Face lift

Why?

The face lift can be done as soon as aging symptoms make their appearance and that a written request for a motivated correction has been made, often around the age of 40 to 45.

This operation may be tied up with another move of facial plastic surgery in Tunisia: cosmetic surgery of the eyelids ( blepharoplasty), correction of waning and the wrinkles at the forehead (facial lifting endoscopy).

Aims

The aim of the operation is to treat the waning and the slackening of the skin and of the face muscles (temples and eyebrows, cheeks, flabby cheeks, facial oval) and of the neck. The aim of such an operation is not to change the shape and the aspect of the face. On the contrary, the recovery of the different anatomic structures of the face and the neck (skin, muscle, fat) enables the operated person to recover the aspect that was his/hers many years back. Thanks to the degree of progress that has been achieved and the minute technical means, we get more often than not a considerable return to young looks that give the face a natural aspect: the face has no “surgical” aspect and has regained traits that were its eight or twelve years

Before the operation

Preparing for the operation

You will be taken to the clinic on the eve of the operation to give you the time to settle down in your room, take a shower if necessary, and meet with the medical team: Your surgeon, the anesthetist doctor, and all paramedic staff. The operation will take place the following morning. Very often, the evening before the operation, the nurses administer a pre-medication in the form of light tranquilizer to allow anxious patients to face the operation in a more relaxed fashion. The night of the operation the hair will be washed and any make-up will be carefully removed the day of the operation.

Kind of anesthesia

The face lift can be carried out under full anesthesia or deep partial anesthesia by the administration of tranquilizers through an intravenous injection.

Hospitalization duration

3 nights

Total duration of stay in Tunisia

8 nights/9days

Operation

Muscles reinstated in a state of tension in order to correct their slackening.

The skin is then re-draped on request over the new curves, without excessive traction. This double action allows a natural, long-lasting result, with-post-surgical follow-up that is generally simple (scars on the skin “less visible” because very little traumatized, as a result of tension and limited ungluing).

Potential fat extra padding can be treated by liposuction. On the contrary, if the face is emaciated, this feature can be corrected at the same time through a fat re-injection (lipofilling).

Thus the face and the neck are thus re-built, restructured. The necessary skin incisions will be mostly covered by hair (at the level of the temples and the back of the neck) and around the ears.

Duration of the operation

The duration of the face lift varies from 1 to 2 hours.

After the operation

Once the operation is over, the medical team will take you back to your room, where you will start recovering your senses. You will have a bandage all around your head (hat), that will make it difficult for you to wear optical glasses, or use the phone. This bandage will be removed the day following the operation. It is equally frequent to have a perfusion in the 24 hours following the operation, this contains analgesic substances and tranquilizers to ease pain if ever and increase your comfort.

Post surgical treatment

During the first days, you must not feel surprised, or feel worries :

about edema (swelling) that may be slightly more accented the second day than the first, also because of ecchymoses (blue in color) in the neck and chin area, and perhaps from a feeling of painful tension, mainly behind the ears, and around the neck.

These ecchymoses and edema generally disappear within 2 weeks following the operation.

At the end of the first month, the swelling will practically disappear. But there remains a slight mark of the unglued areas, more palpable than visible. The ears will only recover their usual sensitiveness after one or two months later. The scars in front and in the back will be hidden behind the hair. The only area that is slightly visible, before the ear, can be temporarily masked through make-up or a particular hair style. For men, growing a beard may serve as a natural way of disguise, hiding.

Results

After two to three months, we can have an idea of the final outcome. But the scars are still slightly pink and somehow marked and will only be extenuated around the sixth month.

Complications

Cases of bruises, infections, phlebitis, anemia or asthenia are rare and seem rather an exception.

Work interruption

There is no need for interrupting the work: the recovery stay spent for your plastic surgery in Tunisia following the operation is very beneficial and enables most of our patients to resume their professional activities as soon as they return home.

Fees

The fees required for a face lift varies immensely depending on the patients, the state of their skin, and their age, etc.They usually start at 1700 Euros.