eMedicine Specialties > Plastic Surgery > Rhytidectomy

Facelift, Skin Only: Treatment

Author: Jonathan L Kaplan, MD, MPH, Fellow in Plastic Surgery, Cleveland Clinic
Coauthor(s): Dean Fardo, MD, Associate Staff, Department of Plastic Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Foundation; Gregory A Buford, MD, FACS, Medical Director, Body by Buford; Randall Yetman, MD, Head, Section of Plastic Surgery of the Breast, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Foundation; James E Zins, MD, Chairman, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Contributor Information and Disclosures

Updated: Feb 19, 2008

Treatment

Preoperative Details

As in most procedures, a complete history and physical examination are the initial steps in the preoperative evaluation of the cosmetic plastic surgery patient. Patients for elective surgery ideally should be medically healthy or cleared for surgery by their internists or other specialists as required. Of great importance, hypertension must be controlled prior to surgery to minimize the possibility of untoward bleeding.

Preoperative medications, including vitamins and herbal supplements, need to be reviewed. Those that have a negative effect on bleeding or healing need to be discontinued prior to surgery. Patients often are unaware that herbal supplements may cause unwanted bleeding, thus a specific inquiry into their use should be elicited.¹⁰ Aspirin products must be stopped 2 weeks before surgery since aspirin irreversibly inhibits cyclooxygenase, thus affects the platelets for their entire lifespan (approximately 10-14 d). Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are also best avoided for at least a week prior to the procedure. While the medications listed above should be stopped preoperatively, others should be started. Because of the relatively decreased vascular supply to the subcutaneous skin flap, the health of the flap should be optimized preoperatively. Also, fine lines associated with aging in the perioral region may not be treated with a facelift. For these reasons, hydroquinone and retin A creamcan be applied to improve skin quality and treat fine wrinkles in areas of skin that are not undermined.¹¹

Informed consent also is required so that the patient understands the risks of surgery as well as the improvement that can be obtained. Other patients' preoperative and postoperative photographs may be helpful in that regard. However, care must be taken to avoid giving the patient an implied guarantee of results.

Intraoperative Details

The technical details of the procedure may vary depending on the surgeon but certain steps are consistent among many surgeons.^12,13,14,15

• A skin-only facelift can be performed either as an outpatient procedure or with an overnight stay. Similarly, either intravenous (IV) sedation or general anesthesia can be used.
• After a sterile preparation and drape, mark the proposed skin incisions. Inject an appropriate of lidocaine with epinephrine into the subcutaneous tissues. One way to avoid using dangerous amounts of either lidocaine or epinephrine is to use 0.5% lidocaine with 1:200,000 epinephrine at the incision sites and then use 0.25% lidocaine with 1:400,000 epinephrine for injection into the cheek and postauricular regions.The dose for lidocaine ranges from 3.5mg/kg of body weight(without epinephrine) to  7mg/kg of body weight with epinephrine.It is important to remember that in an elderly population ,epinephrine is is not without its risks.The total dose of epinephrine injected should be also be carefully monitored and tailored appropriately to the patients condition.Waiting at least 10 minutes for the hemostatic effects of the epinephrine is advised.
• Make the incisions with a scalpel and then initiate flap dissection with either the scalpel or dissecting scissors. In the postauricular region, take care to avoid injury to the great auricular nerve, which usually crosses the sternocleidomastoid muscle approximately 6.5 cm below the external auditory canal.¹⁶
• Dissection in the posterior neck continues anterior and superficial to the platysma muscle. A submental incision often is used to undermine the neck skin and treat platysmal banding if present. Carry out subcutaneous dissection in the cheek only to the extent of where the excess laxity is present. The recent trend has been for a more aggressive undermining of skin; however, use a less aggressive approach in patients who smoke. As one dissects further medially, the chance that insufficient blood flow may lead to skin slough or poor healing is increased.
• When the skin undermining is complete, meticulous hemostasis must be assured. At this point, having the patient's blood pressure at the normal preoperative level is helpful. Otherwise, a factitiously low intraoperative blood pressure may fool the surgeon into thinking that hemostasis has been obtained. In this situation, a return of the patient's normal blood pressure may lead to hematoma formation in the postoperative period.
• The direction of vector pull for the undermined skin then must be decided. Typically, the cheek skin is pulled laterally and superiorly so that the skin originally over the tragus is elevated to the superior helical rim. While in the postauricular region, a more vertical upward vector is used. Tacking sutures at two points holds the flaps in correct position so that the excess skin then can be excised carefully. Removing more skin produces a tighter pull but this is at the expense of increased tension on the closure. Minimize tension at the closure site to help prevent excessive or widened scars. Also, earlobe deformities are more common when tension is applied at the inferior lobe.
• Drains, if used, may decrease postoperative swelling or seroma formation. Carefully undertake closure of the skin in layers. If a posttragal incision was used, also perform defatting of the new tragal skin and tragal reformation. In males, individually cauterizing hair follicles of the new tragal skin may be required. This helps prevent beard growth that was previously on the cheek from growing in an unnatural location over the tragus. Even with this maneuver, other depilatory techniques may be required later.
• Apply Xeroform strips or ointment to the incision site and apply a very loose dressing. Do not use a pressure dressing in an attempt to prevent hematoma, since pressure on the skin flaps may have undesirable consequences.

Postoperative Details

• Patients who have undergone facelifts require close observation in the postoperative period. Before leaving the operating room, inspect the dressing to ensure that no undue compression is placed on the skin flaps. An overly tight dressing should not take the place of meticulous hemostasis. The patient's blood pressure also is maintained within that patient's normal range.
• The patient's head is elevated to minimize edema but no ice is used on the skin flaps. Appropriate pain control can minimize the chance of a hypertensive episode that is related to patient discomfort. Nausea and emesis also must be avoided since this can cause an increase in bleeding or swelling.
• Preferably, a nurse monitors the patient overnight but the patient also can be monitored at home by a responsible adult.
• Checking on the patient in the early postoperative period can detect early hematoma or skin ischemia problems. Furthermore, early evacuation of a hematoma may prevent secondary skin flap ischemia or infection. If flap ischemia is detected early, then releasing a few of the skin sutures may limit the skin slough. Allowing a small portion of the wound to heal by secondary intention is usually preferable to a large skin slough.
• On postoperative day 1, the dressing and drains, if present, usually are removed. Instruct the patient on basic wound care and limiting activity for the next few days. Early follow-up care is optimal for ensuring that no complications are developing.
• Sutures usually can be removed in 4-6 days in non–hair-bearing regions and in 7-10 days elsewhere. Also give patients reassurance that the swelling and bruising may take several weeks to fully subside.

Follow-up

Follow-up protocols vary, depending on the patient and amount of surgery performed. Generally, follow-up visits are scheduled at 1 day, 1 week, 3 weeks, 3 months, and then yearly. However, that schedule is adjusted according to the patient's needs. Patients who experienced complications should be seen more frequently.

Complications

Although usually a complication-free procedure, as in any surgery, problems can arise. Numerous studies have examined the complication rate after facelift surgery. As expected, the complication rate varies with the surgeon involved and the type of facelift performed.

In 1994, Rees et al examined 50 surgeons' experiences with 1236 consecutive facelifts.¹⁷ The hematoma rate varied from 0-3.83%. All occurred within the first 48 hours after surgery. In this study, preoperative hypertension was associated with a higher hematoma rate, as was a below-normal intraoperative blood pressure that later rebounded to normal after the surgery.

Men generally have twice the incidence of hematomas after facelift surgery as women (8% vs 4%). This is believed to be due partly to the  increased blood supply to the beard area in men. In 2004, Jones and Grover examined 910 patients in an attempt to see what factors may contribute to an increased risk of hematoma.¹⁸

Those considering a facelift procedure should have stable and controlled blood pressure preoperatively. A long list of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, herbal medicines, and food supplements may adversely affect the coagulation cascade. These substances must be avoided, usually for 10-14 days prior to surgery. Having a patient's blood pressure at near-normal levels prior to the skin closure may limit this problem.

Skin slough, or partial flap loss, is another possible complication. It most often occurs in the postauricular region and often is associated with hematoma, infection, or excessive tension on the closure. In 1994, Duffy and Friedland examined 750 patients who had undergone subcutaneous facelift procedures and found a 0.5% incidence of skin slough. However, approximately 1% seems to be average.

Flap loss in patients who smoke is likely higher due to the negative effects nicotine has on platelets and the microcirculation.^{19,20,21,22,23} Riefkohl in 1986 also correlated cigarette smoking with a greater incidence of skin slough in patients undergoing rhytidectomy.²⁴ Patients ideally should refrain from smoking 3 weeks before surgery and 2 weeks after the operation. In those who smoke, the amount of undermining of the skin is usually less aggressive to help minimize the possibility of skin healing problems.

Another possible risk factor for skin slough is prior acne scarring. The subdermal scar associated with acne may compromise blood flow to portions of the flap. Good judgment by the surgeon is required in these situations to determine the amount of undermining that can be performed safely.

Facial nerve injury is a dreaded but possible complication. Fortunately, it is rare. A subcutaneous facelift that does not violate the SMAS or platysma poses less of a chance for this complication. Robbins found 0 palsies in 226 subcutaneous facelifts,²⁵ while Duffy and Friedland found 0.5% in 750 patients.²⁶ The buccal branch is the most commonly injured facial nerve branch but it may not always be recognized or clinically significant given the considerable overlap it shares from other branches. In contrast, the marginal mandibular and temporal branches may have little or no cross innervation, and injury to these branches is much more noticeable and problematic. Certainly, a meticulous dissection and a thorough knowledge of anatomy can greatly minimize the possibility of a facial nerve injury in a patient who has undergone subcutaneous facelift.

Overall, the most commonly injured nerve after a facelift is the great auricular nerve.²⁷ This can produce sensory disturbances in the ear or posterior auricular region and can be quite a nuisance to patients. Again, knowledge of where the nerve is in danger should be able to minimize this complication.

Although very rare, two of the most dreaded complications are deep venous thrombosis and/or pulmonary embolism. Both have occurred after facelifts and they have the potential to be very serious or even fatal. Patients undergoing facelifts are at modest risk of blood clots given their usually older age (>40 y) and the length of the procedure. General anesthesia also can increase the risk. Therefore, appropriate precautions are recommended to minimize risk. These include the use of pneumatic compression devices or low-dose subcutaneous heparin treatment before surgery.

Minor problems after facelift occur but fortunately are rare, and each should have an occurrence of less than 1-3%.²⁸ These include infection, alopecia, hypertrophic scars, earlobe deformities, prolonged edema, and hairline contour irregularities. Careful preoperative planning, attention to detail, and minimal skin closure tension should minimize the possibility of each occurrence. These are considered finesse issues and the surgeon's experience and careful preoperative planning and technique can minimize these problems.

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