Aging brings with it a process that removes skin elasticity, giving you loose sagging jowls, chin and facial skin. A face lift plastic surgery repairs the lower 1/3 of your face. If you add a combination of eyelid surgery and a brow lift, which improves eye and forehead areas, you can expect a new look of youthfulness.
Adding a plastic surgery neck lift fixes the drooping skin of your neck area. Thus, a combination of face lift, brow lift and neck lift surgeries can then assure you of a dramatically new look. Gone will be the saggy, baggy looks to make way for a more youthful appearance.
One good alternative to these cosmetic surgeries would be laser treatments. Laser skin resurfacing, is one, wherein laser beams are used to burn the outer layer of the facial skin, making the underlying collagen tighten up.
When the outer skin layer grows back, you will see and feel smoother, tighter-looking skin. The laser treatments also improve fine lines on the forehead, cheeks, lips and neck, and crow’s feet around the eyes.
Laser surgery has an edge over face lift cosmetic surgery that it leaves no scarring or blood loss, doesn’t call for general anesthesia or any cutting or time to be spent going to an outpatient clinic instead of a hospital.
But if the extra skin to be removed is of quite a large volume, the face lift plastic surgery is necessary.
Costs
A face lift by itself costs at least $6,000. In combination with eyelid surgery, brow and neck lifts, the total procedure could cost $25,000 or more.
Laser treatment costs depend on the size of the area to be treated and the number of sessions required to correct the flaws. On average, laser resurfacing could cost from $1,500 to $4,200, depending on the type of laser applied.
Side effects/Complications
Among the side effects to or risks of a face lift plastic surgery are scarring, numbness, nerve damage, allergic reactions to the anesthesia, infection and bruising.
Complications
Problems very rarely result from laser skin resurfacing. If ever, these could be poor healing, changes in pigmentation, excessive scarring, infection, and/or allergic reactions to local anesthetics.
Recovery
Full recovery from a face lift plastic surgery comes in two to three weeks. This is the average time for the bruising and swelling to subside, after which you can start going back to some physical activity. You can expect some numbness and stiffness in your muscles. Sensation would completely be regained after several months and any scars will fade after a year.
For laser skin resurfacing, physical activity could be resumed in ten days; this period will vary among different patients, though.
For women, make up can be applied to hide initial skin discoloration; men will have to bear with their appearance for a while. You should avoid exposure to the sun for long periods for about six months.
Results
All of these procedures – face lift, neck lift, laser resurfacing have long lasting results.