What Makes a SMAS Facelift Unique?
The face develops an aged appearance over time due to the loosening of subcutaneous fat and connective tissues. This causes the skin and muscles on the neck and face to sag. These aging issues can make a person feel self-conscious and embarrassed.
Happily, a facelift procedure to correct them takes less than two and a half hours to perform. One of the newer and more effective facelift techniques is known as the SMAS facelift.
The SMAS Explained
Typical facelift procedures focus on trimming away excess skin and tightening muscles to create a lift. These procedures are somewhat effective, but they ignore a region of the facial anatomy known as the Superficial Musculo-Aponeurotic System, or the SMAS layer. This layer of connective tissue covers the neck, face, and head muscles.
The SMAS facelift is the ultimate solution for beautiful facial skin coupled with rejuvenated and well-balanced neck and facial muscles. A SMAS facelift treats the lower two thirds of the face, improving and firming the contours of the neck in tandem with the face.
The SMAS Facelift Process
A SMAS facelift does not require general anesthesia. Instead, intravenous sedation and local anesthesia make the whole process painless and smooth.
The SMAS facelift involves well-camouflaged incisions. Vertical lifting of the face and neck is achieved by adjusting the muscles and connective tissues and removing unwanted excess sagging skin.
Subcutaneous elastic antibiotic stitches provide additional support. Such antibiotic stitches are firmly secured to an anchor point under the skin. The stitches dissolve very slowly and naturally. As soon as the lifted tissues grow into place, the antibiotic stitches disappear, so the body will not reject the stitches at any point in time.
The final aim with a SMAS facelift is to create natural-looking results that suit the person’s overall look and last for a long time. It takes about two to three months for the results to fully settle.
Depending upon prevailing conditions, a SMAS facelift often comes with a neck lift. The rejuvenating treatment can be combined with correction of upper and lower eyelids along with filling of deep wrinkles at the corners of the mouth. Wrinkles on the forehead are corrected with an eyebrow lift or Botox.
Recovery – What to Expect
After the SMAS facelift, the patient has to spend the night at the clinic and can leave the next day. The time required for a complete recovery will be two to three weeks.
At the start of this period, the patient will need to rest and stay comfortable. Time off of work will be necessary. Post-surgical bruising and swelling will be present, and these can be addressed with the help of cold compresses and other methods as recommended by the surgeon.
Get Started with Your SMAS Facelift
A prerequisite for performing an effective and safe facelift surgery is exceptional surgical skill and great experience. When you speak with Dr. Andres Gantous, a well-respected facial plastic surgery specialist, you’ll quickly see that Dr. Gantous is the right surgeon for the job. To arrange an informative consultation with Dr. Gantous, get in touch with our office today.