Liquid Face-lift

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®, Perlane® 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 Before and After Photos