Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Articles

In my last post, I explored some different methods for improving a drooping brow. Neuromodulators, like Botox and Jeuveau, are generally quite effective on that front (among lots of others), especially in younger patients. But, as we lose some of the fatty tissue and muscle in our faces to aging, neuromodulators will lose some of their potency. At which point, it may be time to consider a brow lift.

A brow lift can serve other functions, too, including minimizing that furrow between your brows, known as the “elevens,” and shortening the forehead, which creates a subtly rounder, more youthful-looking face.

So, what is a brow lift, exactly? Let’s get into it.

A minimally-invasive technique

First things first: A brow lift is a cosmetic surgical procedure where the skin of the forehead is raised—it’s also referred to as a forehead lift—lifting a drooping brow, smoothing forehead creases and wrinkles, and giving the upper part of the face a younger, fresher look.

It’s sometimes combined with a facelift or upper eyelid surgery, but, depending on your desired results and the severity of your sagging, a brow lift can be plenty effective on its own.

There are several variations of the procedure. Some of are less invasive than others. Most of the brow lifts performed today are endoscopic, which is a minimally-invasive technique where the surgeon makes four to five incisions, each about three-quarters of an inch long, just behind your hairline. Then, they’ll insert a long, thin tube with a tiny camera and a powerful light on the end through one of the incisions. That will guide the surgical instrument that’s inserted through the other incisions to pull and lift the forehead tissue and anchor it in place.

The technique, which has a shorter recovery period than the more invasive methods, is ideal for those with minimal forehead wrinkles and mild to moderate skin laxity.

Long-lasting results

The first thing virtually everyone wants to know about an injectable or a surgical procedure is: Does it work? A brow lift does work, and you’ll be able to see a significant change right after the procedure. And that change will improve even more after a few weeks, when most of the swelling will have subsided.

As for how long those results will last, they vary, because a brow lift does not halt sagging skin. Alas, nothing does. But most can expect their new, smoother foreheads to last for about a decade. And that’s a significant upgrade over neuromodulators, which need to be replenished every several months.

The adage should really go, “There are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and skin laxity.”

It’s true; all of us will eventually develop some degree of skin laxity. For some, thanks to a combination of factors, that day may arrive sooner than it will for most. But that shouldn’t imply that there’s nothing you can do about.

Over the next two blog posts, we’ll unpack skin laxity, beginning here with what it is, exactly, what causes it, and how it progresses. In my next post, we’ll get into what you can do about it, from the mildest forms to the most severe. (Spoiler alert: There are lots of treatments, both noninvasive and surgical, to improve skin laxity.)

How you can slow your skin laxity

So, what is skin laxity—beyond one of those terms you’ve heard a bunch in passing? Very simply, it refers to the state of loose skin, which occurs as a result of the depletion of collagen and elastin. Think of collagen as the skin’s building blocks. Soon after we enter our twenties, our collagen production will begin to drop off by 1% each year. (Yup, that soon.)

Elastin is a protein that coils and recoils like a spring within the skin’s elastic fibers. When you pinch, tug, or smush your skin anywhere on your body, the elastin is what snaps it back into place. But right around the time we start losing collagen, we also begin losing elastin.

All of this is part of the natural aging process, but we experience skin laxity a little differently from one person to the next because a number of other factors also play a part, including, most commonly, genetics, sun exposure, diet, lifestyle, stress, significant weight loss, and smoking.

So, how well you’ve taken care of yourself can mean the difference between a few fine lines and a few deep wrinkles, at least early on. At a certain point, there’s no denying the inevitable.

The different types of skin laxity

Skin laxity is diagnosed according to one of three categories: mild, moderate, and severe. With mild, most typically notice subtle changes to the middle of their faces first. Then, as we move from moderate to severe, the skin around our necks will begin to appear a little crepe-y and we’ll start to form jowls.

In the recent past, surgery was essentially the only option for anyone who had entered the moderate and severe phases of skin laxity. Fillers offered an alternative, but the results, at that point, tended to look overdone or disproportionate. Which is why you may be a bit wary about the idea of seeking treatment. There’s no unseeing those images. But today’s treatments are far more precise, both in their application and their outcomes.

Thanks to advances in the methods and improvements in plastic surgeons’ skillsets, it is possible to reverse nature’s course without losing any of your natural beauty in the process.

As you start to seriously consider cosmetic plastic surgery, you’ll most likely want to learn as much as you can about the procedure you’ve homed in on. Many, by the time they reach their consultation with a board-certified plastic surgeon, will have at least a basic understanding of what the procedure and recovery will be like.

Doing some homework before you meet with a plastic surgeon isn’t necessary, but it can help facilitate a more informed conversation and manage your expectations for the outcome.

Google can also be helpful in another regard: Filling in the patient’s perspective. Just remember to parse what you uncover. The internet can often seem like a place where only two kinds of opinions exist, the hopelessly negative and the over-the-top positive, particularly within social media circles. So, first and foremost, consider the source.

As an example, RealSelf, the online plastic surgery forum, recently published a story titled, What 7 Women Who Had a Brazilian Butt Lift Would Have Done Differently. As you’d expect, some of the opinions shared are fairly negative, but not in the way you’d think.

Editorial outlets, which RealSelf should be considered, can generally be trusted to tell their stories in an objective manner. Their main goal, in fact, is to explore a given topic from a well-rounded perspective, not to push an agenda.

In this particular instance, the Brazilian butt lift is a procedure that’s surged in popularity over the last few years. With that kind of interest, a not-insignificant number of people have rushed into—and out of—it. Consider the following quote from the RealSelf article:

“If I could go back, I would have lost more weight prior to the surgery. Because I was so heavy going in, even with my doctor taking the maximum amount of fat that he could take out, I was still left with a lot that I needed to lose. And I didn’t want to lose my reinjected fat cells, so I was just torn between losing my gut or my butt.”

And this one:

“I would definitely have chosen a different surgeon. I chose him because my co-worker and her friends highly recommended him—however, they had chosen him for different procedures, and he was known for wonderful tummy tucks and breast augmentations.”

There are important lessons to be learned here. And that’s a critical difference between editorial articles and the patient testimonials you typically find deep in the comments section or on a personal blog.

Learning as much as you can about a plastic surgery procedure is always a good thing. But it’s important to scrutinize the information along the way.