The typical surgical facelift has been replaced over the past few decades by a variety of minimally invasive methods for skin renewal, expanding the scope of aesthetic procedures. These cutting-edge non-surgical methods can produce remarkable effects without the recovery period associated with surgery, helping you regain a rejuvenated, more radiant, and young appearance. They can smooth out lines and wrinkles as well as lift and contour facial features. The majority of these operations can even be done in secret over your lunch break.
In this guide, we find out: Are there any alternatives to a traditional facelift, facetite vs facelift, Is traditional facelift better than deep plane facelift, and What kind of facelift can you get without surgery?
Are there any alternatives to a traditional facelift
At Carolina Facial Plastics in Charlotte, NC, I take pride in providing not only top-quality surgical procedures but also non-surgical treatments to my patients to help them discover the very best version of themselves.
With superior care, expertise, and a fully-accredited facility, my team of expert injectors – Heather Bryant PA-C, Amanda Piligian, PA-C, Courtney Whitley FNP-C – help patients achieve their aesthetic goals to boost their self-confidence and look their best even without surgery. From injectables to a threadlift, we’re sharing the best non-surgical facelift procedures that will turn back the clock on aging.
What is a Non-Surgical Facelift?
A non-surgical facelift refers to a combination of minimally invasive procedures that are designed to rejuvenate and refresh the appearance. Compared to a traditional facelift, these techniques do not require general anesthesia, large incisions, hospitalization, or a lengthy recovery period.
Despite the non-surgical approach, these procedures can still produce significant anti-aging results – addressing anything from lines, wrinkles, lax skin, and deep creases to sunken cheeks, loss of facial volume, facial asymmetries, and lack of jawline definition.
Non-Surgical Facelift Options at Charlotte Plastic Surgery Clinic
The beauty of a non-surgical facelift is that it can be specifically tailored to your unique needs and goals. Each of the following options is safe, effective, and highly customizable, helping you achieve your desired results.
Neuromodulators
A critical component of the non-surgical facelift procedure, neuromodulators provide unmatched wrinkle-smoothing abilities. Botox® Cosmetic, one of the most popular neuromodulators, is often used to smooth frown lines, forehead creases, crow’s feet, and other dynamic wrinkles (lines associated with repetitive expressions).
Neuromodulators contain a specific type of protein that blocks communication between the nerve and the muscle. This muscle relaxation leads to the reduction of muscle movement, resulting in the smoothing of the skin, as well as improvement in the appearance of lines, wrinkles, and furrows. Neuromodulator results last for 3-4 months.
Dermal Fillers
Another key element of a non-surgical facelift is dermal fillers. While neuromodulators target dynamic wrinkles, dermal fillers effectively treat static wrinkles by “filling” the skin to restore lost volume, plump sunken areas, and smooth the skin.
Wrinkles are reduced, facial contours are enhanced, and dark shadows are eliminated, creating a radiant, younger-looking appearance.
These smooth-gel injectables are made of hyaluronic acid (HA), which is already produced and found in the body and is known for its moisturizing and plumping abilities.
Examples of HA fillers are Juvéderm® and Restylane®. We also offer RHA fillers, which are new HA fillers that are effective in treating areas previously only addressed with neuromodulators, such as forehead lines and frown lines.
Other fillers, which can be made from calcium hydroxylapatite, help stimulate natural collagen production and are typically used for deeper lines and wrinkles. HA fillers typically last for 6-12 months, while collagen stimulators such as Sculptra® can last up to two years.
Combining dermal fillers with neuromodulators creates what is often called a “liquid facelift.” Together, these injectables reduce wrinkles, restore lost volume, and rejuvenate the face without a single incision. A provider with a trained aesthetic eye and deep understanding of facial anatomy will perform precise injections to provide the most natural-looking results.
PDO Threadlift
A PDO threadlift is a procedure where dissolvable PDO (polydioxanone) threads are safely inserted underneath the skin to produce a subtle but visible lift. Unlike traditional facelifts that surgically remove excess loose skin, a threadlift uses sutures that are tightened and pulled, suspending sagging areas.
The pulling effect gives the skin a lifted, boosted, and refreshed appearance while encouraging collagen production. It can treat virtually any area in the face and neck – it can lift the cheeks, smooth the appearance of crow’s feet, tighten the neck and jawline, reduce crepey neck skin, and soften the lines around the mouth.
A threadlift is a great procedure for those who are concerned about more than just a wrinkle or two and prefer a more comprehensive lifting and rejuvenating of the face and neck. Perhaps, the face needs more definition or certain areas need more tightening – a threadlift can easily and quickly tackle all of these aging issues, offering patients plenty of benefits with just one procedure. PDO thread lift results last for 6-12 months.
Profound RF
This device combines the stimulating properties of microneedling with gentle heating from the radiofrequency energy to jumpstart collagen production in the deeper dermal tissue.
The procedure creates micro-channels in the skin and then delivers the RF energy deep into those channels where it can have the greatest impact on cellular renewal.
Profound RF treatments are relatively comfortable thanks to the application of a topical numbing cream before the procedure. The treatment takes about one hour to complete and patients can return to regular activities right away.
Results may extend for 3-5 years, depending on how you care for your skin post-treatment.
Laser Resurfacing
Laser resurfacing is a more extensive procedure that involves some downtime afterward but produces the most dramatic skin tightening results without surgery. During a laser resurfacing procedure, we use a single beam of laser energy to precisely remove the outermost layer of dermal tissue, revealing softer, smoother skin underneath.
Removal of the outer layer also triggers a natural healing response by the body, which in turn stimulates cell renewal and collagen production. Depending on the depth of the treatment, patients may need 7-10 days of recovery time. However, the results can be very long-lasting.
Reverse the Signs of Early Aging With a Non-Surgical Facelift in Charlotte
At Carolina Facial Plastics in Charlotte, NC, we focus 100% on cosmetic treatments for the face, and it is this focus that gives us the expertise in facial procedures not found in other plastic surgery clinics. We also don’t employ a one-size-fits-all approach, rather, we are committed to developing customized treatment plans based on your unique needs and goals.
Facetite vs facelift
There’s more than one way to rejuvenate the face. While facelift surgery is a well-known option for turning back facial aging, it isn’t always the best option for every patient. MAE Plastic Surgery also offers non-surgical facial rejuvenation treatments including FaceTite.
How do you choose between facelift surgery and non-surgical FaceTite? A consultation with a board-certified plastic surgeon like Dr. Epstein is always a good place to start. Dr. Epstein can provide personalized advice and recommendations to help you choose the safest and most effective options for your situation. Give us a call at (847) 205-1680 to schedule your visit to MAE Plastic Surgery.
And while you wait for your appointment, we’ll share a few tips to help you narrow your choices.
FaceTite vs. a Facelift
A facelift is the gold standard for facial rejuvenation. This procedure addresses aging on the lower face by tightening skin and supportive facial tissues. A facelift smooths wrinkles, tightens jowls, and targets mid-face sagging. A facelift removes skin and tightens muscle tissues, essentially resetting the appearance of the face. Aging continues, but from a rejuvenated baseline so patients will always look younger after a facelift than they would have without it. A facelift can be paired with other facial surgeries, often without significantly extending downtime.
FaceTite is a skin-tightening and fat removal treatment. It uses radiofrequency technology to liquefy and remove fat and tighten the skin. FaceTite is much less invasive than a facelift. Most patients need very little downtime. Large incisions aren’t needed and most patients have no scarring after this procedure.
Both a facelift and FaceTite can rejuvenate the face, the key to choosing the right procedure for you is to consider your goals and priorities. Do you want to avoid downtime or do you want longer-lasting results? How significant is your aging?
When to Choose FaceTite
FaceTite results can sometimes rival a facelift in the right individual. Choose FaceTite if:
- You need to limit downtime
- You want to avoid surgery
- You have a targeted area or two you want to improve (double chin, jowls, lower face, etc.)
- Your aging is mild or moderate
- You want to avoid scarring
When to Choose a Facelift
For significant aging, a facelift is often the most effective procedure. Choose a facelift if:
- You’re seeking the most dramatic results possible
- You want a long-lasting solution to facial aging
- You have moderate to advanced aging in the lower face
- You’re already getting another surgical procedure like a brow lift or eyelid surgery
Is traditional facelift better than deep plane facelift
Facelift surgery is still popular, despite the rise in non-surgical options. After all, plastic surgery offers a long-term, permanent solution that non-surgical treatments do not.
Non-surgical treatments are not as effective as surgical facelift procedures. Over time, they can be more expensive. Because most are temporary, they need to be topped up to maintain the results.
Additionally, surgery techniques have moved on. The emphasis on traditional facelifts was on pulling the skin tight.
Now, the emphasis is on repositioning soft tissues and restoring volume. Thus, today’s advanced facelift techniques aim to create a more natural appearance.
A surgical facelift (rhytidectomy) offers a one-time procedure and permanently restores a more youthful appearance for ten years or more.
At the end of the day, the main goal of facelift surgery is not to change your face beyond recognition. The idea is to help you look like a younger version of yourself with lasting results.
Of course, the aging process still happens. But after a facelift, it is occurring on a younger-looking face. Thus, a facelift buys you time in the fight against the aging process!
Facelift surgery improves age-related changes, such as jowls, sagging cheeks, and nasolabial folds. However, for other problematic areas you may need to consider additional procedures, including a neck lift or eyelid surgery.
FACELIFT OPTIONS
There are different options available. Different facelift techniques achieve different results, with their own pros and cons.
The two most common techniques used right now are the deep-plane facelift and the SMAS facelift.
It is worth knowing the differences between both techniques. After all, this is also a hot topic of discussion among plastic surgeons.
The SMAS technique and the deep plane facelift are usually performed under general anaesthesia, so you are unconscious and without pain throughout the surgery.
Both the deep-plane and the superficial musculo-aponeurotic system SMAS facelifts improve the lower two-thirds of the face and fix sagging skin, excess fat, and jowls.
However, each surgical approach has its own benefits and limitations. So, let`s assess which one provides better results or lasts the longest.
THE DEEP PLANE FACELIFT
The deep plane facelift reduces the appearance of an aging face and neck. It removes excess skin but also tightens and reshapes the underlying musculature.
By cutting and releasing various ligaments tethering the face in its existing shape, the surgeon can manipulate the deep tissues.
The “deep plane” is the term used to name the anatomic plane that exists between the SMAS-platysma complex (muscle and fascia) and the deeper muscles responsible for facial expression.
This deep plane facelift technique involves a deep manipulation of the underlying soft tissues rather than simply relying on the pulling of skin and sutures to achieve a lifting effect.
A deep plane facelift also restores volume and cheek shape without fillers or cheek implants. It can also improve the nasolabial folds and deep hollows under the eyes in the same procedure. The SMAS complex, the deep muscles, and skin are raised together, as a unit, rather than separately.
To finish, the flap is suspended and fix in place, with stitches beneath the earlobe, using minimal access. There are fewer visible scars as the incisions are made behind the ears.
The main advantage of the deep plane facelift is that it is a deeper technique. Thus, it is suitable for older individuals with more pronounced lines and more significant skin laxity.
So, even though the deep plane facelift is the most invasive facelift technique, it offers patients the longest lasting results.
Since it works on the structural elements of the face (tissue and muscle), the deep plane facelift is more durable than SMAS facelifts, often lasting ten years and beyond.
THE SMAS FACELIFT
The SMAS facelift is a superficial facelift. Surgeons developed this technique as a less invasive alternative to traditional facelift surgery. It shows significant improvements aesthetically, giving more natural results.
Your doctor will make small incisions at the temples above the hairline for the procedure, so they’re concealed. Scars are also hidden behind the tragus of the ear and the post-auricular groove.
This facelift technique involves elevating the skin followed by the lifting of the SMAS-Platysma complex.
The SMAS (Superficial Musculo-Aponeurotic System) is the muscle and fascia (muscle lining) deep in the subcutaneous fat of the lower cheeks and jowl (mid and lower face). And the platysma is the muscle that covers the neck and lower third of the face.
The main difference with the deep plane facelift technique is that the skin and SMAS layers are raised SEPARATELY. So, your doctor can tighten these two layers in different directions.
The SMAS approach gives the facelift surgeon better control when reconstructing the underlying tissue, customizing the procedure to deal with the patient’s individual needs!
This facelift technique reconstructs a customized facial shape. Also, it does not require the stretching of the skin! Instead, there is a delicate redraping of the facial skin, highlighting the new facial contours. Conversely, deep plane facelifts can give you an unflattering ‘wind tunnel’ look.
The main advantage of the SMAS facelift is that it is less invasive than the deep plane lift. Thus, it has a faster recovery time and costs significantly less.
However, this surgical approach only treats the lower third of the face and jawline, but it can’t lift drooping cheeks. As a result, many surgeons will perform fat grafting to the cheeks at the same time to achieve an overall rejuvenated look and restore facial volume.
What kind of facelift can you get without surgery
A non-surgical facelift is the use of minimally invasive non-surgical procedures to address the effects of ageing and to rejuvenate and refresh your appearance. It is not a single procedure or treatment but a combination of several.
Skilful cosmetologists use non-surgical procedures such as dermal fillers to create a rejuvenated look. This is one of the most common procedures and is popular among people whose faces start losing ‘volume’ with advancing years. The doctors replace that lost volume – mostly visible in the cheeks, temples, lips, around the mouth, and under the eyes – with ‘fillers’ to help create the appearance of youth and energy.
Alternatively, certain types of fillers can lift the skin without adding any extra volume. This is appropriate for those who only wish to have a facelift without any volume.
Advantages of a Non-surgical Facelift
The standout feature of these procedures is that they do not require large incisions, general anaesthesia, or overnight hospitalisation, unlike in the case of a surgical facelift. They are quick affairs, with patients leaving the doctor soon after the treatment
As compared to this, a regular facelift, or rhytidectomy, is a surgical procedure; in other words, the patient ‘goes under the knife’. Surgical results are more impressive, but being invasive, it has certain risks and higher complication rates.
Types of Non-surgical Facelift
Non-invasive techniques come in various types, so it is generally easy to tailor treatments to meet each patient’s unique needs, addressing issues such as fine lines, deep creases, thinning lips, facial volume loss, and other types.
Some important non-surgical facelift types are listed below:
Dermal Fillers:
As explained above, dermal fillers, a prime example of non-surgical facelifts. They are smooth gel injectables and can restore ‘lost volume’ along the cheeks, temples, lips, and under the eyes immediately after insertion.
What dermal fillers do is create youthful vibrancy by ‘plumping up’ sunken areas and eliminating dark shadows. They can also create a smooth, wrinkle-free look when placed along the nasolabial folds (commonly known as ‘smile lines’ or ‘laugh lines’) or marionette lines (common wrinkles that appear around the mouth and chin with age).
Dermal fillers contain moisture-rich hyaluronic acid, among other ingredients. They hydrate the skin by holding water and acts as a cushion and lubricant to reduce damage to it. The plumping and smoothing properties of fillers can last from six months to over a year.
Thread Lift:
Another non-surgical facelift procedure is the thread lift. Here, the doctor inserts very fine, absorbable threads in the problematic areas of the face to give it a natural-looking lift. In a thread lift, the doctor doesn’t remove any of the loose skin, unlike in a surgical procedure.
The outcome is subtle, though quite distinct; it seems as if the skin is pulled back slightly, which has the effect of ‘lifting’ and tightening the face, making it look more youthful.
Apart from lifting the skin, threads trigger the body’s natural healing process and cause collagen to surge to the treated areas. This is important because collagen plays a vital role; it supports growth factors that significantly influence the condition of your skin.
Botox:
Botox is yet another critical component of the non-surgical facelift and is unmatched when it comes to smoothing wrinkles, forehead creases, frown lines, and ‘crow’s feet’. The procedure relaxes the targeted muscles temporarily, ‘ironing out’ facial lines that are usually the result of repetitive expressions such as smiling or laughing.
Botox does not remove wrinkles immediately, but you can see results in 1–2 weeks, which can last up to three months.
Needleless Treatments
There are also non-surgical facelift procedures that skip the needle altogether. These ‘needleless’ treatments come in various types.
Laser Treatments
Laser treatments are yet another technique for a non-surgical facelift. The Clear + Brilliant laser treatment takes less than an hour and improves the quality and glow of skin by tightening the pores.
Micro-needling Radiofrequency:
This is a popular treatment option which works on skin texture and refines the open pores. It needs up to four sessions that are two to four weeks apart. Sometimes, it is supplemented with cocktails of vitamin and antioxidants to maximise the benefits.
Carboxytherapy:
Carboxytherapy involves the diffusion of CO2 gas in the middle layer of the skin to create a state of hypoxia – reducing the oxygen supply in that area. This stimulates the brain to send more blood and nutrients to the treated area. This, in turn, leads to the formation of more collagen and the rejuvenation of the skin. Depending on the skin, this treatment may require one or more sessions per week for a few weeks
Cryolipolysis:
This is a freezing technique to dissolve the excess fat under the chin. It’s done before other procedures for a facelift to give the face a defined jawline and improve the lifting effect. The procedure requires one to two sessions, is painless and needs no downtime.
Chemical Peels:
A simple method for non-surgical facelifts is using advanced chemical peels. This is a trusted, non-invasive technique. Advanced chemical peels shrink large pores and improve overall skin quality.
HIFU Technology:
High-intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) is the most advanced FDA approved technology. It stimulates the production of collagen by using ultrasound energy to result in firmer skin. It’s used the most for the treatment of double chin in addition to facelifts. Just one session is needed, which can be repeated annually, and there’s no downtime.
Usually, the cosmetologists use a combined approach to reach the best result possible considering the age, skin quality, general health status, and previous treatments done. The downtime and your budget are also considered while selecting the best possible treatment approach.
Non-surgical Facelift Maintenance:
It is advisable to repeat non-invasive treatments every few months for optimal results. In the case of Botox sessions, the skin and muscles relax, and the expression lines will not deepen. This means that less product use can provide similar results in the future.
Similarly, as the hyaluronic acid in dermal fillers increases collagen production in the body, a strong scaffolding layer will be created beneath the skin. As a result, wrinkles will not be as deep as earlier, meaning fewer syringes of fillers will be required.
Non-surgical Facelift at Medcare
Your face is your identity, so it’s crucial to choose the right hospital or medical centre for your facelift procedure. Medcare Hospitals & Medical Centres is a leading medical facility that boasts of experienced cosmetologists, cutting-edge technology, and modern amenities to perform cosmetic procedures with utmost care.
So, if you want to get rid of the loose skin on your face, why not consider a non-surgical facelift? Consult an expert today to gain optimum results.