Face Lift

Scars of the face are the best in the whole body, even those patients who produce keloids can consider having a face lift, even though they will require extra Cadogan scar treatment. The scars are short and hidden around the front of the ear, under the earlobe and in the crease behind the ear. Most will be hidden by the hair from day one, and make-up can be applied immediately after the sutures have been removed.

We have a Cadogan Clinic scar regime using applications twice a day and laser from the third week, very rarely with keloid formers, we have stronger options.

Your surgeon will give you detailed advice which may include preparation of the skin by applications for a few weeks prior to surgery. The most important advice is for smokers to stop smoking for a minimum of two weeks, but four weeks or longer, if possible. They should not recommence until the wounds are well healed, two weeks after surgery. Haematomas or haemorrhage under the skin was common in the past but now with our more refined techniques, is rare. You do need however, to avoid drugs such as aspirin and anti-inflammatory drugs and herbal supplements as these all increase the risk of bleeding. High blood pressure is another risk and should be well-controlled at the time of surgery. Bathe and wash your hair the night before surgery, and stop eating 6 hours prior to the operation. You may drink water up until 2 hours before surgery. Arrange for a responsible person to collect you from the clinic and stay with you overnight. You will need to return to the clinic for a dressing the next morning. If you live at a distance, it may be wise to book into our local hotel, via our advisors to obtain preferential rates. If you are nervous, we can arrange for a nurse from the clinic to stay with you.

A facelift is not painful, and it is unlikely that you will need anything stronger than paracetamol, if that. There are dressings overnight and you will need to return the next morning to have the wounds checked and dressings reduced or removed. Healing is better and swelling reduced if activity is kept to a minimum. For the first few days keeping the head higher than the heart, also reduces pressure in the vessels and reduces bruising. Add a few extra pillows for the first night.

The visible stitches are removed a week after surgery, and a few more behind the ear later. During that first week, you will be perfectly able to work from a computer, but avoid the commute into work.
The stitches are easily hidden, but once they are removed, you will look perfectly good, indeed much better than before surgery, but still a little puffy. It is the smokers that may have slower and less satisfactory healing. It will be wise to avoid the gym for four weeks.

Make-up will hide the early pink and well-hidden scars and the Cadogan post-operative scar treatment will be helpful for those that have had difficulty with scars in the past, or are anxious to get the earliest possible resolution. For most people however, the pink scars become pale and mature within a month or two.

There is not an easy answer as there are so many versions and many patients elect to have further fat grafting of the face or treatment to the forehead and eyelids.

We will be able to quote accurately after you have seen your surgeon, but prices begin at £9000 for a full regular lift. 

It is perfectly possible to carry out a facelift under a local anaesthetic, but most of our patients prefer the type of general anaesthesia we give at the Cadogan Clinic, which is Total Intravenous Anaesthesia (T.I.V.A.). Oxygen is the only gas you receive, and the anaesthetic is given intravenously using a computerised pump. You are kept only just asleep with a modified encephalogram monitoring your consciousness so that you are kept unaware and only lightly asleep. There is no sickness after the procedure and you wake up immediately after the procedure is finished. This allows you to go home an hour or two after the surgery is completed, even if the surgery has taken several hours.

Your anaesthetist will see your medical history when the operation is booked and may ask for blood tests, an electrocardiogram or respiratory tests. All being well, you will not see your anaesthetist until the day of the operation when he/she will discuss any medical problems. If you do have particular issues you can meet your anaesthetist earlier.

You will always retain the benefits from your facelift surgery. What is done, cannot be undone. However, you are up against the continued ageing process. It would be fair to say that, if a facelift makes you appear 10 years younger, you will always retain that 10-year advantage. The trick, of course, is to delay the effects of ageing with aesthetic treatments, which are non-surgical.

The Cadogan Clinic has a full range of advice available from not only our surgeons, but also our dermatologists and aestheticians. Most patients will only need one facelift in their lives and there are some who 10 years later look as fresh as immediately after their facelift feeling fresh and youthful.

Recovery from a Cadogan facelift is rapid, as you will not feel ill or be in pain. You will need to avoid exercise for a few weeks, but you will be back in front of a computer the next day. All our patients are treated as a day case. If you live at a distance, it may be wise to book into one of our local hotels, via our patient advisor who can obtain preferential rates. We will need to see you the day after surgery to change or remove dressings. You may well hear or read about patients, who are in pain with considerable swelling for weeks or months following a facelift. This is unusual but is probably the result of poor technique or the result of a deep plane facelift, where all the soft tissues are lifted off the bone and placed at a higher level. This can give good results, but we at the Cadogan Clinic, do not feel that the discomfort and long recovery time of this deep plane technique, is worth it.

Dermatologists and aestheticians at the Cadogan Clinic will recommend maintenance and anti-ageing creams as a routine. There are various laser treatments for red blood vessels, brown patches and wrinkles, chemical peels and the skin tightening Ultherapy. These will all delay the effects of ageing to a certain superficial level, but the emptiness of the face and folds of loose skin will require surgery. There are many different versions of surgery, which would be tailored to your condition. 

Facelift surgery as carried out at the Cadogan Clinic is relatively risk free, we do not carry out the deep plane surgery, which is associated with medium term pain and swelling.

Bleeding haematoma, or bleeding under the skin is a risk and we therefore ask patients to avoid any drugs that might increase this tendency. This would include the usual anti-coagulants, aspirin, anti-inflammatories and certain herbal remedies.

We keep scars to a minimum and scars of the face are better than elsewhere in the body. Patients who tend to get hypertrophic or keloid scars need to be very carefully advised and treated with our Cadogan scar treatments post-operatively. Your surgeon will discuss these risks with you very carefully.

Our skin loses elasticity and soft tissues and bone lose volume with age. The facelift is designed to reposition the soft tissues and skin at the former level and to plump out the soft tissues to give the refreshed look of youth. Fat grafting in association with non-surgical procedures will go someway to restore this bloom and delay the process. There are numerous types of facelifts, which will be discussed with your surgeon and discover which would be most suitable for you.