Call Us : 415.898.4161

Cosmetic and Plastic Surgery-SanFrancisco Bay Area|Marin County

The Male Facelift, Hiding the Incisions

July 1st, 2013 Miguel A. Delgado Jr, MD

 

Male Face Lift

This is a 55-year-old resident of San Francisco, California who presented to the San Francisco office at Union Square for evaluation for facial rejuvenation. He underwent a facelift, temporal brow lift and fat injections to his face and a pre-jowl chin implant.His surgery was performed at Marin Cosmetic Surgery Center in Marin County, California.

 

San Francisco, CA-In February 2013, The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) published their statistics for 2012.  The total number of rhytidectomy surgeries, better known as facelift surgery, performed in the United States was up 6% over 2011. Of the total 10% was for men. Men strive to look younger to remain competitive in the work place, but some are motivated to have a facelift after seeing how refreshed their wives look after their surgery.

During a consultation for a facelift, one of the most important issues discussed is the placement of the incisions. The goal, besides a more youthful refreshed face, is to have the incisions well hidden so that it is not evident that any surgical procedure has been done. Women want the choice to be able to wear their hair in any style, and men who don’t have many hair style options just want scars that don’t show. 

external ear

External Ear

The facelift procedure is very different for a man than for a woman just as other cosmetic surgical procedures can differ, such as female breast reduction versus male breast reduction. Great care needs to be taken not to feminize the male face. The incisions should be well hidden in the natural skin creases and shadow of hair. The incision can be in front of the ear (pre-tragal) or inside the ear (intra-tragal), but attention needs to be made regarding the hairline, side burns and the beard. The beard should not be pulled into the ear, and the side burn position needs to be preserved. Laser hair removal can be done if the hair is too close or in the ear.

Male Facelift Incision

Male Face Lift Incision

In the long term, the pre-tragal incision will heal the best and look more natural. The location of the incisions will depend on skin laxity, quality of the skin, how much sun damage there is, and color of the skin. Some men have a distinct change of color between the skin of the cheeks and the tragus; therefore, each patient needs to be evaluated individually. There is also an incision behind the ear and the surgeon must take care not to move the hairline. If the man has a brow lift and eyelid surgery at the same time as the face lift, great care needs to be taken to keep a natural look and not be too aggressive.

A face lift for a bald man or a man with thinning hair is more of a challenge but can be done with excellent results. The conventional incision for a male facelift cannot be done because without hair, the resulting scar will not be hidden. Instead, a surgical approach called circumauricular is preferred. This incision goes around the ear but not into the scalp, keeping the incision hidden in the creases and shadows of the ear.

It is important for the man to take care of the incisions until they are well healed. For the first few weeks, the incisions will be red, and the best way to hide them is to let your hair grow longer before surgery and/or the use of makeup. Our esthetician would be able to assist in choosing an excellent mineral based cover-up and show the patient how the application should be done to conceal the incisions. Use of sunscreen is highly recommended as the sun can make scars much more prominent, in fact it would be wise to stay out of the sun as much as possible for several weeks or months.

Continuing with a healthy diet is important in healing as well as taking high quality vitamins such as VitaMedica. Smoking is one of the worst things anyone can do before and after surgery as the nicotine and carbon monoxide starves the cells and keep them from delivering oxygen to the tissues. This prevents the incisions to heal properly, and in addition making the patient more susceptible to infections. Besides increasing inflammation, there is also an increase in risk of cardiovascular complications.

It is important for the patient to take an active role throughout the healing process in order to get the best surgical result.

Comments are closed.