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Home > Face Procedures > Facelift
MICHAEL NAGY MD, FACS
Facelift
Conveniently located to serve Toms River, Middletown, Freehold, Colts Neck, and surrounding areas.
Facelift
Facelifts in Monmouth County counteract signs of facial aging by tightening muscle, removing fat, and trimming excess skin, giving your face a fresher, youthful look.
Time, gravity, sun exposure, and the stresses of daily life take their toll on our faces and necks. Deep creases appear beside the mouth, the jaw line slackens and becomes jowly, and the neck develops loose folds and fat deposits. After facelift surgery, these age signs are corrected, helping patients look up to 10-15 years younger.
Facelifts, technically known as rhytidectomies (literally “removal of wrinkles”), rejuvenate the mid- to lower face and neck. Facelifts are most effective for patients who want to correct:
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Midface sagging
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Deep creases under the eyes
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Deep creases between the nose and mouth (nasolabial folds)
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Jowls due to loss of muscle tone
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Sagging areas of fat
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Loose skin and fat under the chin and jaw
Facelifts can produce a dramatic improvement in appearance for patients with the problems mentioned above. However, facelifts do not stop the aging process; in time, signs of aging will gradually appear once again.
Further, facelifts will not rejuvenate the brow, eyelids, nose, and some of the midface. Patients who want to improve these areas may consider combining a facelift with a brow lift or eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty).
Injectable soft-tissue fillers, facial implants and skin resurfacing can also enhance the effects of a facelift.
Candidates for Facelift
The best candidates for rhytidectomy:
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Wish to improve one or more of the signs of aging indicated above
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Are men or women whose faces have begun to sag, but whose skin still has some elasticity
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Are generally healthy
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Do not smoke
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Have realistic expectations
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Are considering a facelift for personal reasons, not because someone else is pressuring them to do so
To develop realistic expectations for this procedure, look over our facelift before and after photos.
During your consultation, your doctor will discuss whether a facelift is right for you.
Danica Ravaioli
July 24, 2020.
Dr. Nagy is the best at what he does! He has a wonderful bedside manner and was extremely awesome with all of my questions. I’m a little over one week post op and already so incredibly happy with my results. The office is impeccable and beautiful. The staff is friendly and always helpful. Big shout out to Kim, she went above and beyond - from being reassuring, caring, friendly and so so patient with insane amounts of nerves and questions that I had. She’s the best! From consult to post op, they are a phenomenal team that I would highly recommend.
Google rating score:4.7 of 5,
based on 41 reviews
Facelift Procedure – Techniques
Facelifts are typically outpatient procedures and may be performed in an office-based facility, surgery center or hospital. Patients may have a choice of IV sedation or general anesthesia. The procedure takes about two hours.
The way a facelift is performed varies depending on the surgeon, the patient’s facial structure, and the extent of correction desired. The two most common incision techniques are:
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Traditional facelift: The “full” facelift for rejuvenating the face, jowls and neck, including fat sculpting, lifting and repositioning of muscle and deeper tissues, and skin trimming and redraping. The incision begins at the temples and travels down to the front of the ear, around the earlobe, and behind the ear to the lower scalp at the hairline. Sometimes, another incision is made under the chin.
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Neck lift: A neck lift concentrates on jowls, loose skin on the neck, and fat under the chin. The incision is made around the ear lobe and behind the ear to the lower scalp.
In both of these methods, incisions are closed with stitches or tissue glue. Scars are hidden in the hairline and natural contours of the face.
The Mini Facelift
Another popular facelift variation is a modified method known as the mini facelift, also called the limited-incision facelift. In this technique, Michael Nagy MD, FACS makes smaller incisions than those of a full facelift and removes sagging skin to lift the lower half of the face. It is an ideal option for limited rejuvenation around the eyes and mouth, including nasolabial folds and other deep creases. It can also treat jowls and drooping cheeks.
While a traditional facelift is best for older patients with more severe signs of facial aging, a mini facelift is the perfect procedure for younger patients who want to get rid of a smaller amount of drooping skin in order to achieve subtler results.
The mini facelift is less invasive than the traditional facelift. Because of this, it leads to a shorter and more comfortable recovery period with less bruising and swelling.
Some patients choose to get a brow lift or eye lift done along with their mini facelift procedure for more comprehensive results.
At the start of the procedure, local anesthesia with sedation is typically administered. Next, short incisions are made at the temples and around the ear, and possibly in the lower eyelids and/or under the upper lip as well. Excess skin is trimmed away, and the remaining skin is tightened. Once the surgery is completed, Dr. Nagy will use sutures for closing the incisions.
Recovery from Facelift
During your recovery after a facelift, neck lift, or mini facelift procedure, it will be best to follow Dr. Nagy’s post-surgical care directions as closely as possible. This will ensure minimal complications and a shorter and more comfortable recovery process overall.
After your rhytidectomy, your doctor will wrap the incisions in bandages and may place drainage tubes in the area. The tubes will be taken out the next day, when your hair will be carefully washed. If surgical clips are used to hold the incisions closed, they will be removed one week after the facelift along with your stitches.
At first, you may experience swelling, numbness, bruising, and a feeling of tightness or tension in the face and neck. Your face may look uneven or distorted, and your facial muscles may feel stiff. Most of these usually resolve within 3-6 weeks, and sensation typically returns to normal within a few months. Scars become less red, raised, lumpy or itchy in time.
Many patients return to work by the third week. Camouflage cosmetics can be used to minimize the appearance of bruising.
You should be gentle with your skin and hair as you recover. Men may need to shave behind the neck and ears where areas of beard-growing skin have moved.
Results of Facelift
Results of a facelift do not last forever. You may want to have another procedure in five or ten years. But in another sense, the effects are permanent; years later, your face will continue to look better than if you had never had a facelift.
Risks Associated with Facelift
Possible complications of facelift include: bleeding, infection, bruising, uneven swelling or discoloration, allergic reaction to the anesthesia, skin blistering (usually only seen in smokers), and temporary or permanent loss of sensation in the face. Your doctor will discuss the risks and benefits of a facelift with you before your surgery.
Facelift Cost
The cost of a facelift depends on the details of the surgery, which vary from patient to patient. The exact price will be impacted by the type of anesthesia used, the total procedure time, the techniques used, and many other factors.
Get Started with a Consultation
Michael Nagy MD, FACS performs the facelift for Monmouth County patients. If you would like to learn more, contact us and set up your appointment for a consultation.
