When the facial aging process begins to take place and the face is sometimes out of harmony with the eyelids or forehead, some patients become self-conscious. And when patients state that they look older than they truly feel or their friends tell them that they look tired and not well rested, a facelift or a neck lift is performed. The face/neck lift is a very popular procedure done frequently in the United States and it is in the top 1/3 in popularity of all cosmetic procedures performed on the face.

The facelift is done for cosmetic reasons, and it is a procedure that is done on the face and neck to rejuvenate the face. This procedure tightens up lax facial skin, neck skin and muscles, jowls, and addresses neck fat as well. It also tightens the muscles in the face, the posterior portion of the neck and the front portion of the neck. Excess skin is removed around the ears and fat is removed underneath the neck.

There are three components that are addressed with a facelift. The first one is the fat in the neck, which is removed with both direct and indirect liposuction and fat sculpting. The second component is muscle, which is tightened underneath the neck to redefine the jaw line, tighten behind the jaw line to accentuate the posterior portion of the jaw line, and it is tightened up at the cheek area to lift the jowls. The third component is excess skin. Once the muscles have been tightened and the fat has been removed, there is usually excess skin that has to be trimmed in a very conservative fashion.

All three of these components must be addressed to have a very natural and good looking symmetrical facelift. Most close family members and friends do not even recognize the fact that a patient has had a face or neck lift. They just look more well rested, refreshed, and look as though they have lost weight. The weight loss appearance comes from the removal of fat in the neck.

There are different types of facelifts that are performed. There is a traditional facelift, which addresses a full face and neck lift. This addresses facial skin laxity, the jowls and all of the neck fat and laxity of the muscles in the neck. There is also a mini lift, which is done for simple facial laxity to lift the jowls only and does not address the neck area.

This is typically done on younger patients less than 50 years old who just have jowling but have an adequate jaw neck line. There is also a neck lift alone, which can usually be done on patients who are less than 50 years old, to address only neck fat and redefine the jaw line, but it does nothing for the jowls and facial laxity.

Dave Stringham, the President of LookingYourBest.com writes about plastic surgery in Seattle, Washington and cosmetic surgery procedures like seattle facelift, rhinoplasty, tummy tuck, brachioplasty, liposuction, and ear pinning.

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