Facelift

A face-lift (rhytidectomy) is a cosmetic surgical procedure to create a younger appearance in your face. The procedure can reduce the sagging or folds of skin on the cheeks and jawline and other changes in the shape of your face that occur with age.

During a face-lift, a flap of skin on each side of the face is pull back, and tissues below the skin are surgically altered to return the contour of the face to a more youthful shape. Before the flap is sutured closed, excess skin is removed.

As you get older, the appearance and shape of your face is altered because of normal age-related changes. Your skin becomes less elastic and looser, and fat deposits decrease in some areas of your face and increase in others. Age-related changes in your face that may be reduced with a face-lift include the following:

• Sagging appearance of your cheeks
• Excess skin at your lower jawline (jowls)
• Deepening of the fold of skin from the side of your nose to the corner of your mouth
• Sagging skin and excess fat in the neck (if the procedure includes a neck lift)