Is there really such a thing as a nonsurgical facelift and, if so, how long will the results last?
A nonsurgical facelift is any type of nonsurgical procedure, technique, or injection that is felt to improve the overall appearance of facial laxity and, indeed, there are certainly countless individuals out in the medical community that promote what they consider a “nonsurgical facelift.” Having said that, any nonsurgical facelift will truly pale in comparison to the results that can be achieved through surgery. The advantage of a nonsurgical facelift is that there is little to no downtime involved with the majority of these types of procedures, and the only downside would be the limitation of the result and the longevity of the effect. Some examples of a nonsurgical facelift would be an injectable or liquid lift where injectable filler material is placed in various areas of the face, specifically in front of the jowl, in the sulcus between the chin and the jowl to try to make the jawline more prominent and the jowl then less prominent. Injections can also be placed in the folds around the mouth and up into the cheek area and certainly significantly rejuvenate a patient’s overall appearance but the overall effect is really quite minimal in comparison to a true and properly performed facelift. These injectable lifts can last anywhere from six to 24 months, most lasting somewhere around one year. Other nonsurgical facelift options would be skin tightening procedures such as Thermage or SkinTyte, which can tighten the overall skin of the face. Both of these procedures are extremely limited in their capacity to tighten, and the majority of patients have very minimal effects that are not easily visible. Most of the before-and-after photos that are available for these techniques are patients who had a rather significant effect, but these are only a very small proportion of the overall patients who are treated by these techniques. More invasive yet nonsurgical techniques for “facelifting”, would be laser treatments such as Profractional resurfacing, which can cause significant amounts of dermal tightening and new collagen synthesis and, thus, overall skin tightening. This effect can be rather significant from a skin tightening perspective but, again, does not compare to the effect of actually elevating and tightening the deeper layers of the face, which is what a facelift can achieve. Results from all of these nonsurgical-type facelift procedures are limited in the duration and, typically, I will tell my patients to expect one to three years from any sort of a nonsurgical lift. In fact, for minor surgical lifts that can be performed in the office, I will tell my patients to expect three to five years of longevity. A properly performed, sophisticated facelift technique such as an extended SMAS, deep plane facelift with subplatysmal and platysmal muscle work, will typically last in the order of 10 years if not even longer and produce a much more significant and natural-appearing rejuvenation.
