How to Maintain Your Facelift Results
Even with all the non-invasive options available such as injectable treatments and lasers, facelifts are still the strongest and most effective form of facial rejuvenation. After undergoing a rhytidectomy (the medical term for a facelift), many patients at Centre for Plastic Surgery in Grand Rapids ask what they can do to maintain their results. While we never can “stop the clock from ticking,” there are definitely steps that should be taken to help your long- term results.
First and Foremost: Sun Protection
Most agree that the sun is not our friend when it comes to an appearance of youthful skin. UVA/UVB, Blue Light, and Infrared rays will cause premature aging of the skin by breaking down and damaging important constituents within the skin. This causes wrinkling, fine lines, and sagging skin. It’s imperative that you continue to wear a sunscreen with a minimum 15 SPF following your facelift procedure. Our Centre for Pure Skin is equipped with a great selection of medical grade sun screen products that will protect your skin from a wide variety of damaging rays. In addition, make sure to avoid deliberate tanning. (I can’t stress this enough.) Actively protecting yourself from the damaging rays will give you long-lasting results.
Next Up: Good Nutrition
Eating a healthy, balanced diet is also helpful in maintaining your skin. A diet filled with fruits, vegetables, and whole grains can have a beneficial effect on your skin’s appearance. Avoiding sugar is also important. Sugar causes a chemical reaction within your body that breaks down proteins and lipids that are essential for healthy skin. This is called glycation. Unfortunately, as much as Americans love sugar, it serves no purpose in a healthy human diet. Eating well and staying hydrated are vitally important parts of maintaining your results.
Highly Recommended: Use Appropriate Skin Care Products
Having a healthy lifestyle with good nutrition and avoiding the sun are important components for youthful skin. Taking it a step further by caring for your skin from the outside with topical skin products is just as important. Prior to your facelift, our Centre will provide you with products that include retinoids, antioxidants and topical peptides. These products are rigorously studied and contain the highest concentrations of active ingredients that actually improve the health of your skin and its appearance. Continuing to use these medical grade products from our office will ensure that you are using the most effective products with sufficient potency. Make an appointment to speak with a certified aesthetician and determine the best products for your skin.
For Your Consideration: Implement Ancillary Skin Care Treatments
Today, there are a variety of advanced skin care modalities that are designed to maintain and improve your skin. Treatments such as HydraFacial, chemical peels, microneedling, and photofacials like (IPL) can be used as preventative measures to fight against further aging. HydraFacial® and chemical peels are procedures that use a process of exfoliation to remove the outer layer of your skin and reveal the newer, smoother and more youthful skin below. Photofacials like IPL (intense pulsed light) or BBL (broadband light), use pulsating laser light beams to target and eliminate damaged skin cells thus improving the skin’s tone, texture, and other visible damage. Microneedling is actually a centuries old procedure that was discovered by the Chinese. It creates minor damage to the skin through a controlled wound process that triggers healing deep within the skin which leads to collagen remodeling. This increased production of collagen can lead to firmer, more supple, and youthful looking skin.
In conclusion, I recommend implementing daily sunscreen and a healthy diet at the minimum. Whether you’ve chosen our Centre for your facelift or not, I highly recommend taking further steps by consulting with one of the Board Certified Plastic Surgeons and Pure Skin Aestheticians. We will happily work with you to create a plan that helps you maintain your investment and most importantly your results!
