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“The midface area is a region of a lot of intense scrutiny right now as we have a number of injectable fillers that are being used and are really being marketed widely including Juvederm, Voluma, Radiesse and even others that are used to really restore volume but in many cases we don’t need to restore volume in the midface, we need to lift the midface when its sagging and creating deep fold here along with a fullness that people were naturally born with. So we can restore or reposition, move the tissue back-up to the area where it used to be without having to use a filler that’s a really good option for a lot of people from midface rejuvenation and when we do that we call that a midface lift. It’s very simple process of really conceptually atleast in moving the fatty and soft tissues along with the skin from lower in the face up above the fold here back up into the cheek which really should be the high point of our midface. The midface is the area below the eyelid and above the lip here and that’s really an area of early facial aging in many patients.
In a lot of patients we can do that alone and really restore them very youthful look without using expensive fillers or having to do recurrent treatments with fillers so it’s an option I think it’s really important to understand about there’s a difference again between volume loss and then loss of the volume due to sinking of the tissues in the middle part of the face. So if you can make that distinction and that’s up to the doctor or surgeon treating you to know if you have enough volume to do a midface lift.
The procedures that have been described for midface lifting or often done with the lower face lift or even a mini lift but it can be done in all by itself too and have been everywhere from doing it below the skin and periosteum or covering the bone using an endoscope to incisions behind the eyelid using little wires that are screwed, that are drilled and the holes through the bone of the lower lid to the minimally evasive approach that I like to describe and that is what we’ll be talking about today. It’s the percutaneous or through the skin midface lift which uses a small device that includes a EPTFE suture that’s often used in heart surgery or cardiovascular surgery and a little EPTFE [inaudible [00:02:51] again used in heart surgery primarily so it’s very biocompatible with the body and that little suture suspension assembly is used through a tiny little incision in the cheek to elevate and restore contour to the midface cheek fat pad that sinks down with age.
The procedure can be done under local anesthesia in the office. We had local news channel come in and film me doing this a few years ago so it can be done in the local, it can be done with a little sedation if one wants but the idea is local anesthesia’s used for comfort a tiny little punch incision is used for the placement of the device and there’s a little exit where we a little tiny accidentcision hidden behind the hairline where we actually suspend or anchored that elevated the fat pad tissue here that’s now sinking down.
Recovery after percutaneous midface lift is relatively short. There’s a little bit of swelling typically in the upper cheek that we see that can last for a week or so. There’s typically not very much bruising with it and though incisions are so tiny on the face that really they’re invisible when you leave the office. So really there’s not a long recovery and that doesn’t really have an impact on the duration. What we’ve seen now with the procedures as we’ve written about, published and have now many patients over 10 years is that they get very long durations of effect whether they’re doing the midface lift is an isolated procedure in the office or in surgery or have to do in the midface lift or you decide to do a midface lift along with a lower face lift after a many facelift.
Again, its main goal is to lift this cheek pad up and keep it up so that we will look youthful without having to add volume for patients who have plenty of soft tissue volume.
If you have any other questions about the percutaneous midface lift that is the lifting of the midface with tiny little incisions please don’t hesitate to write me @DrMaas.com, you can always call the numbers that are listed or send us photographs of yourself and we’d be happy to have a discussion about what the best options are for you. As always, it’s my pleasure to answer those questions and be with you, it’s Corey S. Maas MDTM on looking your best.”
