If I have a specialty, it is the Facelift.

Patients frequently ask, “What technique do you use- SMAS, deep plane, short scar, MACS-lift.?” The answer is, “Whatever technique the patient needs.” To have only one technique at your disposal calls to mind the adage, “If you have a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail!”

The truth is that every patient is different, with an aging pattern all his/her own, with a unique skin type, with a particular pattern and color of hair, individual medical issues/medications and personal expectations. An experienced surgeon has many tools available, not just hammers, and chooses the combination of techniques and procedures that best suit that patient. I have performed every conceivable facelift procedure, and try to choose what is best for each patient.

Dr. Thorne’s technique

That being said, there are certainly procedures I use and others I do not. My philosophy of facelifting, like my philosophy on all cosmetic procedures, is to do as LITTLE as possible to give the patient the result he/she seeks. The goal is NOT to do as much as one can think of. This approach of minimal intervention for maximal results leads to more consistent results, fewer complications, and is least likely to result in an “operated look.”

The technique I use most often consists of skin undermining, vertical elevation of the posterior SMAS and platysma, suspension of the cheek fat, and selective liposuction and lipoinjection. I do NOT redrape the skin vertically. I do not like the appearance of neck skin pulled up on to the face because the neck skin has different pigmentation, different creases and belongs in the neck! I frequently combine the procedure with elevation of the outer part of the brow only. See section on browlifting. I abhor conventional browlifts, which tend to make people look older, strange and surprised.

Goal of facelifting

The goal in facelifting, for most patients, is to make the patient look like herself/himself, just a crisper version. An occasional patient wants/needs a more dramatic change but this is the exception, not the rule.

Harmony and avoiding the “facelifted look.”

Almost every patient tells me that they don’t want a “facelift look.” What do they mean? In addition to avoiding over-correction in any area, the key is to keep the face looking harmonious as a whole. If one part of the face is out-of-synch with the rest of the face, it does not look natural. It looks artificial or “man made.” An occasional patient will ask me to correct only the neck. I rarely agree to such a request because I fear creating disharmony–a tight neck with uncorrected jowls! Not a good look. My goal is to make you look BETTER, more harmonious than when you started, not to create a disharmonious, operated appearance. I would rather have your friends say, “She looks great,” than say, “She had a facelift!”

To see before and after images, please click Facelift.

To read Dr. Thorne’s facelift chapter in The Plastic Surgery Book, please click Facelift Chapter PDF or Facelift Chapter Online Version.