What Is a Deep Plane Facelift?

If your face makes you look older than you feel, you have several options to “de-age” it, including a surgical facelift, which addresses wrinkles, folds, and lax skin on the lower two-thirds of your face.

At 817 Surgical Arts, facial and cosmetic surgeon Dr. Emily Johnson and our team proudly offer facelifts to our patients in and around Fort Worth, Texas. Many different procedures can address the effects of aging. Here, we address the advantages of the deep plane facelift.

Facelift basics

The surgical facelift, medically called a rhytidectomy, is the third most common plastic surgery procedure in the United States; in 2020 alone, almost 235,000 people had one done. But unlike cosmetic injectables often used for the early fine lines and wrinkles accompanying aging, a facelift is an invasive procedure. That means it comes with surgical risks such as possible bleeding and infection, and you need a bit of downtime to recover.

However, nothing can beat the facelift’s longevity. Five and a half years after their procedures, over 75% of patients still looked younger than before they began.

The initial facelift version only addressed problems with the skin itself, not the underlying musculature affected by aging. Unfortunately, treating the skin only increased the potential for a tight, or what some would call a “windswept,” appearance.

Many facelifts today use the superficial musculoaponeurotic system (SMAS) technique, which tightens the skin and repositions the superficial musculature beneath it. This advanced technique provides far more natural-looking results than older facelift techniques. 

When using this technique, Dr. Johnson makes incisions along your hairline to hide the scars and pulls the skin away from your face. Next, she removes and reshapes the fat, muscle, and soft tissues beneath the skin. Finally, she closes the skin suturing the incisions so they are as hidden as possible.

A deep plane facelift is a variation of the SMAS technique that repositions tissues below the SMAS level, releasing ligaments and remodeling deeper attachments. This version permits Dr. Johnson to accomplish more thorough lifting without pulling the tissues tightly, creating effective results while maintaining a natural-looking appearance. 

Deep plane facelifts also help maintain your results longer.

Are you looking to de-age your face for years to come? A facelift may be just what the doctor ordered. To learn more or to schedule a consultation with Dr. Johnson, call us at 817-241-5375, or book online with us today.