Facelift is surgery, and surgery means that the skin is being cut. Whenever the skin is cut, it has to heal, and healing skin is never perfect again. We call the imperfections of healing skin “scars.” Scars aren’t a complication of a facelift: they’re an expected outcome.
Ideally, surgeons should take steps to minimize facelift scars. However, they aren’t always successful–not always through faults of their own–and you can experience numerous problems related to your facelift scars.
Scarring and potential scar problems are reasons to consider a nonsurgical facelift.
Scars Last a Long Time
This isn’t a problem so much as a problematic fact: scars can last a long time. In fact, many of them are permanent. When you choose to get a facelift surgery, you are committing yourself to having marks on your face that can last for decades, and, potentially, the rest of your life.
If you are considering facelift surgery, ask your surgeon where the scars will be concealed, and ask to see unaltered pictures of recent patients.
Scars Can Grow out of Place
Most of the time, scars stay where they are. They progress through the healing process to become small white lines that may fade eventually.
However, sometimes scars can actually grow beyond the borders of the original injury. The scars not only become puffy and highly visible, but they can extend into areas where your skin wasn’t cut.
We call these keloid scars. We’re not entirely sure what causes them, which means that we can’t always prevent them. However, they are uncommon. If you don’t have a family history of keloids, you’re less likely to get them.
Scars Aren’t Always Where They’re Planned
Often, a doctor will tell you that they’re going to place the scar from your surgery in particular place. But it doesn’t always end up that way. Surgery can be unpredictable, and sometimes you end up with scars that aren’t where they’re supposed to be.
This can mean that your scars are far more visible than they were supposed to be.
Ear Deformity
A facelift isn’t supposed to change your face shape, but it can. This includes the shape of your ear. A relatively common problem with facelift surgery is “pixied ear,” where your earlobe gets extra skin that attaches it to your cheek in a v-shape, unlike the more natural u-shaped earlobe.
Hair Doesn’t Grow
Hair follicles are delicate structures. They don’t always return when your skin heals from a surgical incision. This can mean that “concealing” surgical incisions in your hair can lead to hairless areas that can’t easily be concealed. You may lose the ability to wear your hair in certain ways. And it can make your scars much more visible than expected.
Incisions at the hairline can also move your hairline, causing you to have bald areas where you should have hair.
Can Unbalance the Face
Often, facelift surgery is designed around the sideburns. This helps not only to conceal the incision, but also to make sure the hairline stays where it should.
However, when you see that scars and incisions don’t always end up where they’re planned, you might end up with imbalanced hairlines on either side of the face. One might be higher up than the other one, creating an appearance that your face is slightly off-balance.
Don’t Risk Scars If You Don’t Have to
For some types of facial rejuvenation, a facelift is the best choice. However, many people can get results that are as good (and sometimes better) with a nonsurgical facelift.
And with a nonsurgical facelift, you can avoid risks of scarring altogether.
If you want to learn how a nonsurgical facelift can help rejuvenate your appearance, please call (843) 706-2999 today for an appointment with a Hilton Head area cosmetic dentist at The Durham Office, offering Beyond Exceptional Dentistry in Bluffton.
