Facelift problem corrections

We have all seen “facelifts gone bad” on television. Fortunately these problems are rare. One of the biggest fears of prospective facelift patients is having an “operated,” “wind tunnel” or other unnatural look. Every facelift patient will say “I don’t want to look like Joan Rivers”.

Although the best doctors can have complications, most unnatural facelifts are usually the result of improper technique. When the proper procedure is performed on the proper patient an unnatural look is uncommon.

The following patients were NOT operated on by Dr. Niamtu.

Pixie Ear Lobes

The picture on the left shows a “Pixie Earlobe". This is frequently from improper facelift technique and is unfortunately an all too common complication with some surgeons. This results from “hanging the cheek or neck skin on the earlobe”. This happens if too much tension is placed on the earlobe or from improper surgical planning.

This deformity can be corrected and the Pixie Ear Lobes pictures on the right show patients whose procedure was done elsewhere and was corrected by Dr. Niamtu.

These patients presented from other surgeons with pixie earlobes from a previous facelift. Dr. Niamtu corrected the pixie earlobes and revised the facelift.

Scar Problems

The picture on the right shows a patient done by another doctor that resulted in poor facelift scars. This type of scarring is usually due to removing too much skin or closing the incision with tension on the tissues. This type of scarring can usually be corrected or improved.

Hairline Problems

"Hairline Problems." Very careful planning and attention must be paid to the hairline. Failure to do so can cause significant deformities or tell tale signs of a poor facelift. Dr. Niamtu uses carefully designed incision techniques to prevent the loss or movement of the sideburn or “stepping” of the hairline behind the ear.

This patient on the left has a stepped hairline from lack of attention to detail in the facelift incision behind the ear. Although it is more time consuming, it is usually possible to eliminate or minimize this problem.

The image above shows a normal female sideburn or “temporal hair tuft”. The picture on the right shows an excessively elevated sideburn from another doctor. This type of complication is more difficult to correct, but easy to prevent.

Loss of the temporal hairline can be avoided by modifying the facelift incision to preserve the sideburn area. This is the type of incision used by Dr. Niamtu.

The Wind Tunnel Look

The wind tunnel look or “swept up look” can result from simply having too many facelifts or improper technique. The skin must be pulled in a natural direction to look natural and if this is not done correctly, the existing skin and wrinkles look swept back or up. This is worse in patients with very wrinkled or sun damaged skin. This look is best avoided by careful attention to deep tissue and skin redirection. If patients have excessive wrinkling, simultaneous laser resurfacing can help prevent the “swept up look”.

As stated earlier, any surgeon can have unexpected complications for a variety of reasons. The fact that a surgeon has a complication such as the ones above does not make them a bad doctor, but a pattern of these types of facelift complications would certainly create reservations on the part of a patient. It is always a good idea to see multiple before and after pictures of patients with similar type of aging before choosing a surgeon.

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