The lifestyle lift is a cosmetic surgical procedure to tighten the skin of the face to make the person appear younger. The surgery is performed by a facial plastic surgeon. According to the creators of the lifestyle lift, the operation differs from a regular facelift in that it requires a smaller incision, less tissue dissection and only takes approximately 1 hour. Physicians refer to the procedure as a lifestyle lift because the operation is small and quick enough to fit into a busy person's lifestyle.
Hematoma
Any operation that requires a skin incision causes bleeding. During a lifestyle lift, the surgeon creates a dissection plane under the skin. If the patient develops bleeding after the operation, the blood can collect in that dissected space, creating a blood collection known as a hematoma. According to the book "Surgery" by Josef Fischer, hematomas can prevent proper wound healing and predispose the patient to unsightly scars and wound infections.
Infection
A lifestyle lift can be complicated by a wound infection. As the surgeon makes the incision, he breaks the natural skin barrier that protects the inside of the body from the bacteria on the skin. According to the book "Head and Neck Surgery---Otolaryngology" by Byron Bailey, signs of a wound infection after a facelift include swelling, fever and redness around the incision.
Scar
The incisions that surgeons create when doing a lifestyle lift can leave scars. In most cases, the scars are small and well hidden. According to the Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Internal Medicine, a small percentage of people have a tendency to form severe scars, called keloids, and those people can develop poor cosmetic results after their lifestyle lift.
Poor cosmetic result
Not every patient can be completely satisfied with her surgical result. An unsatisfactory cosmetic result can be common with lifestyle lift procedures because the surgeon is limited by the small amount of dissection and short time period provided by the operation. According to the book "Head and Neck Surgery---Otolaryngology," a regular facelift allows the surgeon to do far more to make the facelift patient look younger.
References
- Lifestyle Lift
- "Surgery"; Josef Fischer; 2006
- "Head and Neck Surgery---Otolaryngology"; Byron Bailey; 2006
- "Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Internal Medicine"; Marc Sabatine; 2007
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