Facelift & Neck Lift

Dr Fortes performs SMAS-layer facelift and neck lift procedures for patients with moderate-to-severe facial ageing, including jowling, deep nasolabial folds, lax neck skin, and platysmal banding. By repositioning the deep facial support structures rather than simply pulling skin, results appear natural and long-lasting rather than tight or windswept. Procedures may be combined with brow lift, blepharoplasty, and fat grafting for comprehensive facial rejuvenation. Surgery is performed under general anaesthesia at the Memorial surgical centre, published at $20,000 all-inclusive.

Facelift surgery at Dr Paul Fortes MD Plastic Surgery Houston addresses the accumulated facial ageing changes — jowling, deepened nasolabial folds, lax lower-face skin, neck banding, and loss of the cervicomandibular angle — that non-surgical treatments can improve but not fully reverse. Dr Fortes's facelift technique centres on the superficial musculoaponeurotic system (SMAS), the fibromuscular layer connecting the superficial facial muscles that acts as the structural scaffold for the overlying skin and fat. By addressing the SMAS — through plication (folding and suturing), imbrication (overlapping), or partial excision — Dr Fortes repositions descended facial tissues to a more anatomically youthful location, restoring mid-face fullness, reducing jowling along the jawline, softening nasolabial folds, and sharpening the jaw-to-neck transition (cervicomandibular angle). Skin is then re-draped under appropriately reduced tension and the small quantity of truly excess skin removed. This two-layer approach — SMAS repositioning followed by skin re-draping — distinguishes a modern facelift from an older skin-only pull that produces an unnaturally taut or windswept result. Incisions are placed to follow the natural contours of the ear — in the pretragal or retrotragal position at the front, curving around the earlobe and into the posterior auricular sulcus behind the ear — where they heal within the ear anatomy and hairline to be essentially imperceptible. Neck lift (platysmaplasty) is frequently combined with facelift at Dr Fortes's practice, addressing platysmal banding and excess neck skin through lateral neck skin release and, where necessary, direct platysmaplasty via a small submental incision to allow midline muscle plication. Facelift is priced at $20,000 all-inclusive; combination facelift with neck lift is $30,000, all-inclusive of surgeon fee, anaesthesia, and facility with no hidden charges. Additional procedures commonly combined in the same anaesthetic episode include upper and lower blepharoplasty for periorbital rejuvenation (upper blepharoplasty $7,000; lower $10,000; combined quad blepharoplasty $14,000), endoscopic brow lift for forehead and brow position ($10,000), and autologous fat grafting for volume restoration to the temples, mid-face, and lips ($4,000). Recovery from facelift involves swelling and bruising that largely resolves in two to three weeks, with most patients comfortable being seen socially by week three to four. Final results fully emerge over three to six months as residual swelling completely clears. PatientFi financing is available.