John M. Roesler, M.D.
Los Angeles Facial Plastic Surgeon
A deep plane face lift, skillfully performed, along with platysmaplasty, smooths sagging platysmal bands (the ‘turkey gobble’), removes excess skin while tightening the deeper tissues of the neck and jowls, and lifts the malar fat pad.
While there is no substitute to a face lift, in terms of the degree and duration of correction, minimally invasive techniques are available to effectively ‘renew’ the face.
- Injectables such as Restylane, Juvederm, Radiesse, and Artefill can be used to fill in fine to deep lines and wrinkles. Sculptra can be used to thicken and revolumize the skin (imagine a shriveled balloon being blown back up), and various technologies can be used to remove discolorations, resurface, and renew the skin.
- The best of these technologies include compounded hydroquinone, tretinoin, and hydrocortisone creams, used along with IPL, the carbon dioxide laser, or trichloracetic acid peels.
- A chin implant can also work wonders in improving the jaw line, but does require surgery.
- Radiesse injections can achieve the same effect, albeit temporarily.
Beware of technologies such as Thermage, Titan, barbed sutures, and fractionated laser technologies unless you have money to burn; they promise much more than they can deliver.
