Orange County Facelift & Newport Beach Rhytidectomy

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Facelift Overview

Facelift Natrelle™ focuses on providing prospective patients rejuvenation of their face and neck contour while not altering your identity. Dr. Mowlavi has pioneered several studies that have been aimed to optimize current facelift techniques. He has published several studies that aim at achieving natural appearing sideburn/hair line as well as avoiding distortion of your earlobes during facelift in-setting. These findings allow Dr. Mowlavi to get you the rejuvenation that you desire without unsightly scars over the sideburns/temples and without deforming your ears. When you seek to have facial and neck rejuvenation, you should not have to worry about getting the “windblown look” nor have to be embarrassed about wearing your hair back. We encourage you to review Dr. Mowlavi’s surgical technique and to view Dr. Mowlavi’s before and after Facelift Natrelle™ results with a critical eye.

Dr. Arian Mowlavi is a Board Certified Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon who has dedicated his practice to providing prospective face and neck lift patients the results they desire yet avoid the operated look. Facelift Natrelle™ is dedicated to restoring facial and neck contour in a natural appearing manner.

Dr. Mowlavi is Board Certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, as well as Member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and Orange County Society of Plastic Surgeons. Dr. Mowlavi has published over 50 nationally recognized scientific articles, received several nationally distinguished awards in the field of plastic surgery, and been featured in the Orange Coast Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, The Washington Post, and Self Magazine to name a few.

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Facelift Procedure Information

Procedure: Improvement of facial aging signs including facial wrinkles, prominent laugh lines including those that extend up from your lips (nasolabial folds) and those that extend down from your lips (marionette lines), down turned corner of the lips, deflated and drooping cheeks, bunching at the bottom of the cheeks (jowls), rounded neck line with hanging redundant skin, and drooping and hollowed out lower eyelids.

Length: Ranges between 4 to 5 hours.

Anesthesia: General anesthesia or intravenous sedation for patients with medical problems is recommended.

Place of Treatment: Outpatient surgical suite or hospital operating room.

Recovery: Patients will have full recovery within 2 weeks of facelift surgery. Patients will be able to return to work if it is not strenuous within 2 weeks of surgery. Patients will be allowed to return to full physical activity within 4 weeks.

Duration of Results: Facelift surgery results permanent correction of facial and neck aging changes. Patients will look approximately 15 years younger on average and will then begin the natural aging process.

Facelift Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What is the history of facelift surgery?
  2. Am I a good candidate for facelift surgery?
  3. What does facelift surgery involve?
  4. How do I plan my facelift surgery?
  5. How do I prepare for facelift surgery?
  6. What results can I expect after facelift surgery?
  7. Where will my facelift surgery be performed?
  8. What type of anesthesia will be used for my facelift surgery?
  9. What should I expect after facelift surgery?
  10. When will I be able to return to work following facelift surgery?
  11. Are there any side effects associated with facelift surgery?
  12. Are there any risks associated with facelift surgery?

Click here for all answers

Facelift Surgical Technique

Facelift surgery allows patients to correct facial and neck changes that occur with aging and years of sun damage. Facial aging results mainly from the effects of gravity which pulls on all of the various facial and neck soft tissue layers. These tissue layers include not only the overlying skin but also the underlying fat and muscles which sag off of the rigid facial bone structure. As such, facelift surgery focuses on lifting all of the soft tissue components including the muscles in addition to the fat and skin layers. Another important consideration during facelift surgery is the avoidance of unsightly scars and deformed hairlines. As such, facelift surgery should utilize strategically placed incision lines which provide access to appropriate lifting of facial soft tissues yet allow for naturally appearing healed incision lines. Finally, prospective facelift patients should demand rejuvenation of their facial appearance without compromising their identity. Yes, you should expect to look like a younger you and not a younger someone else!

First, Faclelift NatrelleTM advocates the lifting of all sagging soft tissue layers including the skin, underlying fat, as well as the facial muscles. In contrast to seemingly enticing advertised lunch time facelifts/LifeStyle Lift procedures which address the sagging of the skin, Dr. Mowlavi urges prospective patients to undergo lifting of all soft tissue layers. These include not only the skin, but also the fat, and underlying facial muscles. This lift requires the development of two separate layers of soft tissue pull, including the more superficial skin as well as the underlying muscle which is pulled by its superficial lining termed the SMAS (Figure 1). The intermediate fat layer is pulled by both the overlying skin as well as the underlying SMAS layer. By pulling up the SMAS layer it allows Dr. Mowlavi to not only reposition the sagging muscle layer but also to pull up the overlying skin layer without much tension. This concept may be appreciated by using an analogy to making your bed; when you pull up your bed sheet (the SMAS), then the comforter (the skin) is easier to pull up. If you skip doing your sheets first, then the pulled up comforter never looks just right. By repositioning the underlying SMAS layer, Dr. Mowlavi achieves several tasks including: repositioning the muscle and deeper fat, taking the tension off of the skin layer because it is easier to pull up which ensures beautifully healed skin incision lines and providing long lasting results.

Facelift NatrelleTM utilizes optimally positioned and favorable incision lines. The placement of facelift incision lines is by no means a trivial matter. In theory, this incision line has to achieve several goals including: 1)provide access to underlying tissues 2)be well hidden 3)maximize leverage on the planned soft tissues to be lifted, and 4)avoid deforming the hairline. Traditional facelift incision lines started within the temporal hairline and extended vertically down the front of the ear, hugged the earlobe, traveled up the neck, and extended into the scalp hairline (Figure 2). This incision however, has several short comings including potential for deforming both the temporal and scalp hairline and providing the surgeon sub-optimal leverage when lifting the soft tissues (Figure 2). Additionally, this incision is not aesthetically pleasing as it results in a straight vertical incision line in front of the ear that is not natural in its appearance. In contrast, the Facelift NatrelleTM utilizes an incision line that is just in front of the temporal hairline, extending into the ear using naturally appearing curvilinear incisions (Figure 3); furthermore, the incision hugs the back of the earlobe and ear and then finishes just in front of the scalp hairline (Figure 3). This incision is far superior to the traditional incision approach for several reasons including: it avoids distortion of the temporal and scalp hair line, it maximizes the leverage on the pulled up soft tissues, and incisions are well hidden and natural in appearance. Furthermore, Dr. Mowlavi utilizes favorable incisions along the temporal hairline and scalp which allow for hair growth through the incision lines thereby making these incisions nearly transparent (please read Dr. Mowlavi’s published temporal hairline article).

Finally, facelift NatrelleTM ensures the rejuvenation of your skin without unsightly scars and without changing your identity. Once Dr. Mowlavi has lifted and repaired your muscle, i.e. SMAS layer, Dr. Mowlavi evaluates individualizes your skin sag vector, and determines the ideal redraping vector (Figure 4) which will optimize repositioning of your fallen tissues. It is Dr. Mowlavi’s artistry which ensures an ideal rejuvenation of your facial aging changes without changing your identity. Dr. Mowlavi also focuses on insetting your skin layer in naturally appearing and aesthetically pleasing curvilinear designs to ensure naturally appearing incision lines. As part of your Facelift NatrelleTM, all of your incisions are repaired in layered fashion thus optimizing the healing of your incisions and minimizing risk of poor scars. Following the lunch time/LifeStyle Lift facelifts, unsightly scars are most evident around the earlobe; these patients routinely have to wear their hair long and in front of their ears as they are embarrassed by unsightly scars. Dr. Mowlavi specializes in achieving optimal incision lines around the earlobe region and in fact has published numerous articles intended to avoiding a distorted earlobe (please read published articles).

Dr. Mowlavi urges you to evaluate Facelift NatrelleTm before and after photographs to appreciate the results that you should expect.

Natrelle™ is a trademark of Allergan Corporation