Face lift for men

Each face is unique, has its own character and expresses emotions and feelings, giving each individual their personality.

We do not aim to change the identity of the face but to find its expressiveness and personality. For this reason, my priority is not stretching the skin at any cost but preserving the natural appearance of the original face.

The goal is for those around you to notice a change and an improvement and to think you are in good form, without necessarily being able to identify that you have had an operation.

Advances in plastic surgery and medicine have completely transformed facial and neck rejuvenation techniques. Carrying out large skin lifts with incisions in the scalp and large detachment procedures, often with heavy after-effects, have now been mostly replaced by lifts with small scars: the Minilift (Soft Lift, French Touch, Macs Lift, ...), using lighter techniques (the Curl-lift, hyaluronic acid or Botox injections and chemical or laser peels) with harmonious results for the entire face.

A complete face and neck lift involves treating 5 locations:

• The brow lift, which covers all the eyebrows and forehead.

• The temple lift, which concerns the outer part of the eyebrow, the upper eyelid and any crow's feet.

• The mid-face lift, which focuses on the cheekbones and malar bags, which are swellings located under the fatty pockets of the lower eyelid.

• The cheek facelift, which deals with the cheeks and jowls.

• The cervical lift allows redefinition of the cervico-facial angle by correcting saggy skin around the neck and any double chin.

The cervico-facial lift comprises the mid-face, jugal and cervical techniques. It can be used to correct sagginess in the entire cheek and neck areas and is the most popular technique because it does not affect the facial expressions that give you an identity. It restores, in particular, the oval of the face to what it was a few years previously.

For the upper part of the face, conventional frontal and temporal lifting leads to extensive scarring in the hair and excisions in the scalp, which can cause a decrease in hair density in the detached areas and a retreating hair implantation line. For this reason, I no longer practice this technique. For these two regions, I prefer to use the Curl-lift (tension threads) technique, which uses tension threads to support loose parts on the face with only 2mm incisions hidden in the hair and no scalp excision. This prevents the loss of hair density and does not affect hair implantation.

Each person comes to me asking for a particular defect to be corrected when they find this particularly troublesome. The objective of the operation will be to correct this defect as a priority by assessing whether it may be appropriate to correct other associated defects for a well-balanced, natural result that meets your expectations.

So, depending on the insights gained during the first consultation, the operation may be combined with another operation to improve the overall harmony of the face. Indeed, correcting a particular defect sometimes risks bringing out another defect, which was less visible before. This can be carried out during the same procedure or at another time.

The cervico-facial lift can frequently be combined with:

• Eyelid plastic surgery,

• A frontal, temporal or malar curl-lift (tension threads),

• Lipomodelling by liposuction, removing fat deposits (double chin, jowls, fatty cheek pads), and/or by lipofilling (injections of your fatty tissue) to correct wrinkles and restore volume to saggy areas,

• Hyaluronic acid or Botox injections to reduce wrinkles,

• Chemical peels or laser treatment.

During the first consultation, it is essential that you openly express what bothers you and what you would like to improve. Do not be afraid to ask any questions, including expressing your fears and expectations. Everyone has a different body shape, psychology and expectations, which are not the same and there is no standard to apply.

After you have explained your motivations, I will examine you and offer one or more solutions, taking into account your expectations, your anatomy, respecting your identity and the natural aspect of your appearance.

So you can visualise the desired result, using a mirror, I will manually recreate the effect that the recommended treatments will have on your skin; then, I will show you photos of surgical results of cases similar to yours so you can understand the objective of the procedure.

It is essential that you and I have a good understanding when deciding to operate and to determine the technique to use among those I can offer.

I will then give you all the information on the techniques proposed along with the information sheets from the Société Française de Chirurgie Plastique Reconstructrice et Esthétique (French Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Cosmetic Surgery) as well as a detailed estimate of the costs for the options chosen. You will then be able to move your project forward and get ready for a second consultation when you will be able to ask any additional questions to help you make a decision and prepare for the operation.

Depending on the type of anaesthetic (local or general), a full or partial blood test should be carried out.

For general anaesthetics, you will need a consultation with the anaesthetist in the weeks leading up to the operation and at least 48 hours beforehand.

For people using hair dyes, ideally you should dye your hair the week before the operation because a new dye can only be applied 3 weeks after the operation.

No medications containing aspirin or anti-inflammatories can be taken within 10 days of the procedure.

For general anaesthetics, you will have to fast strictly for 6 hours before the operation (do not eat anything, chew gum, eat sweets or smoke). However, for a local anaesthetic, you can drink and eat lightly at normal mealtimes.

Tobacco consumption should be stopped or reduced as much as possible during the month before and the month after the procedure. Tobacco can cause scarring problems.

A stay in hospital is usually limited to the night after the operation. Same-day discharge is also possible after a few hours of monitoring following the operation. During the night, painkillers and analgesics are given by drip infusion if you are in hospital or can be taken in tablet form at home. Leaving the following day means you can go home without any bandages.

The duration of the operation is about 2 hours.

Local, deep local (neuroleptanalgesia) or general, according to your preferences.

Before you go to the operating theatre, in your room, I will go over the precise goals with you that we agreed during the consultations. You can then always make recommendations and ask any questions. I will then draw the lines and marks on your skin to guide the operation and the lines of the incisions.

Incisions are made around the ear, starting under the sideburns to hide them and then along the curves that contour the ear, finishing behind the ear. This means the path is not straight and the scars are hidden as far as possible.

I do not make any incisions in the hair or any excision of the scalp, which can be at the origin of a decrease in hair density in the areas of the incisions and a retreating hair implantation line. This is much appreciated by people with sparse hair. The incision pattern allows your original hair implantation to be completely preserved and, in particular, prevents the sideburns from rising.

The incision patterns in men are different from those in women due to the growth of beard hair. This must be respected and beard hair removal will be very limited.

The incisions and detached skin give access to the anatomical structures that need reshaping: muscles and aponeurotic structures are repositioned, tightened and set in the right position, any excess fat is removed by micro liposuction, then the skin is replaced without stretching it over these newly-created embedded structures. Any excess skin is removed along the line of the incisions and sewn together with intradermal stitches, which are placed inside the thick part of the skin, making them invisible. The stitches dissolve and do not need to be removed.

The cervico-facial lifting technique is important in that the repositioning of the tissues is ensured by the re-tensioning of the deep tissues (SMAS) and not by the tension on the skin which would give a fixed appearance and a very temporary result.

At the end of the operation, a bandage is applied around the head, leaving the eyelids uncovered, which is particularly appreciated by claustrophobic people.

At the end of the operation, a bandage is placed around the head, leaving the eyelids uncovered, which is particularly good for anyone who suffers from claustrophobia.

During the night following the operation, you may feel a sensation of painful tension in the cervical area, accentuated by the compression bandage around your head. This pain is moderate in a resting position and can be treated with painkillers and analgesics, which are given by drip if you are in hospital or can be taken as tablets at home.

The next morning, the bandage can be completely removed; you can then have a shower and wash your hair at the clinic. Your hair can be blow dried using a hair dryer on a moderate heat setting. You can also get a specialist hairdresser to assist.

Returning home, you will not need a bandage as protection but only a simple pair of sunglasses and a scarf around your face to keep draughts away from the area that was operated on.

If you wish to leave the same day, you can go home with a bandage around your head, which you can remove yourself the next morning at home or return to see me to have it removed.

Swelling (oedema) and bruising in the cervico-facial region are usually very moderate. These take about ten days to almost completely disappear. You can hide them with suitable make-up designed for post-operative use the day after the operation. However, you can only use these products on the scars themselves after 5 days.

You will need to take 8 days out from work and social activities in the majority of cases. In case of significant bruising and oedema, which is rare (5% of cases), you may need to have up to 3 weeks off.

The stitches used will dissolve and do not need to be removed. They are placed internally under the skin’s thickness (intradermal sutures) and are invisible.

Scars should be cleaned daily with an antiseptic.

You should make a follow-up appointment 3 days after the procedure, then after 15 days, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year.

• Exposure to the sun: no direct exposure for 1.5 months,

• Bruises can be hidden with a cover-up cream the day after the operation; however, these products can only be applied directly onto the scar from the 5th day. The products used must be suited and designed for post-operative use. They will be prescribed to you on a post-operative prescription.

The procedure reshapes the oval of the face and neck, correcting tissue sagging. The improvement is immediately visible despite oedema (swelling) and any bruising that prevents us from fully judging the final result. After about ten days, your initial recovery will allow us to appreciate the result, even if full recovery takes 1 to 3 months.

In the long term, this permanently corrects tissue sagging and the majority of patients do not need another operation. In some patients, the ageing process means that a new operation may be beneficial but rarely before about 15 years.

To delay the ageing process, however, you can carry out maintenance through lighter treatments such as hyaluronic acid or Botox injections or chemical and laser peels .

The result is a relaxed, rejuvenated, expressive and natural face. Your circle of friends will see a change and an improvement but without being able to tell that it is because you have had a procedure.

In addition to a cosmetic improvement, this operation has a beneficial impact on the patient’s personal well-being and development.

Read the information from the French Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Cosmetic Surgery

The cost of the operation will depend on the procedure to be carried out, the duration of the operation, the type of anaesthetic and any hospital charges.

If the reason for the operation is purely aesthetic, you cannot get reimbursement through a Social Security claim.

A detailed estimate is given to you during the first consultation following the options you have chosen. You then have a minimum legal period of 15 days to consider your options and take your project forward.

The first consultation costs €50. The following consultations before and after the operation are free.