Dr. Lindsey's Newsletter #37: The Modern Facelift

The Modern Facelift

I promised to discuss my approach to the facelift and then nearly instantly regretted it. Why? Because plastic surgery is a field full of surgeon artists that are often dogmatic in their approach to technique. Plastic surgery is unique in that surgeons are artists as well. Each surgeon has their own aesthetic, varying levels of attention to detail, and surgical aptitude that were developed from training, experience, and natural born talent. Much like most artists I fear the judgment, even if silent, from other artists in my community. I fear judgment from each of my mentors if I do not choose their technique as my supreme technique. I have spent an extraordinary amount of time in plastic surgery conferences where surgeons critique one another for their planning and execution of surgery. This is a fantastic exercise that has helped build the surgeon that I am, similar to iron sharpening iron. But there is always a dark side, and the dark side of the plastic surgery community is immense criticism from peers when anyone questions their dogma. It feels exposed. I prefer to work in my own quiet atelier of human art, with a supportive team around me that is committed to getting the very best result possible. 

Now enter the consumer. In plastic surgery the patient is most certainly a medical/surgical patient, but they are also a consumer of a luxury good. This further conflates why certain techniques are developed and chosen by a plastic surgeon. Consumers love a brand, they love something predictable and reproducible. They love saying “I had a deep plane facelift with X surgeon”. I say this as an assumption made at the population level. This is based off of my own observations and also my peers both in plastic surgery, and also on the consumer end of plastic surgery. I know there are also many patients who don’t follow trends, buzz words, and don’t care to share what brand of work they had done. There does however exist a prevalent theme towards branding a technique and then claiming superiority of that procedure. As with most things, even tall tales are usually built on a grain of truth. 

Before I tell you my thoughts and approach to facelift technique I want to share with you my background and how I formed my approach. I was trained in the UT Southwestern Plastic Surgery program by the giants of aesthetic surgery. As residents we scrubbed with faculty at UTSW and also in the community all throughout Dallas. Each of these giants had variable approaches to the facelift, and yet each achieved fantastic results. Not only did I train with surgeons locally but I also travelled to other operating rooms and to conferences where live surgery is performed. I have learned facelift techniques from California to New York, down to Miami. The techniques vary and most surgeons are convinced that their technique is truly the “only way” to do a facelift properly. This cannot be true if there are surgeons employing different techniques and achieving consistent results. Through six years of training I came to realize that if I just understood how to evaluate anatomy, the principles of facial aging, and the principles of surgery then my approach could be a little less dogmatic. My approach is adaptive and depends upon the anatomy I am working with, the qualities of the tissues, and the goals of the patient. I have synthesized the knowledge from the greats and I am using their pearls to create an adaptive, meticulous approach to each facelift.

If you are curious about my approach to facelifts after training under and learning from the giants in aesthetic surgery, stay tuned! On Friday we will release a special edition titled:

“5 Key Elements of My Meticulous Approach to Facelifts”

As always, here's to choosing how we age, on our own terms!