Luxxery of Washington D.C. and Waldorf
Liquid Face-lift

Aging often causes a hollow, sunken, deflated appearance typically around the lower & upper eyelids, cheeks, temples and lips. A liquid facelift is a refined technique to lift and contour sagging facial features while also reducing wrinkles. Dermal fillers have become more popular than ever in the world of cosmetic surgery, prompting me to revisit the subject of Liquid Face-lift.
A liquid facelift is achieved by using a combination of advanced fillers and toxins products.  Today's hottest hyluronic acid based injectable products include Juvederm™, Restylane® Perlane®, and most recently introduced, Belotero®. Radiesse® and Sculptra are non hyluronic based semi-permanent fillers.  The three FDA approved injectable toxins used in Liquid Face-Lifts are: BOTOX®, Dysport® and Xeomin®. Fillers help reduce wrinkles and restore volume in the face, lips, mid-cheeks and marionette lines, yielding an overall youthful result. Toxins on the other hand add a borrowed lifting and tightening effect to the skin. Injecting overactive muscles with minute quantities of botulinum toxin type-A would result in decreased muscle activity.  This will effectively weaken the muscle for a period of three to four months thereby preventing the development of wrinkles.

Why a liquid Facelift?
A liquid facelift is a non-surgical approach to facial rejuvenation using dermal fillers and injectable toxins.
Unlike surgeries, liquid facelifts generate immediate results leaving the patient with instant gratification. The key to a successful liquid facelift is the artistic skill and extensive experience of the administering plastic surgeon. A syringe or two of the preferred filler can smoothen deep facial lines and folds and improve the appearance of sagging facial features. Fillers are used in males and females to augment cheekbones, lift the eyebrow pallet and plump up the lips. A liquid facelift can enhance and mold a patient’s features. Restoring lost facial volume by strengthening your jaw line and filling your laugh lines are only a few common ways to resurface a newer, younger, you.

Why not a surgical facelift?
A liquid facelift is a popular alternative to the surgical facelift method and allows the patient who is hesitant about the surgical option to temporarily see the changes that will be permanently corrected with surgery.
While a surgical facelift alone is an all-encompassing procedure that can lift the sagging skin and improve the large hanging bags under the eyes and jowls, it cannot solve the loss of fat or volume in the face. A facelift is an invasive surgical procedure requiring surgical intervention. Another advantage of a liquid facelift over facelift surgery is that that it is nonsurgical, with little or no downtime.

How long is the procedure?
A patient undergoing a liquid facelift can be in-and-out of the surgeon’s office in about an hour looking and feeling rejuvenated. Fillers are prepared in prefilled, disposable syringes. Today, most filler are dispensed with numbing agents to ensure a pain-free procedure. Dermal fillers will last for one to two years depending on the filler used and the area injected.

What is the recovery time?
A liquid facelift requires little or no downtime. A touch-up visit to your surgeon’s office may be needed once the swelling subsides to ensure satisfactory results.

What are the side effects?
Side effects may include some swelling and redness post treatment that can be controlled with the use of ice packs.

What is the cost?
The cost of a liquid facelift depends on the ingredients used in the dermal fillers "cocktail". The unique characteristics of each type of filler suggest that fillers are to be used in their specified areas of the face. The variety of dermal fillers used in a liquid facelift as well as the number of syringes used is a major factor in the cost of the procedure. An average liquid facelift that includes BOTOX or any other injectable toxin ranged from $1500-$3000.

BOTOX® or filler?
BOTOX® is not filler, it is a muscle relaxer. It has the ability to relax the muscles by temporarily disabling the movement of the targeted area underneath the wrinkles. BOTOX injections often eliminate wrinkles but wear off every four months. Although it must be repeated three times a year, BOTOX is a crucial component in the recipe of ingredients for a liquid facelift and works hand-in-hand with the dermal fillers.

Why not Fat Grafting?

A Fat Transfer is a more durable solution for the loss of volume in the face. The procedure is often referred to as “natural facelift". It is a surgical procedure removing fat from one body area and injecting it into the face, offering a very natural and popular alternative to fillers. Injecting fat into the face to look younger has become the more natural and lasting option for patients who face fat loss. Fat transfer merits its own lengthy discussion. The procedure is invasive and more complex. It requires a surgical intervention, IV sedation and more downtime. These are factors to which some patients may not be willing to commit.  While the results of a liquid facelift may last from six months to one-and-a-half year, fat transfer can last up to ten years or even longer.

What is it?

According to the Liquid Face Lift Association, a Liquid Face-Lift is a refined technique to lift and contour sagging facial features with the benefit of wrinkle reduction.  This is done by the use of advanced liquid face lift products such as dermal fillers and BOTOX®.  The dermal fillers include Jevederm™, Radiesse®, Restylane®, and Evolence®,  to name a few. 

The demand for a liquid face lift stems from the fact that it is a welcome alternative to the surgical facelift method due to its safety, affordability and the immediate gratification it provides.  This has spawned a revolutionary approach to erasing deep lines and folds and sagging facial features that age the face.  The liquid face lift option allows the patient who is holding off on the surgical option to restore the youthful volume of their appearance.  Depending on the filler used, your plastic surgeon can lift your brows, plump your lips augment your cheeks and rejuvenate your mid-face.  Dermal fillers can enhance and mold patient’s features to a particular shape, angle and proportion such as flaring a man’s jaw for a more rugged or angular look or filling the nasolabial folds or laugh lines that distract from the shape of the cheeks.

The variety of dermal fillers used in a liquid facelift as well as the unique characteristics of each, makes certain fillers appropriate for certain parts of the face.  While BOTOX® is not a filler but a muscle relaxer, it needs to be repeated every four month on average and has the ability of relaxing the muscle underneath the wrinkles which in the process relaxes and eliminates the wrinkle. Botox is a crucial component in the recipe of ingredients for a liquid facelift. On the other hand, the dermal fillers will last one to two years depending on the filler used and the area injected.

While a surgical facelift is an all encompassing procedure that can lift the sagging skin and improve the large hanging bags under the eyes, eyebrows that hang to hood the eyes, hanging jowls and hanging necks with excess skin, it cannot solve the loss of fat or volume in the face.  Aging also leaves one with a hollow, sunken deflated appearance especially around the lower lids, the cheeks, temples, lips and upper eyelids.  Another pick-me-up for the loss of volume in the face is fat.  Fat injection or fat transfer, where fat is removed from another body area and injected into the face, is a very natural and popular alternative to fillers but merits its own lengthy discussion.  Injecting fat into the face to look younger has become the natural and lasting way to go when the aging factor is fat loss. 

When the aging factor is sun’s harmful rays and photodamage that manifest itself in fine wrinkles and skin that is dull, leathery and saggy another nonsurgical facelift option is via laser treatments such as the new Cutera Titan™ laser.  Titan is particularly useful for creeping skin around the eyes, jaw line and neck area.  This infra-red light based system provides uniform heat distribution and even tightening than other treatments systems such as radiofrequency resulting in more positive results.  The infrared red light heats the areas of the dermis deep below the skin’s surface causing immediate contraction of the collagen while the epidermis, being the external skin surface is kept cool with the laser hand piece.

A laser facelift is often combined with the liquid facelift for immediate tightening of the jowl or lower face area along with Botox and dermal fillers for maximum benefits with minimum downtown.

While it is fair to say that a liquid facelift combined with a laser facelift is a temporarily solution for patients seeking a non surgical option,  a surgical approach to a facelift , performed with fat transfer into the face to restore  loss of volume  remains the gold standard in results and permanency.

So how do you choose when the options seem so endless?

Obviously, the modern day facelift offers so many options with even more procedures on the horizon.  Whether you choose a surgical facelift with fat transfer or a liquid facelift with laser treatments your results will likely be safe and satisfactory.  What you choose depends on how long you want your results to last, what you want to correct and how much you are willing to spend. The best advice would be picking the option that seems to work better for your particular signs of aging and most importantly for your wallet.

View Liquid Face Lift Before and After Photos