About Face Lifts For Men

The potential for a man to get a really tight facelift is not quite as good as a woman's. The complication rate is somewhat higher, because there are more blood vessels. For this reason, male facelifts have to be carefully picked and chosen to be sure that the result will be worth the expense, the hassle and the risk of complication. There are many Hollywood stars who have attempted to get very tight skin underneath their chin through the use of facelifts, but success in this area is difficult. There is always a little bit of loose skin down there even after the tightest of facelifts, because this area tends to loosen up over a relatively short time. Additionally, bleeding is much more common, as men seem to have a difficult time sitting still and letting the healing process occur for the first day or two, so we see blood underneath the skin that has to be taken out on the next day or the day after. Relatively thin-skinned Caucasian women whose face can be lifted without the examining physician making incisions are probably the best candidates for a facelift.

All this aside, if performed with the right accompanying procedures, such as cheek or chin implants or peels, male facelifts can be satisfying. Men just have to know the limits and the likelihood of problems and be counseled appropriately. We have seen exceedingly dramatic results with facial implants alone, which can be a good option to consider – having an implant procedure without actually lifting the face. Of course, this isn’t practical in an older man who has a lot of loose skin or a lot of sun damage. In these cases, the skin should be improved with the usual technique of pulling it back and trimming the skin around the ears.

One advantage that men have in facelifts is that their beards allow the lifting of the skin without concern about changing the sideburn area. In women, sometimes the scar must go in front of the sideburn or else the little tuft of hair in front of the ear gets lifted too high. In men, this scar can almost universally be hidden within the scalp behind the sideburn and above the sideburn, so this is one advantage of male facelifts. Occasionally men will complain of hair growing over the little bit of cartilage that sticks out from the middle of the front of the ear, the Tragus. This can be treated with laser hair removal, and sometimes the hair seems to fall out on its own and not be as active around a year or 18 months after the facelift.

All in all, as in every cosmetic procedure, the physician and the patient must work together to individualize treatment, in order to obtain the best result.