How do I choose a facelift surgeon?
If you’re considering having a facelift, firstly, you need to do your research. Make sure you go to an established organisation, with a reputable surgeon with credentials that is going to perform this procedure for you. Make sure that the person performing your surgery does this type of surgery frequently, but is also involved with correcting bad surgery of this kind – this often is a completely different experience and set of tools that some surgeons don’t have.
Consultant plastic surgeon, Amir Nakhdjevani, discusses his patient’s procedure during a private consultation.
It is also really important that when you meet your surgeon, you feel that they understand your needs, and they can offer the appropriate treatment that is suitable for you and for what you want. To this end, you need to make sure that you ask questions that concern you regarding the surgery, regarding the aftercare, regarding your quality of life, and what you do day-to-day and how that could impact on your daily living and your work environment. Ensure that you’ve seen the before and after pictures at one week, at a few months and at a few years so you can see what the ageing process is and what your expectation of longevity is.
In addition to this, you should discuss with your surgeon what kind of aftercare you’re going to be getting. It is essential that you know that with any surgery, there are risks involved no matter how good the surgeon will be. But what is crucial and is really important that some patients forget to ask is, “if this happens, how am I going to be looked after? Will I be able to contact someone? In an emergency, will someone pick up the phone and reassure me? Would I be able to have the area addressed without incurring further cost? At what point will this loyalty scheme be valid for? How long is the period of time where, if I’m unhappy about something, that area is going to be addressed?” These are key things to make sure that you’re fully informed about when choosing a facelift surgeon.
Mr Amir Nakhdjevani developed the Concept™ Facelift technique in 2013.
What is a Concept™ Facelift?
The Concept™ Facelift is a technique developed by our Consultant Plastic Surgeon, Amir Nakhdjevani in 2013. Patients were concerned about the disadvantages of a traditional facelift, for example having a general anaesthetic, bandages, drains, visible scars, long recovery time and bruising of six to eight weeks. As a result, Amir analysed all of the individual things that patients were concerned about, and looked to see whether the same result could be achieved by carrying the surgery out under local anaesthetic.
Therefore, the Concept™ Facelift ensures patients will not experience hair loss, the scars are less visible and the recovery time is quicker. But it has the same long-lasting effects as a traditional facelift.
What are the risks of facelift surgery?
Although undergoing a surgical procedure can be very daunting, it’s important to choose the right surgeon to make you feel at your most comfortable.
For facelift surgery, some of the risks involved are typical of any surgery, such as having scars which are permanent but fade over time, having bruising and swelling, bleeding, risk of infection or risk of wound problems.
More specifically to facelift surgery, people are concerned that it might be overdone where they feel like they’ve gone through a wind tunnel and they’ve got a mask-like face. It can also be underdone, where the results are hardly noticeable. In addition, other risks include nerve injury which can be temporary or permanent, although the risk of this is very small, it can occur. Other typical risks of facelift surgery include experiencing hair loss, having pixie ears where the earlobe gets pulled down and it’s unsightly, as well as poor scarring that can make a good facelift look quite horrendous because there will be stigmatas of surgery, which people generally want to avoid.