Facelift (Rhytidectomy)

ACPS facial plastic surgeons perform SMAS-layer facelift and neck lift procedures to address moderate-to-severe facial ageing, including jowling, deep nasolabial folds, lax neck skin, and platysmal banding. By repositioning the deep facial support structures (SMAS) rather than simply tightening skin, results are natural-looking and long-lasting. Procedures may be combined with brow lift, blepharoplasty, or fat grafting for comprehensive facial rejuvenation. Surgery is performed at the ACPS Surgicentre.

Facelift surgery at the Aesthetic Center for Plastic Surgery Houston addresses the progressive facial ageing changes that accumulate in the mid-face, lower face, and neck over time — changes that non-surgical treatments can improve but not fully reverse. Modern facelift technique at ACPS centres on manipulation of the superficial musculoaponeurotic system (SMAS), the fibromuscular layer that connects the superficial facial muscles and acts as a structural scaffold for the overlying skin and fat. By addressing the SMAS — through plication (folding and suturing), imbrication (overlapping), or SMASectomy (partial excision) — ACPS surgeons reposition the descended facial tissues in a more anatomically youthful position, restoring mid-face volume, reducing jowling along the jaw, softening nasolabial folds, and defining the cervicomandibular angle (the jawline-to-neck transition). Skin is then re-draped under appropriately reduced tension, and the small amount of truly excess skin removed. This two-layer approach — SMAS repositioning followed by skin re-draping — is what distinguishes a modern facelift from a dated 'skin-only' pull that produces an unnaturally tight or windswept appearance. Incisions are placed to follow the natural contours of the ear — in the pretragal or retrotragal position at the front of the ear, curving around the earlobe and into the posterior auricular sulcus behind the ear — where they heal to be essentially imperceptible within the hairline and ear anatomy. Neck lift (platysmaplasty) is frequently combined with facelift to address platysmal banding and excess neck skin, sometimes requiring a small submental incision beneath the chin to allow direct access to the platysma muscle. Additional procedures commonly combined with facelift at ACPS include upper and lower blepharoplasty for periorbital rejuvenation, brow lift for forehead and brow position, fat grafting to restore volume to the temples, mid-face, and lips, and laser skin resurfacing for surface texture and pigmentation. Recovery from facelift involves swelling and bruising that largely resolves in two to three weeks, with most patients comfortable being seen socially at three to four weeks. Final results emerge gradually over three to six months as residual swelling fully clears.