverly Hills.