When a patient walks into our facility at Ridenour Plastic Surgery with questions about facelift surgery, the conversation often starts the same way. They want to look younger, but they are afraid to invest in a facelift because they don’t want to look overdone. They have seen the stretched, windswept results on celebrities and neighbors and don’t want this for themselves.
The good news is that this look belongs to a generation of surgery that is no longer practiced by experienced facial plastic surgeons, like Dr. Ridenour, who care about natural results. Modern facelift techniques have changed the way we perform facelifts and transformed the results that patients receive. With our services in St. Louis, we can lift areas that have begun to sag while keeping you looking fresh and natural.
What Does a Modern Facelift Look Like?
A modern facelift looks natural and refreshed, not tight or windblown. Patients get a defined jawline and neck, and the character of the face stays intact. Surgeons use a deep plane technique that repositions the underlying structure without placing tension on the skin.
Why Older Facelifts Looked Windswept
It Used a Skin-Only Approach
Earlier facelifts lifted the skin envelope. The surgeon would trim and pull the skin tighter across the face, then suture it into place. Skin has limited elasticity, and other structures in the face are prone to sagging, so the effect faded quickly and the result looked unnatural.
It Put Tension in the Wrong Layer
When skin is the only layer being pulled, the force of the tension has to go somewhere. In this case, it tended to flatten out the cheek and stretch the corner of the mouth sideways. It also pulled the earlobe forward and downward, creating the “pixie ear” complication where the earlobe appears attached to the cheek. All of these give older facelifts away in photographs.
New Techniques for Better Results
Beneath the skin of the face is a layer called the superficial musculoaponeurotic system, or SMAS. This is a sheet of muscle and connective tissue that holds the facial fat pads in position and controls how the face moves and ages. Once surgeons learned how to work with the SMAS rather than tightening skin over it, facelifts began to change.
How the Deep Plane Facelift Produces Natural-Looking Results
During a deep plane facelift, surgeons separate ligaments in the facial structure in order to move the entire underlying structure as a unit. This includes the ligaments, muscles and fat pads. It also allows the surgeon to remove excess skin and reposition it without giving it unnatural tension.
The Hallmarks of a Modern Facelift
- A smile that looks the same: In a modern facelift, the shape and character of the mouth stay the same. The patient will still be able to smile and laugh without the corners of the mouth being pulled tight.
- The ears stay in a natural position: With the SMAS technique, the ear stays in the same position, and the earlobe is not stretched downward.
- The jawline is sharp, but the face is not tighter: Definition is returned to the jawline, removing jowls, but the skin of the cheeks still drapes naturally across the underlying bone structure.
- The neck matches the face: A treated face and untreated neck is another hallmark of older techniques. Modern surgeries treat both for comprehensive results.
- Close friends will say you look rested, not different: With modern techniques, those who know you will notice that you look great, but won’t immediately assume you have had surgery.
Before and After Modern Facelift Surgery
In this example, we see that Dr. Ridenour has been able to remove a “turkey neck” and create a clean line for the jawline while keeping the shape of the mouth and ear intact. The patient’s face and neck look more youthful, but the patient still has the same facial characteristics.
This patient had jowling along the jawline, with loose skin on the lower face and neck. After a modern facelift, the patient looks a decade or more younger with a contoured jawline and a lifted face. The skin remains in a natural position and is not stretched over the facial structure.
Additional before-and-after photos of his patients are available in Dr. Ridenour’s face and neck lift gallery.
Combining a Facelift With Other Procedures
In some cases, even a beautifully done facelift may not provide the full results that a patient is looking for. Volume loss from natural aging or weight loss can make certain areas look more hollow. Dr. Ridenour may pair a facelift with facial fat transfer, using the patient’s fat harvested from other areas to restore volume. A neck lift may also be combined with a facelift to provide more cohesive results for the face and neck. Some patients also choose to include eyelid surgery in the same plan.
What Makes Dr. Ridenour’s Approach Different?
Dr. Brock D. Ridenour has spent his career becoming an expert in the face and neck area. He is a double board-certified facial plastic surgeon with over 25 years in private practice. He completed his undergraduate studies at Yale, medical school at Tulane, head and neck surgery training at UT Southwestern, and a fellowship in facial plastic surgery at the University of Washington. For more than a decade, he served as director of the Division of Facial Plastic Surgery at Washington University in St. Louis before entering private practice.
His preferred full facelift technique is the extended deep plane facelift paired with a deep plane neck lift. This combination provides comprehensive changes for the patient while still allowing for natural movement and the preservation of each person’s unique facial features.
Learn More About Modern Techniques With a Facelift Consultation in St. Louis
Ridenour Plastic Surgery is built around a philosophy of compassionate, individualized care. Dr. Ridenour takes pride in his ability to offer results that look natural through his eye for beauty and understanding of facial structures. He stays at the forefront of innovation in plastic surgery to better serve his patients and the community. To learn whether a modern facelift is the right option for you, call 314-878-8600 or request a consultation online with Dr. Ridenour in St. Louis, Missouri.
