The Mid-Face / Cheek / Thread Lift

Mid- face/ cheek/ and thread lift surgeries are being increasingly performed at Orange County Plastic Surgery Center due to the increasing demand for its high quality cosmetic therapies from customers eager to improve their aesthetic look.

As we all know, ageing will show its impact on our face and cheek in a substantial way and this has a direct bearing on our facial appearance and how we look. This process is bound to speed up with each passing year. However, it may not manifest itself in our mental and physical attitude and we may still feel vigorous and energetic despite the ageing process. What our mid- face, cheek and thread lift procedure does is to offer you a rejuvenated facial appearance that matches with your mental and physical attitudes. However, the degree of success of these therapies will also be linked to several other factors including the age of the patient, facial tissue elasticity, the type and degree of the facial deformity etc.

A youthful face is normally curvilinear with graceful curves and with fullness in the upper mid-face region. The lower lids appear tight and are short vertically. As faces age, the soft tissues inevitably drop – the upper cheek tissues descend, creating jowls, a hollowness in the cheek region, and an elongated lower eyelid. The neck skin and muscles loosen as well. As patients age, the central neck becomes fuller and the jaw lines become blunter, loosing the crisp distinction between the neck and jaw seen in youth. Sun damage causes the skin to wrinkle and assume a weathered look.

The traditional face lift is wonderful for dealing with jowls and the neck line. It was designed to pull the skin and superficial muscles backwards to minimize the jowl and to tighten the neck areas, but this procedure does not address the elongated lower eyelid and the hollowness in the mid-face region. As a matter of fact, the tension required to pull the cheek tissues backward actually flattens the mid-face region, further exacerbating the unnatural and definitely anything but youthful look! In some instances of minor neck laxity, the neck may be tightened by inserting a variety of threads beneath the surface and restoring neck laxity in cases of minor laxity. Such minimal incision, thread procedures will not give a patient an optimal result if significant laxity is present, along with a significant skin excess.

The new mid-face or cheek lift procedures specifically address this central facial hollowness and works to restore a curvilinear, youthful facial appearance. This is accomplished two short stab wounds along the fold between the upper lip and cheek, and short incisions behind the side burn, just above the ear. Through these access incisions, the surgeon can elevate the tissues which have drifted downward, back into a more youthful position, with suspension sutures. The aging face can thus be sculpted tension-free to recreate the soft and graceful curves of youth. The midface lift, along with microfat grafting of the tear troughs, are most frequently performed as adjuncts to a traditional lift. Some patients, usually those who are younger with aging limited to the mid-face region, or those who have already had a traditional facelift, will benefit from a mid-face/cheek lift as a sole procedure. Others may best be served with a mid-face lift combined with a traditional lift or other associated procedures in order to achieve the optimal result!

Ancillary procedures are frequently utilized to enhance the final results. Frequently, the eyelids can be addressed at the same sitting. Likewise, most patients old enough to have experienced facial laxity, will also have seen their brows descend; in order to balance the rejuvenated mid-face, an endoscopic brow lift is frequently performed to optimize the results. Autologous fat grafting can be used to fill an excessively hollow face or to augment lips which have thinned as part of the normal aging process. Chin implants are frequently employed to improve jaw contour. A nasal hump may be brought down or a tip refined. Sun damaged skin can be smoothed simultaneously with laser beams or a variety of chemical peels. In order to enhance the results from the chosen procedures, a good skin care program will be recommended for the health of the skin and to enhance the appearance of the skin.

You must realize that your surgeon will tighten the sagging tissues as much as can be done safely to provide a natural result for your particular facial contour. The mid- face/cheek/thread lift procedure is directed toward improvement and does not remove each and every sag or fold of the face. The type of skin, the age, and the aging rate of each patient, are factors that help determine your final result.

A common question regarding any procedure is "How long will the results last?" This is impossible to state for a given individual, as there are many factors involved: continued sun exposure, the age of the patient, the patient's type of skin, healing ability, changes in weight, smoking history and general health of the patient. Your surgeon expects you to look better than had you not had a midface lift for the rest of your life, but some laxity will return with time. As a matter of fact, the facial tissues continue to sag and loosen, at your natural rate, right after surgery. A small minority of patients, especially those who have a very marked degree of skin laxity in the jowl area, will not achieve a youthful look, even with a traditional facelift or a second mid-face lift, but most patients receive sufficient improvement and only require one facelift during their lifetime. Soft tissue aging continues after any operation – the best measure you can take to slow this process is to use sun block faithfully, and to take care of your skin with proper rejuvenating creams. Our office aesthetician will be glad to help you with a skin care program. This surgical procedure merely turns back the aging process; it cannot stop the “hands of time.” Your surgeon may be able to give you a good idea of what can be expected following surgery by manipulating your facial tissues in front of a mirror.

Regardless of how tightly the facial tissues are pulled, aging and stretching of the facial skin begins to occur immediately after the operation. It is usual to see some recurrence of jowls or drooping of the mid-face within three months of the operation. You can, however, look forward to a significant degree of improvement permanently. Most patients have sufficient improvement following a face, midface, brow or neck lift, which keeps them looking younger than their friends, forever. However, you may choose to have another lift, mid or traditional, in future years to maintain a more youthful appearance.

Your surgeon always tightens your tissues as much as it is safe to do and cannot control how quickly any individual will sag.

Regardless of how quickly or slowly you sag, each patient will be responsible for the cost of a subsequent procedure should the patient wish to repeat the operation.

To maximize the degree of rejuvenation, many patients will choose to undergo a forehead lift, eyelid procedure or laser skin resurfacing at the same operative setting. Lifting the mid-facial tissues shortens the height of the lower eyelid tissues and may cause the skin to appear more wrinkles after that procedure than it was initially. In order to optimize the final result, most patients will choose to undergo a lower lid blepharoplasty procedure at the same time as a mid-face lift.

This information has been assembled to familiarize you with the facts regarding mid-face lift/cheek lift/thread lift surgery. You are requested to read the following information thoroughly and to discuss any questions, which might arise with your surgeon before you proceed with the surgical procedure known as the mid-face lift. You are also requested to keep this information as a reference during your post- operative period.