What is a Deep Plane Facelift?

You are thinking about undergoing a facelift to keep your beautiful, youthful appearance. Your probably never knew you had so many facelift options. Before taking the next step in your journey for a more improved, perfect you, it is important to understand more about common facelift procedures and the deep plane facelift procedure.

The most commonly performed facelift is a SMAS-plication facelift. Some variations of the common facelift procedure exist. However, the basics remain the same. The basic facelift provides you a more youthful appearance by pulling the skin upward, called skin elevation. Your surgeon then moves the excess skin to remove facial wrinkles. The problem with the basic facelift is that just pulling the skin is not useful or durable. Also, scarring can occur along with pixie ear deformities and hairline irregularities.

A traditional facelift last about eight to 10 years after the first facelift. Depending on the surgeon and the type of traditional facelift procedure you have, the initial results last about three years. Another facelift procedure, called deep plane facelift, is a more advanced SMAS face lifting procedure.

What is a Deep Plane Facelift?

A deep plane facelift is procedure that focuses on your mid-face area. This area includes the upper lip, nose and eyes. The goal is to correct any saggy or issues caused by aging such as the malar fat pads. These fat pads are in the area of skin that droops and flattens over time. It also involves the correcting your deep nasolabial folds that form as your face loses elastin and collagen.

Unlike a traditional facelift, the deep plane facelift goes deeper into the plane of dissection. Your surgeon has access to all the underlying soft tissue and muscle layer below your skin.

How the Deep Plane Facelift Procedure Provides a More Youthful Appearance than a Traditional Facelift
Many clients like the deep plane facelift because it gives more of a three-dimensional, youthful appearance. Your surgeon will make an incision behind your ear similar to an incision made in the traditional facelift. During the same procedure, your skin is slightly elevated.

Rather than pull your skin upward, then removing the excess skin, a deep plane facelift focuses on movement and release of the fat layers and muscle. Instead of letting the fat layers and muscle stay in the place they have moved to over time, the surgeon moves them back. This shift gives you a more youthful, natural appearance. This is done by releasing the ligaments in your face from lateral to medial. This gives your face a tension-free movement a traditional facelift does not provide.

In addition, the deep plane facelift procedure improves the shadowing and hollowing in the lower eyelids. This gives your lower eyelids the volume they had when you were younger. The volume in the eyelids tend to decrease as we grow older.

Benefits and Cautions of Undergoing a Deep Plane Facelift

The benefits of undergoing a deep plane facelift is that the outcome is more comprehensive, natural and long-lasting results. Less complications and scarring occurs with this procedure than with other traditional facelift procedures. It can actually rejuvenate the middle area in your face without using implants or fat grafting. Both fat grafting and implants are sometimes used in traditional facelift procedures.

A deep plane facelift procedure does come with a warning. It is more invasive as the traditional facelift. You are at a risk of nerve damage and other complications that can occur with the procedure. The deep plane facelift should only be done by a highly skilled, experienced surgeon.

A Deep Plane Facelift is a More Advanced Facelift Procedure with Better Results

A traditional facelift focuses on pulling your skin upward and tightening it to restore the look you want. A deep plane facelift goes further than a traditional facelift because it focuses on your eyelids, nose and upper lip. It releases the tension in your soft tissue layers and muscle to reset your youthful appearance.

The mid-face area is often overlooked with traditional facelift techniques because the focus is stretching the skin. Instead, the deep plane facelift repositions fat tissues and rejuvenates the muscle area in the middle of the face to create a three-dimensional result. This three-dimensional result gives you the younger appearance you want while keeping your beautiful appearance.

This facelift procedure does have some disadvantages such as potential nerve damage in the mid-face area. Working with a highly skilled, experienced cosmetic surgeon can minimize the potential risk of facial nerve damage.

If you are interested in learning more about your potential deep plane facelift, visit Dr. Andrew Frankel in Beverly Hills, CA. You may contact him here. Dr. Frankel is a board-certified plastic surgeon who specializes in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery and otolaryngology.