The Secret to Getting a Natural-Looking Facelift

Lines, wrinkles, and sagging skin may be part of skin’s “natural” age-related changes — but just because something is natural, that doesn’t mean we have to like it. No matter how well you care for your skin, at some point, age is going to catch up, and the “you” staring back at you in the mirror suddenly looks a lot older than you feel — and a lot older than you want to look.

Facelift surgery is designed to combat the most common signs of aging, helping women and men look as young as they feel. But not everyone needs a full, traditional facelift to get the results they want. Sometimes, a traditional facelift gives you more than what you’re looking for and often comes with a longer recovery time.

The good news: As a leading plastic and reconstructive surgeon in Plano and Frisco, Texas, Chelsea Snider, MD, offers the MACS facelift technique to help patients at Vida Bela Plastic Surgery enjoy more youthful, natural results without a long recovery. Here’s how it works.

Facelift basics

Facelift surgery was the fifth most popular cosmetic surgery in the United States last year, with about a quarter million surgeries performed on both women and men. Its popularity has remained steady over the past couple of decades, as more people realize the benefits of matching how old they look with how old they feel.

Although we might notice age-related changes on our skin’s surface, the changes that occur with age go a lot deeper. Lots of factors contribute to facial aging, including loosening of your skin, a loss of volume under your skin, and sagging muscles. While a rigorous skincare routine can help keep your skin soft and supple, even the most effective surface product isn’t going to restore volume, reposition droopy skin, or retone your underlying muscles.

About 30 years ago, facelift surgery focused primarily on tightening your skin and removing excess tissue, but did little to address the underlying tissues and muscles. That meant patients were left with less natural-looking results, and those results didn’t last nearly as long as most patients hoped (or expected).

Today’s facelift surgeries approach facelifts differently. State-of-the-art surgical techniques focus on the underlying facial structures as well as the skin, repositioning underlying tissues so the entire face is lifted. The result is more natural — but still, patients without severe aging may stll find that the procedure changed them a little too much.

The MACS facelift

MACS stands for minimal access cranial suspension. Yes, it’s a mouthful, but what it means is pretty simple. With the MACS technique, Dr. Snider uses a smaller incision than what’s used in a traditional face-lift, along with special instruments that allow her to access and reposition your facial tissues. 

The incision is made along the front area of your ear, located in a natural fold that helps hide the scar. With a traditional facelift, the incision is longer and wraps around the ear, resulting in a longer scar that’s harder to hide. Once the short incision is made, the underlying tissues are repositioned and anchored to the deeper layers of tissue (called the fascia), using sutures to hold the tissues in place. 

The MACS technique causes less tissue damage than a traditional facelift, so recovery is faster and you see your results sooner. Plus, the MACS approach uses vertical lifting techniques to help restore a natural look that’s not pulled or taut. Vertical repositioning addresses the natural “downward” sagging that happens during aging for a result that patients tend to find more satisfactory. 

In addition to a more natural look, smaller scars, and a faster recovery, the MACS facelift can be combined with other procedures for a custom treatment plan that addresses your specific concerns. Your facelift surgery is designed to primarily improve aging in the midface area — the area around your nose, mouth, and chin. With a MACS facelift, you can “add on” other treatments to reduce age-related changes in your eye area, your forehead, or under your chin, for instance. Combining your MACS facelift with other individual procedures lets you focus on the areas that most concern you, so you feel more confident with your results and better about the way you look.

Look more youthful, feel more confident

Don’t be bullied by facial aging. With a MACS facelift, you can get the youthful look that makes you feel comfortable and confident, without worrying about unnatural results or a prolonged recovery. To learn more about facelift surgery or to find out about other anti-aging treatments we offer, call Vida Bela Plastic Surgery at 469-270-7666 or request an appointment online today.