What Procedures Do I Need For My Facial Rejuvenation?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am interested in some form of facelift or facial rejuvenation but just not sure what. Not sure what procedures I would need to get rid of wrinkles, sun damage, and acne scars. I have attached some pictures of my face so you can see how bad I look.

A: In looking at your face, one of the fundamental problems is the large amount of loose skin which is contributing to the appearance of so many wrinkles. Rather than the loose skin just hanging off the facial bones, some people like you have it just pile up on the face. This also makes the acne scars look worse.

With this underlying skin problem, there are two fundamental approaches to take for your facial rejuvenation. The ideal approach would be a two-stage treatment consisting of a  first stage lower facelift and browlift to get rid of much of the loose skin and to tighten the face. Then a second stage could be done of a full face laser resurfacing or deep chemical peel to smooth out more of the smaller wrinkles and lessen the acne scars as well. Such skin resurfacing can not be done at the same time as the facelift due to healing concerns of the skin.

The second approach, not as ideal, is to just do the facelift or the laser resurfacing. Both are beneficial and would provide some significant benefit by themselves without the other. But the result would not be the same as if both were done. If one had to choose just one, skin tightening provided by the facelift would be the best choice as the one treatment.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana