Archive for the ‘Facial Liposculpture’ Category
Facial cosmetic surgery is a very personal and monumental decision. Universally, all patients want the best outcomes. In today’s corporatized America, with heavily influential marketing spin, pharmaceutical companies, medical device companies, and even practitioners promote a less is more mentality to push products and services that often over promise and under deliver on the results. In no way can skin creams, injectables, or lasers deliver the types of results once can achieve with surgery. In a similar manner, minimally invasive sounding surgeries are in no way a substitute for time tested peer reviewed procedures that provide quality long lasting results.
Unfortunately not every person will achieve acceptable results with Botox or injectable fillers such as Juvederm, Restylane, and Radiesse. These products have their place in facial aesthetic practices, in properly selected patients, but in general should be viewed as temporary treatments with less impressive results when compared to surgery. Their primary advantage is that they have minimal social while providing a benefit. Botox is being used more and more as a preventative cosmetic medicine that delays wrinkle formation. Fillers camouflage initial signs of aging, but ultimately putting too much filler in a face, the liquid facelift, can alter ones appearance creating an artificial overinflated appearance. Using filler to augment facial structures can be useful to patients wanting to get a general idea of the appearance prior to permanent surgical procedures such as lip and cheek enhancements procedures. Creams reverse the signs of photo aging and contribute to collagen formation and production but are limited in their effectiveness. Lasers are an excellent option to delay the signs of aging and treat sun induced skin photoaging, but in no way can they tighten skin like facial cosmetic surgeries such as a facelift.
Surgical procedures are the best option for impressive endurable results. Rhinoplasty can dramatically affect ones facial appearance in a way that almost no other cosmetic surgery can. The nose can cause undue and unnecessary attention drawing attention away from other attractive facial features. Aging face surgery has many layers of effectiveness based on the surgical techniques used and how they are applied. In general, minimally invasive techniques can produce an artificial appearance and or short-term results. When considering aging face surgery most sophisticated patients are looking for surgeries that will last as long as possible with the most dramatic natural appearing results. There are no shortcuts to achieving optimal results and when applied, shortcut techniques frequently under deliver on the surgical results end.
Becoming an informed patient who understands the benefits of finding the right intervention or surgery for the right patient will ultimately save one time and money over the long haul. Getting things done right the first time is of paramount importance to achieving optimal outcomes with a high degree of patient satisfaction, while avoiding problems and bad outcomes.
Posted by: Benjamin C. Stong MD
Loss of facial volume is part of the aging process, along with loss of elasticity and photoaging. Correction of facial volume with autologous fat transfers is not a substitute for surgery. Rather, it should be viewed as a complimentary procedure and should be planned with a global perspective on the individual facial aesthetics. Facial fat volumes peak in the late teenage years and then begin to diminish with time. Interestingly, many women feel the peak of beauty is around 30 years of age, after some facial volume has already been lost. Facial fat transfers can be used to either restore facial volumes or augment certain features the patient desires to accentuate.
The fat is harvested from easily accessible areas of excess fat including: the buttocks, thighs, and abdomen. It is then purified and injected in directed areas of the face to fill folds and shape the face. Areas of the face that are commonly treated with fat transfers are the cheeks and cheekbones, the troughs underneath the eyelids, the nasolabial fold (or laugh line), the lateral brow, and lips. Whenever there is free transfer of nonvascular tissue, only a certain percentage of that tissue survives. Variability in harvest and purification techniques and the amount of muscle movement in the recipient area, affect the survival of the fat transfers. In general, survivability is improved by using smaller suction cannulas to harvest, isolating individual fat cells, and injecting into areas of the face with less muscle motion. As such, the nasolabial fold area and lips are less likely to have a successful transfer, and the troughs under the eyelids have a higher success rate.
Correcting laxity in the facial tissues with lifting and tightening procedures should be performed prior to, or simultaneously with fat transfers to avoid overfilling the face. Procedures that should be considered prior to having a permanent facial augmentation material injected include: a face lift, midface lift, and brow lift. Rarely are facial fat transfers indicated as an isolated, sole, procedure. Often patients use non permanent facial fillers to fill in troughs and folds during times when the facial laxity is still fairly youthful. The next logical step in a patient’s mind may be to get a permanent filler to avoid the need for repeated injections. The difficulty with this idea, is that the facial soft tissues will continue to lose support and drop with age, necessitating further rejuvenation surgeries. Following surgery, the areas that may require fat transfers may be different than the areas that were injected during youth due to soft tissue repositioning.
Facial fat transfers are an art form, with the most important aspect being able to understand the global facial aesthetic perspective. Understanding the areas most likely to have a good outcome and the decision of when to inject is not always straight forward. In general it is a good idea to perform fat transfers either simultaneously with additional surgical procedures or secondarily as an adjunctive procedure to restore youthful facial volumes. Overfilling can look awkward, resulting in unhappy patients. There is a subgroup of people who are good candidates for isolated fat transfers at an early age or patients who decide they will never be interested in future surgical procedures and elect to use transfers as their primary rejuvenation procedure. These patients may undergo multiple transfers during their lifetime to try and retain a youthful appearance resulting in an “inflated look.” When considering fat transfers, one should find a surgeon who uses contemporary techniques and understands the impact of fat transfers on future surgeries and facial aesthetics.
Post provided by: Facial Fat Transfers Atlanta GA | Benjamin C. Stong MD