Your specialist for facelifts in Vienna

A forehead lift is used to eliminate forehead wrinkles and lift the eyebrows; it is an effective method for eliminating a “sad” facial expression. The position of the eyebrows significantly influences facial expression.

A successful forehead lift can be just as effective as a successful cheek lift. The height of the forehead is crucial when choosing the forehead lift method.

Three methods are available:

● coronal forehead lift
● pretrichous forehead lift
● endoscopic forehead lift

If you are interested in a forehead lift and have a low forehead, the coronal forehead lift would be suitable. In this method, the incision runs in an arc shape within the hairline. In addition to eliminating forehead wrinkles and lifting the eyebrows, this procedure also raises the forehead.

If you have a high forehead, the pretrichous forehead lift would be suitable. In this method, the incision runs along the hairline.

In addition to eliminating forehead wrinkles and lifting the eyebrows, this procedure results in a lower forehead.

With an endoscopic forehead lift, no excess skin is removed, so almost no scarring occurs; however, it is significantly less effective than a coronal or pretrichal forehead lift.

A mid-face lift corrects the area extending from the lower edge of the bony eye socket to the outer corner of the mouth. This area often ages earlier than other parts of the face. Volume loss and tissue laxity cause the midface to sag, leading to dark circles under the eyes, flattening of the cheekbones, and accentuation of the nasolabial folds.

Therefore, a mid-face lift has three goals:

● Correction of dark circles under the eyes
● Plumping of the flattened inner cheekbones
● Correction of the nasolabial folds

Three methods are available:

● Subperiosteal mid-face lift
● Mid-face lift using the MACS technique (Minimal Cranial Suspension)
● Mid-face lift with an extended SMAS flap
Please don’t be intimidated by the technical terminology. The choice of technique depends on the anatomical conditions, specifically which of the three problem areas (dark circles under the eyes, cheekbones, nasolabial folds) is most prominent.

If the dark circles are pronounced, the upper tissue layer must be lifted, which is best achieved with the MACS technique. At the same time, the nasolabial folds are effectively corrected because the SMAS, the tissue layer directly beneath the skin, is lifted.

If the flattened cheekbones are the primary concern, volume must be added to this area, for which the subperiosteal technique is suitable. This method is not as well-suited for correcting the nasolabial folds.

The third technique is not a standalone procedure but can only be used as a complement to a cheek lift. If, in addition to a sagging midface, there are also jowls and wrinkles in the cheek area, the midface can also be corrected as part of the cheek lift by extending the technique used (SMAS flap), but it is not as effective as the MACS technique.

Cheek lifts are the most frequently performed cosmetic facial surgery and offer the widest range of techniques.

Cheek lifts can correct jowls and plump up a flattened cheekbone area, but they are less effective at correcting nasolabial folds and not at all at correcting dark circles and under-eye bags.

The classic method is the SMAS cheek lift. This is also the most effective technique for permanently correcting jowls and wrinkles. It is a two-layer procedure in which the SMAS is tightened, the cheek skin is gently stretched, and after removing the excess skin, it is repositioned without tension. This prevents the dreaded loss of facial expression.

IMPORTANT: Not all SMAS lifts are created equal!

The SMAS can simply be doubled, or it can be completely detached from the underlying tissue at the cheekbone/cheek area and dissected downwards/inwards towards the nasolabial fold. Only in this way can the optimal effectiveness of this technique be achieved, but it also requires significantly more time, and it is essential to protect the delicate branches of the facial nerve (n. facialis). The ‘deep-plane’ facelift is currently the most demanding technique; it requires patience and extensive experience. It is the most effective, but the face remains swollen for a longer period.

Besides this method, there is a whole range of techniques that require less effort but are also far less effective. These include so-called “modern” methods, which are frequently advertised in newspapers and magazines and claim the supposed advantages of rapid healing and short recovery times.

These types of procedures are only suitable for relatively young patients where minimal intervention is actually necessary. Offering a mini-facelift to a 60-year-old patient with typical age-related problem areas is unacceptable and irresponsible.

A cheek lift can be easily extended to include a limited neck lift.

Neck tightening is most often combined with a cheek lift, but it can also be performed on its own.

There are three methods to choose from:

● Neck tightening by skin removal alone
● Neck tightening using the SMAS technique
● Neck tightening using the Feldmann corset technique

Neck lifts performed solely by skin removal behind the ear are ineffective and outdated. The standard method is the lateral tightening of the platysma muscle using the SMAS technique. The platysma is the superficial, paired rectus muscle of the neck that merges laterally into the SMAS, and its weakening causes the formation of a double chin.

By far the most effective method is the Feldmann corset procedure because it creates a new, band-like anatomical structure by uniting the two halves of the platysma muscle. This allows the neck to be lifted inwards and upwards. In profile, the neck then forms a right angle again. Please take a look at the pictures; the results of the Feldmann technique are sometimes overwhelming.