The Face Lift: A History

Few forms of plastic surgery are as ubiquitous today as the face
lift, and why not? No other procedure gives people the chance to
completely turn back the clock when it comes to their aging features.
Women in their 50s and above can look ten or twenty years younger with
the help of a surgeon's guiding hand. In a culture as youth obsessed
as ours, there is no wonder why the operation is so popular. Of
course, the procedure is really nothing new. Here we take a look at
the history of this amazing medical development.Over 100 years ago,
the first cosmetic face lift was performed. Of course, the procedure
in those days was quite a bit simpler than those being done on the
Hollywood stars of today. The surgeon would cut away a bit of the
flesh from the patient's scalp and then pull the remaining skin up and
over the gap. The facial features were pulled taut and the desired
look was achieved. Of course, anyone who left the surgeon's office
with those results today would sue for malpractice. After only a few
months, the scar would begin to stretch and even the minimal effects
that had been achieved would be lost as the skin started to drag down
again.To improve on the operation, doctors began lifting the front
edge when they made the initial incision in a patient's forehead.
Doing this, it would change the way the patient healed from the
surgery as well as making it easier to manipulate the skin during
surgery. The skin would reattach in the same way, except it would be
doing so at a higher point than it had been previously, thus
eliminating the eventual dragging that ruined the earlier forms of the
operation. During this time it was also realized that surgeons needed
to pull the skin completely away from the underlying tissues to
achieve a more permanent and impressive result.Today, the procedure
known as the face lift is more technologically advanced than ever
before, and a good surgeon can get results that can only be termed
miraculous. Some people; prior to having work done, wonder how long
the effects will last. The question is not an easy one to answer. A
person who has had the surgery will continue to experience the effects
of aging after the process. But they will have an extra ten years
(appearance-wise) that they didn't have before. So someone who had the
surgery at 50 may look 40 after the operation, and 50 when they are
60. Of course, results will vary from person to person.As always, if
an individuals chooses to undergo the face lift procedure, they should
do their research beforehand to make sure it is the right thing for
them. Being prepared and having the rights questions is a fail-safe
way to ensure the best results from any type of surgery.