Face Lift - Medical Malpractice Lawyers

Our cosmetic surgery medical malpractice lawyers deal with claims for financial compensation arising out of negligent behaviour before during or after facelift surgery If you believe that your treatment, including disclosure of risk, surgical procedure or subsequent aftercare was less than adequate and amounted to negligent action on the part of a healthcare professional, please use the contact form or email our offices and a specialist medical malpractice lawyer will call you on the telephone, at your convenience, to discuss your potential damages claim for negligent face lift surgery. Our face lift medical malpractice lawyers specialise in cases involving negligent cosmetic surgery and they offer a free consultation with no further obligation. You will receive detailed legal advice on facelift negligence over the telephone and they will give their views on liability and the estimated value of your potential face lift negligence claim there and then.

Rhytidectomy

A rhytidectomy or face lift is a procedure most people undergo when they have sagging of the face or wrinkles that they find are unacceptable. The most common age for having a face lift is around 35-55 although people have had them earlier or older than that. It is designed to give you a more youthful appearance and fewer signs of ageing.

Procedure

The procedure involves several steps. First the skin is cut along the hairline from the temple region down in front of the ear. The skin is dissected away from the underlying tissue. Then the fat pads that are in excess are trimmed down to reshape the face. The muscles are also shortened to lessen the look of sagging. Finally, implants are inserted where desired, such as in the cheek area. The skin is then re-draped across the face and excess skin is trimmed off. Very small sutures are used to reconnect the new suture line along the hairline and in front of the ear. The end result is less sagging skin and a reshaped face. The idea behind a face lift is not to look completely different (in most cases) but to look your younger self by about ten to fifteen years. Sometimes other procedures, such as a brow lift and blepharoplasty are performed at the same time as a rhytidectomy.

Face lifts or rhytidectomy is the sixth most common plastic surgery done after liposuction, breast augmentation, blepharoplasty, rhinoplasty, tummy tuck and breast reduction. The first facelift was performed in 1901 in Germany. Now, thousands of face lifts are performed each year in North America.

Consequences

There can be severe consequences of having a face lift and it is not a perfect procedure. Minor problems include hematoma formation (collections of blood that sometimes have to be removed), local infection (treated with antibiotics and local heat), bruising, and temporary numbness of the face. More serious complications include having permanent facial nerve damage (if the doctor cuts the facial nerve or a major branch of it), severe infection, skin flap necrosis (death of the skin flap), hypertrophic scarring, hairline or earlobe abnormalities after the procedure and pseudocysts of the parotid gland. You can also get alopecia or hair loss in the area of the scar, making the scar more visible. Some of these complications cannot be fixed, such as facial nerve paralysis and skin flap necrosis. The end result can be an ugly one and one you might be stuck with.

If the face lift results in infection, local heat can be applied to the affected area and antibiotics can be given. The end result can still look scarred and unacceptable.

Alternatives

Other alternatives to a complete facelift include a barbed suture facelift. This is minimally invasive and occurs when the doctor inserts barbed suture into the skin and runs it from closer to the center of the face toward the lateral aspects of the face. The barbs attach to the tissue of the skin and keep it from sagging. An endoscopic face lift can also be performed, which is less invasive than a traditional rhytidectomy. The incision is made up inside the mouth and the mid face is fixed through an endoscope. There are no incisions on the outside and the outcome can look quite good.

The areas that aren’t easily corrected with a facelift include the nasolabial fold, which runs between the mouth and the outside of the lips and marionette lines from the outer lip to the chin. Botox can help correct these problems and can be done at the same time as the facelift.

Face Cosmetic Surgery Overview

Men and women alike are undergoing surgery to improve the look of their faces. While there are laser procedures and other noninvasive procedures to get rid of wrinkles, some people fail those options and choose to go ahead with invasive facial cosmetic surgery. There are multiple choices in facial plastic surgery that can fix wrinkles and fine lines in the forehead, around the eye, in the nasal region, above or below the mouth or on the cheeks. Most people don't have all procedures done at the same time but a few do, especially if they are traveling a long distance to have their facial cosmetic procedures.

A person can choose to have a brow lift, which rids the brow area of longitudinal wrinkles and smoothes out the area. The procedure is relatively simple. The doctor makes an incision in the hairline just inside the edge of the hair. The skin is pulled up and the wrinkles smoothed out. When the wrinkles seem adequately reduced, the excess skin is cut away and the remaining skin is sutured to the new hairline. The major side effects are haematoma formation, infection, bruising and excessive bleeding but these are rare complications. In some cases, the person can have a result they are not happy with, such as having a constantly surprised look on their face because of pulling the skin too tight.

The brow lift is often done along with a blepharoplasty. A blepharoplasty is also called an eye lift. It gets rid of the bags around the eyes on the upper and lower lids. Two separate surgeries are done in a blepharoplasty: a lower lid blepharoplasty and an upper lid blepharoplasty. In an upper lid blepharoplasty, an incision is made in the natural crease of the eye. The skin is pulled together to get rid of wrinkles and bags and the excess skin is trimmed away. Tiny sutures are placed to close the wound and the doctor moves onto the lower lid. In a lower lid blepharoplasty, the incision is made along the eyelash line. The skin is pulled up and trimmed off to make sure there are no wrinkles and that the skin is smooth and young-appearing. Sutures are placed to hold the skin in place. Bruising, bleeding, infection, temporary blurry vision and haematoma formation are all possible side effects of having this procedure.

The nose can be changed via a rhinoplasty. A rhinoplasty can change the size and shape of the nose and is done in both young and old patients. You can have a rhinoplasty just to have a differently shaped nose even if you are not suffering from the affects of old age. Doctors go through the nasal passages or up under the upper lip to perform the surgery on the septum and cartilage of the nose. The results are not always perfect and repeat surgeries may need to be performed to perfect the shape of the nose.

The chin can be fixed via a mentoplasty. This is usually done in order to change the shape of the chin and not for wrinkles although it can be done for wrinkles. Chin implants can be put in or excess chin can be trimmed away making for a smaller chin.

A face lift only treats wrinkles and sagging of the cheeks. An incision is made along the hairline of the temporal region of the scalp and down along the front and back of the ears. The skin is lifted from the underlying tissue and muscles are tightened beneath the skin. Fat is added or subtracted as necessary. Then the skin is pulled back toward the temporal region and excess skin is removed. The skin is then sutured to the hairline, making for a very minimal scar.

All facial plastic surgeries have risks but they are not very great. You need to have a consultation with a facial plastic or cosmetic surgeon in order to see what they can do for you and what cannot be accomplished through simply having facial cosmetic surgery.

Face Lift Medical Malpractice Lawyers

If you are unhappy with the outcome of any cosmetic surgery you should initially discuss your reservations with the surgeon who carried out the work to see if he has any proposals to rectify the problem. The facelift surgeon may be willing to make a refund or may provide further corrective surgery. If you are unable to resolve the matter directly with the surgeon you should take advice from a face lift medical malpractice lawyer with a view to claiming compensation. Our facelift medical malpractice lawyers offer advice at no cost on liability and an estimate of the amount of compensation that you are likely to be awarded, with no charge and without obligation.

The author of the substantive medical writing on this website is Dr. Christine Traxler MD whose biography can be read here