Blog

Will I Still Need Fillers After a Facelift?

Fillers After a Facelift?

With age comes wrinkles. It is a fact of life that women (and men) have been fighting against for years. There are currently a vast array of creams, tinctures and treatments on the market that contain very powerful anti-aging ingredients. Consistent dedication to a skin care routine can be effective for many years at retaining a youthful appearance, but eventually even the best skin care products aren’t enough to stop the signs of aging from appearing.

When topical creams, serums, and moisturizing regimens begin to fall short, the next step for those who want to continue holding off the aging process is typically cosmetic facial injectables and fillers. These treatments are relatively quick, easy, and require little to no downtime. The natural-looking, youthful results women get from fillers and injectables work very well on early signs of aging and mild to moderate wrinkling, but after a time, more dramatic interventions may be required to achieve the same results. When patients begin to consider a facelift or mini facelift, they often wonder if they will need to continue with injectables afterward.

Types of Injectables

  • Neurotoxins like Botox®, Dysport® (and the newest player in the game, Jeuveau®) target wrinkles caused by tension and repeated facial movements.
  • Dermal fillers (Restylane®, Juvederm®, and Sculptra®) target the breakdown of elasticity in the skin.

Botox® and similar injectable neurotoxins are primarily used to treat lines and wrinkles around the eyes, forehead, and eyebrows. These wrinkles tend to be caused by tension in the facial muscles as well as repetitive facial movements like squinting, smiling, and furrowing of the brows. Botox® is injected directly into the muscles just under the skin and causes muscle relaxation. This minimizes the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles on the surface of the skin. Results typically last around three to four months.

Dermal fillers are different from neurotoxins in that they plump areas of the face that have a visible loss of collagen. Fillers can be injected deeper into the tissues around the nose, lips, eyes, cheekbones and temples. Fillers counteract wrinkles and sagging skin with a non-invasive lift by adding volume using a thicker liquid like Hyaluronic Acid. Results can last from six months to two years depending on the kind of filler used and the level of intervention needed.

Is it time for a facelift?

While injectables can smooth and/or plump up mild to moderate wrinkles and fine lines, they cannot treat more advanced sagging or deep skin folds. The presence of substantial skin laxity, or lack of elasticity and collagen in the face, is often a sign that a patient may be a good candidate for a facelift. A facelift will remove excess skin, restore firmness, and re-contour underlying tissue to create a lifted, rejuvenated look. A mini facelift is less invasive and requires less recovery time than a full face lift. The results from a full facelift can last ten or more years, with a mini facelift typically lasting up to six years.

While cosmetic surgical procedures do provide impressive, long lasting results, they don’t halt the natural aging process. Whether or not to continue receiving injectable treatments after a facelift is an individual choice. A facelift, while very effective, will not erase every trace of fine lines and wrinkles. To do so would require pulling the skin unnaturally taut, creating an unnatural look. Using a combination of surgical procedure(s) and injectable maintenance typically elicits the best results.

In our experience, patients want to look like themselves, just younger. The key to creating a natural, youthful look is determining the perfect balance of surgical and non-surgical procedures that will rejuvenate the face as naturally as possible. A facelift can address existing evidence of aging while injectables can reduce the appearance of additional signs as they arise. This kind of multi-faceted treatment plan will be unique to every patient, ensuring a continued appearance of youth and renewal. Using injectables to maintain the results of a surgical procedure can ensure that patients will feel confident in their skin for years to come.

MONTHLY SPECIALS: