The term rhytidectomy is derived from rhytis, the Greek word for wrinkles. It means excision of wrinkles, and occurs as people age. They cannot really be avoided and are usually caused by the effects of gravity, exposure to weather, the loss of elasticity in your skin, and stress. Usually they appear as creases between the nose and mouth. The jaw line also grows slack and folds and fat deposits appear around the neck. While a face lift can’t stop this aging process, it can improve the most visible signs of aging by removing excess fat, tightening underlying muscles, and redraping the skin of your face and neck.

A face lift cannot correct some problems, but if sagging skin, wrinkles, and jowls have started to appear around your middle and lower face, then a face lift can probably help you. The amount it can help depends on how much wrinkling and sagging is present. If the signs of aging are minimal, then improvement from a rhytidectomy may be subtle. If the wrinkling and sagging is significant, then the results can be quite dramatic.

Factors such as good physical health, realistic expectations, and costs need to be taken into consideration. We suggest that if you are loosing a considerable amount of weight, you have the face lift after your weight loss.

The best candidates for a face lift are those whose face and neck have begun to sag, but whose skin still has some elasticity and whose bone structure is strong and well defined. Most patients are in their forties to sixties, but facelifts can also be done successfully on people in their seventies or eighties