Do I Need a Facelift? Or Fillers?

If you have sagging skin on your mid or lower face, deep wrinkles, and other cosmetic facial issues, cosmetic plastic surgery can provide you with many options to get firmer, smoother skin.  But with so many choices, finding the right treatment can be difficult. Many patients first consider a facelift to combat the effects of sagging and wrinkled facial skin, but you may not always need one.

Cosmetic dermal fillers can help treat wrinkles and deep lines, while facelifts are a more comprehensive, surgical approach to cosmetic facial treatment. When thinking about therapy for aesthetic facial issues, keep the following in mind:

Dermal Fillers vary widely in their abilities and there are dozens of trusted brands available to choose from. Fillers are capable of plumping-up loose skin, smoothing out wrinkles around your nose and mouth, and erasing forehead lines and crow’s feet. If your cosmetic problems are less severe, therapy with dermal fillers is a non-invasive way to get rejuvenated skin that’s smoother to the touch. Many dermal fillers even encourage your body to produce more of its own natural collagen, helping you keep your results for up to a year, in some cases.

Facelifts, as you likely know, are a surgical intervention for common signs of aging, such as loose skin in the mid-face, or the appearance of jowls. These more advanced aesthetic issues are best treated by repositioning tissues so they appear firmer and removing excess skin that causes jowls. Facelifts can even address issues of sagging skin on the neck or in front of the ears.

While both facelifts and fillers allow your skin to look smoother, dermal fillers are unable to remove excess skin or correct advanced cases of loosened skin.  Facelifts are typically recommended for patients who are experiencing these comprehensive aesthetic problems, or whose problem areas cannot be effectively targeted with fillers.

The best way to figure out which cosmetic facial procedure is right for you is to talk to a plastic surgeon. After you discuss your goals and concerns, your doctor will help you find treatment that is conservative and achieves the look you had in mind. If you’re wondering whether a facelift or dermal filler therapy is right for you, contact our Lubbock, TX office to speak to Dr. Eric Minns; we can help you design the treatment plan that fits your needs.