The ideal candidate for a facelift is someone who has an excess of skin, has lost volume and wishes to have a surgical procedure to remove any permanent facial lines. There is no ideal age to have a facelift as every face ages differently. Both men and women may consider a face lift and Mr Saour will spend time listening to your concerns and then examine you before determining whether a facelift is appropriate.

A facelift is carried out under general anaesthetic and typically takes 2-3 hours depending on the individual patient’s requirements. Short scar or ‘MACS’ facelift – An incision is made in the natural skin crease in front of the ear and into the hairline just above the ear. Through this incision, the skin is lifted off the layer just deep to the skin which can then be tensioned using several looped sutures to lift the deeper facial tissues. The skin excess is then carefully re- draped and redundant skin is removed before closing the incision without tension. If necessary, extra volume can be added to the cheek area using fat transfer to restore a youthful fullness to the cheeks. ‘Full’ facelift – Some patients will have a significant amount of skin that needs to be removed as part of a facelift and also will need the neck area to be tightened at the same time as the rest of the face. If your surgeon recommends a full face lift, the incision will be in front of the ear as for a short scar lift and will continue into the hairline behind the ear, with most of the incision hidden in the crease behind the ear. This approach allows your surgeon to improve the definition of the jawline and to discretely remove larger amounts of excess skin than can be achieved with a short scar lift. Full face and necklift – A combined face and necklift allows Mr Saour to tighten the tissues in front of the neck in the midline and to divide any prominent vertical bands in the neck as well as remove excess fat.

A facelift has an immediate effect. However, the ageing process will continue so that after ten years or so the face will return to the appearance it had before the surgery.

Facelift surgery is low risk however it cannot be carried out without scarring which in minority of patients can be unsightly. Fortunately, all scars improve with time. Other risks in the immediate aftermath of surgery are bleeding, bruising, swelling, delayed healing and infection. Nobody’s face is truly symmetrical and it is possible for there to be some asymmetry after surgery. Damage to the nerves that move the muscles in the face is a very rare complication which would lead to temporary or permanent paralysis of one side of the face. Mr Saour will go through the risks of the operation in more detail at your consultation.