Facelift Surgery
A facelift can improve visible signs of aging in the lower face, jawline, and upper neck by repositioning deeper facial tissues and removing excess skin. Every procedure element counts, coming together only when planned around your unique facial anatomy and structure. For patients who want a facelift in Salt Lake City and Saint George, Dr. Patel is the top-tier choice. As a leading facial plastic surgeon and eminent figure in his field, Dr. Patel offers facial surgery backed by research, experience, and compassion.
What is a Facelift?
A facelift, or rhytidectomy, is a surgical procedure for improving signs of aging in the lower face. It is often mistaken for simply tightening the skin. Though this is a surgical component, a modern facelift relies on repositioning the deeper support layers of the face. This multilayer approach restores facial structure more naturally, providing results that include:
- Reduced facial sagging
Improved transition between cheeks, jawline, and upper neck - More defined jawline
- Improved facial contours
- Reduced jowling
- Smoothed lines between nose and mouth
Our Priorities:
- Natural-looking results through deep facial tissue structural support
- Careful incision planning to minimize scarring
- Conservative approach to all tissue adjustments
- Attentive patient follow-up to track recovery and reduce complication risk
The “Patel Facelift” was designed to improve the laxity of the face, restore the fullness of the face, improve the folds, lines, grooves and jawline. The money is always in the jawline and the neck and we strive to improve the jawline and the neck so that it often looks even better than when the patient was more than 20 years younger!
You Fixed a Broken Me - Without Changing Who I Am
Salt Lake City, UT
Dear Dr. Patel,”I put my trust in your hands and I could not be more pleased. You fixed a broken me. I am still just me and I’m looking out from the inside. You’ve made the view much nicer for those on the outside that have to look at me!
I’ve had two people that I know casually through doing business say they didn’t recognize me and took a double look. I didn’t say a word.😂
My nephew today said, “what have you done to your skin? It looks great!” I told him. Then showed the pics. My hubby shows the pics to his patients if the topic comes up.
I’m just so happy with the results. I didn’t want to look like someone who had plastic surgery with big cheeks and protruding lips. I saw some ladies just like that at the parade of homes just days before my surgery and I got scared. That was totally wasted fear and worry!Now I just need a butt and I’ll look decent coming and going 😂!
To say “thank you” just isn’t enough.
But THANK YOU 😘
C.P
Expert Advice: Combination Procedures
Facelift surgery is often best optimized when part of a broader facial rejuvenation plan. Unfortunately, facial aging generally does not occur in one isolated area. As such, patients may benefit from combining a facelift with procedures such as a neck lift, eyelid surgery, brow lift, facial fat grafting, laser resurfacing, or skin tightening.
Treatment Options Lower Third aging (pink Area)
Am I a Candidate for a Facelift?
Dr. Patel has designed a very reliable way of showing you exactly the result you will get with a facelift. Over innumerable cases, this technique has been successful in predicting results much more accurately than what we used to use before: computer graphics. The trouble with computer graphics was that we were changing the appearance in two dimensions, whilst with the method we will show you, you can assess the results you can expect in three dimensions.
Can I have a mini-lift (mini-facelift)?
A mini-facelift has been called many names, including “short scar facelift, swift lift, quick lift, weekend lift, small-scar facelift, overnight lift” and many others. The aim was to perform quicker surgery with quicker healing time, but with results that are inferior to those of a properly performed facelift, which also includes a necklift. These mini-facelifts are reasonable as long as the patient realizes that the degree of improvement is not as amazing as that seen with a proper facelift. If you have moderate aging changes, this may be appropriate for you but we would examine you and show you exactly what sort of result you would get.
When Expertise Replaces Fear - and Delivers Miraculous Results
Salt Lake City, UT
I have spent time today reviewing your point-by-point description of everything you did for me and how you did it; I referred to the before and after photos countless times. I am in absolute awe. Your facelift results are nothing short of miraculous. You are absolutely correct, If you had told me what you intended to do, I would have most likely taken a pass from being confused and fearful of the results. You have a gift.
Your skills are beyond my comprehension. You have taken a woman, me, who had spent the better part of 15 years being injected with Juvederm to ward off my hereditary jowls, then the signs of aging. I had gotten to a point, that there was not enough Juvederm to keep up with my aging process. I had resigned myself to forever having my Grandmother’s jowls. I became discouraged. Though I loved Grandma dearly, I did not love her jowls. I also never realized I had such a gobble neck not seeing myself in 3-D on a regular basis. Then I discovered your gifts through Marlene. Though I had always said I would never, ever get a face lift due to fear of a possible adverse outcome, the joy and confidence, plus the fabulous results from Marlene sealed the deal.
I can’t even begin to tell you how very pleased and joyful I am by my results thus far and I know they will only improve with time. Thank you for doing such an amazing job for me and on me!
Toni J
Facelift: Full Overview
Individualized Patient Assessment
Every facelift consultation begins with a detailed evaluation by Dr. Patel himself. He carefully assesses factors like facial structure, skin quality, aging pattern, and patient goals to determine the optimal approach.
Evaluation may include:
- Degree of lower facial laxity
- Presence and severity of jowls
- Jawline definition
- Upper neck skin laxity
- Cheek descent and midface volume loss
- Skin thickness, elasticity, and sun damage
- Facial symmetry and natural facial proportions
- Patient medical history
How Is A facelift performed?
- Anesthesia: General anesthesia is best for facelifts due to the length of the surgery. However, in some instances, sedation anesthesia may be used instead.
- Incisions: Dr. Patel places incisions around the ear. They may extend into the hairline, depending on the technique used and the amount of correction needed.
- Adjustments: Deeper facial tissues are lifted and repositioned. Excess skin is carefully removed. Precision care involves avoiding placing unnecessary tension on the skin.
- Conclusion: Incisions are carefully closed to support excellent healing. After resting in the recovery room for a time, you can return home the same day.
Downtime, Recovery, & Results
- Downtime: We recommend arranging for up to 2 weeks of time away from work. While downtime lasts 1–2 weeks on average, times can vary depending on health, age, and procedure details.
- Recovery: Bruising, swelling, and some pain are all normal following a facelift. Pain is typically mild enough to manage with over-the-counter pain relievers. As for bruising and swelling, these typically resolve within a few weeks.
- Results: Results become more visible as your swelling and bruising fade. Initial results are clear around the second week. Beyond this, expect continued subtle improvements until your final results settle around 3 to 6 months later.
- We avoid using quick-and-easy procedures which are promoted by volume surgeons and organizations: be wary of aggressive capitalism. This gives them a standard result so they can move on to the next person.
- We analyze the whole face and neck and aim for harmony as people don’t look only at your neck or cheeks.
- With advanced training and detailed knowledge of aging, anatomy and physiology, we are much better able to address said changes with a view to a congruous outcome that lasts.
- The skin is what everyone immediately sees: it is impossible to hide blemishes, deeper wrinkles, sun-spots, age-related discolorations, broken veins, large pores with make-up. We pay particular attention to getting the skin to look its best.
- If necessary, the face and neck are broken up into thirds so you understand if the improvement is best broken up into two separate treatments. This reduces your anaesthesia time for any given procedure and also allows us to give you the best results as explained on the “Facial Aging” page.
- We combine the use of fat grafts, tissue repositioning, volume augmentation, fat repositioning and removal where appropriate, proper tissue transfers, avoidance of pull-lines and three-dimensional tissue relationship positioning to give us results seen on this and other pages of our patients.
Facelift Review
Las Vegas, Nevada
Dr. Patel fixed my botched facelift which I had done three times by other surgeons. Nobody would help me with the botched surgery. I finally found Dr. Patel thanks to a hairdresser! I have put my photos up on the web to show what an amazing job he did fixing me.
D. Jenks
I had a facelift done by someone but I have problems and I am not entirely happy with my results. What can I do?
We see patients for second, third and fourth opinions all the time. Many changes after a facelift can be improved as seen in the photographs below and also on our “Complications” page. These changes can include inadequate improvement, unacceptable scars, ear lobes pulled forwards, loss of projection of ear lobes, weak jawlines, loose necks, pull lines (also called “kite lines”, asymmetry, irregularities, and many other changes. We will be happy to see you and assess you and advise you.
Correction of a facelift and necklift to give a better jawline and neck
Correction of a face and necklift and lower eyelids to give a better definition to the jaw, improve the neck and make the eyelids look more youthful
What about long-term results of a facelift and necklift?
The aging process, whilst different in different people, is largely determined by genetics, lifestyle, sun exposure, diet, health, skin care and skin protection, and a few other factors. Whilst one cannot achieve the shangri-la of arresting aging, properly performed facelifts and neck lifts when combined with appropriate fat grafting, use of lasers, augmentation of lips and chins, recreating age-appropriate fullness of cheeks, treatment of “smokers’ lines” around the lips, correcting the downward turn of aging mouths and lips and a few other factors can yield very pleasing reliable long-term results as seen in this patient 8 years after such surgery.
Simple protection of the skin and maintenance yields gratifying results in the long term.
What kind of results can I expect after a Facelift? I don’t want the “pulled look”.
We see patients who come to see us for a second or third opinion because they got a “pulled look” after a facelift. There are many causes of this, including just tightening the skin, limiting the incisions to such a degree that too much tension is taken up by very limited areas of the skin, failure to address the other aging changes which would give a more three-dimensional result, and failure to address the fat and deeper structures. For this reason, we don’t perform any formulaic procedures but base the procedures on the needs of each patient. In this fashion, we get an improvement which is often described by our patients as “natural”,“rejuvenating”and “youthful”. We love hearing our patients say “I love my new face.”The “money” is in designing a beautiful neck and even more gorgeous jawline:
Frequently Asked Questions
Where will my surgery be performed?
Facelifts are performed in an operating theatre for the sake of sterility and your comfort. We have a team of anesthesiologists and nurses who are trained to specifically look after patients undergoing these procedures.
What kind of anesthesia will be used?
General anesthesia is best for facelifts, although in some instances, sedation anesthesia may also be used.
What kind of sutures are used?
With a 3-D procedure, there are several layer of sutures, accurately placed to give the lifting, tightening and filling, without leaving any tell-tale pull-lines. Some are slow dissolving sutures, others are more permanent. The skin sutures are generally removed between 7 and 14 days.
Do you use lasers for this surgery?
Lasers will be used to treat peri-oral lines, “sleep lines” on the cheeks and other skin irregularities. The advantage of using all the skills and modalities available to us, rather than performing quick or weekend or one-hour facelifts is that it allows us to give you a remarkable improvement not only in the structure and appearance of the face, but also the health and smoothness of the skin as seen here:
How long does the surgery take?
Facelift surgery can take between 3 and 5 hours of surgery time, depending upon the planned procedures, patient’s face-type, age and other factors.
How much bruising and swelling will I have?
Bruising around the jawline and upper neck is common for the first two weeks. The face itself usually will not get much bruising, but may be pink from any laser work. Swelling is to be expected because of the extent of the surgery: the swelling abates over about two weeks.
Does insurance cover facelifts?
Only if insurance will buy you a Rolls Royce (Phantom, of course).
How painful is a Facelift?
Anesthesia ensures the surgery itself is pain free. While pain is expected after surgery, most patients report it being surprisingly mild. Our patients average out to giving the pain a 3 or 5 out of 10, with medication dropping it further. The mildness of the pain is tied to how well your surgeon performed. Ideally, a facelift is about repositioning tissues rather than eliminating them.
Are there any restrictions and when may I return to work?
We will provide you with a special neck dressing which you will wear as much as you can for the first couple of weeks. You will also apply a moisturizer (any brand will do) to the face as healing skin and lasered skin requires moisturizer. Icing the face also helps for the first two to three days. Many of our patients will ice the face for longer as it feels good. You may be up-and-about the day after surgery. Gentle exercise (treadmill and stationary bicycle) may be commenced by day 3. More vigorous exercise like skiing and tennis may be resumed by about day 10.
Should I lose weight before my facelift?
Ideally, you should be within about 3 – 5 pounds of your desired weight. Whereas I can create the most beautiful angles and curves in slim patients, if you are able to get close to your ideal weight, we can wonders as can be seen in this patient who lost some weight before her surgery and is absolutely chuffed at her result:
What are the most common risks of Facelifts?
Bruising and swelling are de rigeur! However, significant long-lasting complications are rare. Bleeding is not common as we pay close attention to proper hemostasis. On rare occasions, a small hematoma may collect.
Everyone will experience some numbness in the face: this resolves over weeks to months. This occurs because of the dissection of the face. This is not a complication. Because of the dissection and repositioning of the tissues, it is common for there to be small differences in the smile between the right and left sides: this is usually only noticeable to the patient and to Dr. Patel! It recovers over a few weeks.
All faces have asymmetry and there will be some degree of asymmetry. This is to be expected. Permanent weakness of nerves and muscles is rare. The scars are usually very well hidden. However, some patients may have a tendency to cause hypertrophic scarring: in such cases, certain lasers and treatments will help. By-and-large, scars are rarely a problem. With Caucasian skin, pinkness of scars is to be expected for several weeks. With darker skin, some hyperpigmentation may occur.
