Smoother Neck & Jowls

Posted Tuesday, September 11, 2007 to PROCEDURES > Face

Posted by The Original Anti-Aging & Cosmetic Surgery Magazine

There are many different approaches to face lifts. California plastic and reconstructive surgeon Peter Grossman MD explains to Holly O'Neill his favored technique.

Many people choose facelifts to correct sagging of the aging face, particularly around the jowl area. Plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr Peter Grossman, from Sherman Oaks California, uses a facelift technique that concentrates on rejuvenating the lower half of the face. His preferred technique has longevity because of the muscle work involved and creates a smooth result with better neck definition.

"I do a subcutaneous facelift with a placation of the SMAS (superficial musculo aperneurotic system)," says Dr Grossman. He accompanies this with what he calls a "hammock" platismaplasty.

The platisma is the muscle in the neck. "What I do is remove the subcutaneous fat most people have, then if they have a separation of their muscle in the platisma, I take a suture underneath the skin and grasp the muscle from the opposite side I have entered," begins Dr Grossman. "I pull the left muscle to the right and the right muscle to the left and then suture that up behind the ear. This pulls the muscles on the neck like a hammock - they cross over."

This allows for a smoother, tighter neck line that lasts for longer.

"Ideally what I like to see when doing a neck lift and platismaplasty is a nice tight neck with a 90 degree angle between the neck and the chin. By tightening up not only the skin but the muscle as well have a better ability to achieve that," says Dr Grossman.

Recovery is dependent on the individual's capacity for healing. After a standard facelift involving a correction of jowling, neck and the naso-labial folds, it can take 1-3 weeks for bruising and swelling to subside sufficiently for patients to be able to go out in public without people knowing they have had a facelift. "Most of that time depends on how patients bruise and heal. I have had some patients who have been back at work in a week and some people who still have some bruising and swelling after 2-3 weeks. But that's a rarity. After three weeks almost everybody is back at their normal routine." It will take about three months for most people to be really comfortable with their facelift, says Dr Grossman.

Dr Grossman recommends the use of arnica to restrict bruising and aid in the healing process. He has his patients begin a course of arnica tablets one week before surgery and continue taking it at least one week afterwards to decrease long term bruising. "A lot of people are very skeptical about homeopathic medicine, as indeed I was initially. Finally someone convinced me to try it and I was surprised to see how much faster patients heal and how much less bruising they had," Dr Grossman says, adding "I slowly but surely became a convert."

There are many adaptations to the facelift and finding the right one entails understanding what results the procedure will produce. A technique like Dr Grossman's will smooth the sagging, loose skin in the jowls and neck region.

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