You only feel as young as you look.

Q: I’m a 48-year old female executive. I exercise regularly and I try to eat a healthy diet. In the last few years I noticed the onset of lines around my mouth, my lower eye lids developed bags and my neck now has some laxity. I feel that I’m not ready to have a full facelift yet, maybe in few years. I would like to have something done now that will address some of these changes without the need to do extensive surgery.

-Karen. M, Newport Coast

A: You describe very typical signs of early aging. The different aspects of the changes you mentioned in your face can be addressed independently.

A full face lift is usually recommended when we have to address significant drooping of the brows, jowls and neck, but lesser degrees of aging can be addressed with a variety of techniques that fall into the category of minimally invasive facial sculpturing. These various techniques address separate components of facial laxity and are custom made for every patient, depending on the degree of facial aging. These techniques may include a combination of eye lid surgery, microfat grafting, chemical peels or laser resurfacing, midface and thread lifts, and a variety of injectibles such as Botox or Juvederm. A mini face lift or a neck lift could be included as well. Addition of a chin implant can make a very significant change to a neck line in someone with a congenitally weak chin. The whole operative time is usually under two hours. The downtime and the healing process are usually shortened when using these techniques compared to a classic face lift.

We obviously cannot get too specific without seeing you in person, but based on what you said, hypothetically, the deep lines around the mouth could be addressed with a combination of chemical peels and filler injections. The lower lids could be lifted, injected with microfat grafts or both. The neck could be liposuctioned or plicated depending on the degree of laxity. Or perhaps a midface lift with Gortex threads would address your signs of early aging.

A good way for me to discuss this further is through photographs and I would like you to look at the accompanying pictures of a 35-year old female who chose to have her upper lids improved and neck contoured, all in a procedure that took less than an hour! Sometimes a very pleasing change over can be achieved with a relatively simple and minimally invasive procedure! One of the best ways to envision how you would look following such procedures is through the use of computer imaging.

(Actual patient of Dr. Bunkis – your results may vary)
 

If you would like to set up a complimentary computer imagine session, please feel free to contact Orange County Plastic Surgery at 949.888.9700.