The advantages: It enables the lower part of the face, the oval or the neck, the scars being concealed in the ear and the hair.
It is the national repositioning of the muscles and the adaptation of the skin to the level of the face and neck.
Cervico-facial lift is most frequently carried out to surgically correct ageing from the temples to the jowls.
The objective of such an operation is not to change the shape and appearance of the face. On the contrary, the simple restoration of the different anatomical structures of the face and neck (skin, muscle, fat) enables the patient operated on to regain his looks as they were several years ago.
The purpose of the operation is to treat looseness and sagging of the skin and muscles of the face (temples and eyebrows, cheeks, jowls, oval of the face) and the neck.
For a long time lift has been the subject of procedures that are well known in the medical world, but the aim is always to correct the ageing of the face and neck.
Cervico-facial lift concerns the neck, cheeks and temples and is aimed at correcting the effects of ageing.
It should be noted that medical insurance does not cover these operations.
The purpose of these operations is to combat sagging of the skin and muscles of the face (oval of the face, jowls, cheeks, eyebrows and temples) as well as of the neck.
It is by no means a question of altering the appearance of the face but of restoring the structures of the face and neck (fat, muscles, skin). The patient may therefore expect to regain his or her former appearance.
Sagging of the muscles is corrected (retightened) and the skin is then adapted, but not excessively, to the new curves. Thanks to this double action the result appears natural (the skin is not “stretched”) and durable (the muscular plane is solid. General the surgical outcomes are simple because the skin is not all that traumatised (limited stretching and detachment). Liposuction is able to treat any surplus fat.
Symmetrically an emaciated face can be corrected by the re-injection of fat deriving from another part of the body.
We therefore see a real reconstruction of the face and neck.
This operation affects neither the expression lines, crow’s feet wrinkles nor the circumoral wrinkles.
Incidentally deep wrinkles are rendered less prominent by the stretching exerted on the skin, but they never disappear completely.
Similarly, the operation does not concern the eyelids.
The incisions are essentially hidden in the hair (temples and nape of the neck) and around the ear, which means that the scars are practically invisible.
This operation is generally requested after the age of fort, i.e. at the first signs of ageing.
It may be conducted at the same time as cosmetic surgery of the eyelids (blepharoplasty), a correction of downward projection of the wrinkles in the forehead (frontal lift). Some therapies may also exert supplementary action (injection of filling product – of the hyaluronic acid type, laser, dermabrasion, injection of botulinum toxin, peeling, etc.).
The practitioner will prepare a pre-operative work-up. Two days before the operation (at the latest) a consultation takes place with the anaesthetist. It will be advisable to stop smoking and to stop taking aspirin in any form ten days before the operation. The hair will be washed the day before the operation, and all traces of makeup will be removed. In the six hours preceding the operation the patient must have nothing to eat or drink (neither food nor drink)
The surgeon has two options for conducting a cervico-facial lift: a general anaesthetic or a local “deep” anaesthetic, a so-called “vigil” anaesthetic (tranquillisers injected intravenously).
The decision is taken following a discussion between the patient, the anaesthetist and the surgeon.
This operation is conducted on an outpatient basis. The patient is admitted in the morning and leaves the hospital at the end of the day. There is a possibility of staying one night at the hospital if the patient so wishes.
