The Liquid Facelift: there’s a sucker born every minute!

P.T. Barnum, the great circus promoter is frequently quoted as saying “there is a sucker born every minute”.  I am sure he would be quite amused by the new amazing miraculous “Liquid Facelift”!

In this day and age, the best way to promote one’s agenda is to “invent” a really sexy sounding facelift.  First you need an unusual name so the media can key in on it and it will make patients think it is new.  Next, you need to make it sound like it is some new “miracle” that has displaced previous technology.  Finally, you need to make it sound really desirable.  The best way to do this is to tell people that it is non surgical and has little or no recovery.  If someone can put these three things together and find someone in the media to promote it, they will frequently get their 15 minutes of fame.  In the best case scenario the entire hype concept will really take off and the “miracle procedure” will fill the appointment book of the promoting doctor and he or she will frequently franchise their technique to teach other doctors this gift to humanity.  It all goes great guns……………..until…………..well until the other doctors, the public and the media find out four things.

1.  It is really not a new technique, only a hyped repackaged version of procedures that have been around for decades.
2. It is very expensive; it has more recovery that promoted.
3. It is really not a facelift and the results in the average patient are disappointing
4. It doesn’t work.

When all of these factors fall into place, and they always do, many patients are left disappointed and with skinny wallets in the wake of disappointment. 

We have seen this many, many times!  Do names like the Contour Thread Lift, Thermage, The Life Style Lift sound familiar?  I am not sure which is sadder, the fact that so many doctors try to make something out of nothing for personal gain or publicity or the fact that the poor public is so gullible and easily parted from their hard earned cash.  To me, this is much like the weight loss or diet industry.  It is a well established fact based on science and physiology that if you restrict caloric input and exercise you will lose weight.  That simple, no magic!  Yet as I was typing this blog, a commercial came across about the Cookie Diet.   All you have to do is eat these yummy cookies and the weight will fall off!  Please! This should be illegal, but I am sure thousands of gullible people will try the cookie diet and that it will soon fade into obscurity that the thousand diets before.  Will the public ever learn?  If it sounds too good to be true, is it true?

Back to the liquid facelift.  What this procedure really is, is filler injection.  Yep, filler injection, Restylane, Juvederm, the same stuff that thousands of docs do every day.  The liquid facelift is nothing more than a mega filler injection session.  Instead of just filler in the lips or smile lines, it goes in the midface, the jowls, and other place.  Nothing new as most of us that inject filler inject it in these areas when requested.  So, please consider several things.

1. The liquid facelift is not a facelift.
2. The liquid facelift is filler injection.
3. Fillers laser up to a year in the best scenario.
4. Fillers are extremely expensive and a liquid facelift can use up $5-8,000 of filler in 20 minutes.
5. Most people that need a facelift have excess skin and loose muscle.  The liquid facelift does not tighten the skin or muscle; it just fills up hollow spaces.  This is fine, but is it worth it for a year of looking better.
6. A facelift can last 10-20 years, and yes, it required surgery and 2 weeks of recovery.  So what, if you want a real facelift with real facelift results, have a real facelift.
7. All the filler in the world won’t tighten up turkey gobbler skin on the under the chin and under the neck.

Is there anything good about the liquid facelift?  Sure, fillers are great and even though I do almost 100 facelifts a year, I am one of the busiest filler injectors in my state.  Fillers are great, but they are not a facelift and should never be used in conjunction with the word “facelift”.

If P.T. Barnum were still alive and if he was a doctor, I bet he would be a big proponent of the liquid facelift.

To find out more about Dr. Niamtu or cosmetic facial surgery in Richmond, Virginia, visit www.lovethatface.com.

Joe Niamtu, III DMD

Cosmetic Facial Surgery

Richmond, Virginia

www.lovethatface.com