We see a trend in our field that people are less and less willing to get side effects from treatment. This trend comes from America, where there is a saying among cosmetic doctors: ” bruise them, you lose them”. Also, time to recover from surgery is limited because people often have busy social lives and in the Netherlands there is still a taboo on cosmetic surgery. This is what makes the field I am currently working in so interesting. In time, we will take over much of the plastic surgery as there are better and better alternatives in this field. A good example of this is the so-called “liquid facelift.”
In the naturally aging face, volume loss occurs to a greater or lesser extent in the tissue (collagen, fatty tissue, etc). A slight shrinkage of the skeleton also occurs. This has the consequence that the skin loses some of its adhesive surface and starts to wrinkle as a result. Volume loss is usually greatest at the cheekbones and cheeks.
In a facelift, this excess skin is removed (tightened), eliminating wrinkles and folds. A disadvantage of this method is that the cause of the wrinkles (the loss of volume) is not restored. Especially in people who already have little support and fatty tissue in the face, this can result in an overly “tightened” effect. In addition, with this method you make the skin thinner, because a smaller piece of skin (a piece was cut away) has to span the same area. Considering thick skin slows aging, this is not desirable.
An alternative is the liquid facelift. No surgery is involved here. Through an injectable, contours are restored, restoring skin tightness. The durability of this operation is currently one year. A nice new development is that these days this procedure is done with cannulas (needle with no sharp point), so the chance of bruising is negligible.
A major advantage of the liquid facelift over the regular facelift is the recovery time. This is 2 days due to possible swelling in the treated area, compared to 2 weeks for a conventional facelift. Finally, the risk of complications is many times lower than with a regular facelift.
So is a liquid facelift always preferable to a regular facelift? No, if there is severe sagging it is better to do a regular facelift, although it is important to restore contouring in people who naturally have little fat and support tissue as well.
Bart Biermans, physician at The Body Clinic
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