Surgery involves cutting the skin, and whenever the skin is cut, you are going to develop a scar. This isn’t actually a complication of surgery: it’s an expected outcome. This means that when you decide to get facelift surgery, you are deciding to get scars.
Facelift surgery attempts to minimize the cosmetic impact of scars, but things don’t always go as planned, and you can end up with big problems for your appearance. Here are some of the potential problems of scars that you should consider before deciding on facelift surgery. If you are unhappy with the risks of scars, considering a nonsurgical facelift instead.
Scars Are Long-Lasting
When you develop a scar, it’s likely to be long-lasting. Scars can last for decades–they can even be permanent. So you need to make sure that you have a good chance that your scars will be concealed.
Before deciding on a plastic surgeon for a facelift procedure, make sure you get a chance to look at pictures of genuine surgery patients that haven’t been edited digitally. If possible, you want to meet with one or two patients to get a look at their scars in person–this is the best way to tell what scars look like after the procedure.
Scars Can Grow out of Place
In general, scars develop exactly where the skin was cut. However, not all scars stay within the boundary of the original injury.
Instead of developing into a thin line of discolored tissue that fades eventually, some scars grow large, puffy, and discolored. They can even grow outside the area where the skin was cut.
These are called keloid scars, and they’re fortunately uncommon. However, we don’t know what causes them, and we can’t prevent them with assurance. Take consolation that keloid scars tend to run in families, so if you don’t have a family history of them, you’re less likely to develop them.
Scars Aren’t Always Where They’re Planned
When you’re considering facelift surgery, your surgeon will tell you where they’re planning to put your facelift scars. However, be prepared: surgery is unpredictable and scars don’t always end up where they’re supposed to be.
Be prepared for a potential scar that might be a lot more visible than you expected.
Ear Deformity
When done properly, a facelift should preserve your face shape. But it doesn’t always. Sometimes you end up with changes in the appearance of your face, which can include ear deformity because of the way that stretched skin is placed over the ear to anchor it.
One of the more common ear deformities is pixied ear, which changes the shape of your earlobe from round to sharp, and fuses your earlobe to you.
Hair Doesn’t Grow
When you skin is damaged, some structures are more likely to have problems recovering than others. One of the structures less likely to recover are the hair follicles. So when incisions are “hidden” in your hair, you might end up with hairless areas that actually make them more visible.
You might end up losing the ability to wear your hair certain ways, and you can sometimes find that your hairline might move dramatically because of bald spots around the incisions.
Can Unbalance the Face
When you look at all the potential scar problems, it’s easy to see how they can make your face look off-balance if things don’t go right. Your hairline could change on one side but not the other. Sideburns are particularly vulnerable, because the incisions are often hidden near them. Surgery can cause an ear deformity on one side, but not the other. Keloid scars might develop unevenly.
When the symmetry of your face gets disrupted, it can dramatically impact the attractiveness of your face after surgery.
A Scar-Free Alternative
There’s no question that there are some situations where a facelift is the best (and possibly only) way to achieve the results you want. But there are many situations where you can achieve the same results without surgery–and that means without scars.
Our nonsurgical facelift approach is one way to get facial rejuvenation without surgery and without scars.And without downtime. To learn whether this approach can help you, please call (248) 656-2020 today for an appointment with a Detroit rejuvenation dentist at Rochester Advanced Dentistry in Rochester, MI.
