SELECTING YOUR THREADLIFT FACELIFT SURGEON

Choosing the right surgeon to perform your facelift and necklift is a very personal decision. It is important to choose someone with whom you feel comfortable based on their personality and your determination of their experience.

Although a referral to a surgeon from a friend is a good place to start, explore a little further. Make sure your contemplated facelift surgeon is actually a surgeon. Many physicians call themselves "cosmetic surgeons" but they have no real surgical training. For example, many dermatologists and internal medicine physicians have taken a "weekend course" and are promoting themselves as cosmetic surgery specialists. In my opinion, going to this type of individual is not in your best interest. No only do they lack the full spectrum of treatment options to offer you in order to obtain the best facelift result, but the majority lack true experience and certainly are not able to appropriately handle complications.

Second, determine if your contemplated facelift surgeon is certified by The American Board of Plastic Surgery. Many other similar sounding "boards" and societies exist, such as the "Cosmetic Surgery Board", so be careful. Only ASPS members have completed extensive surgical training, passed both written boards and oral boards, and have had an independent review of their surgical outcomes.

Third, find out if your contemplated facelift surgeon has a full spectrum of treatment options available. Then, you can be assured that you are being offered the appropriate procedure to meet your desires. For example, your cosmetic surgeon should have the following options available: skin care with microdermabrasion or equivalent, non-ablative lasers for tightening the face skin, intense pulsed light devices for toning the face skin, Thermage and/or Titan devices for tightening and lifting the face and neck skin, fat transfers and "off the shelf" fillers to volumize the face, minimally invasive facelift and necklift procedures, endoscopic facelift procedures, and the full spectrum of maximally invasive facelift and necklift procedures.

Fourth, determine if your facelift surgeon has the experience necessary to provide you with a good result and to treat you appropriately if there is a complication or if you don't achieve the results you expected.

 

A POOR CHOICE

The following is a TRUE story... "Mary" is a patient who desired to have her cheeks lifted. She found a local "specialist" who offered to perform a "Threadlift" facelift for $2,000. After the procedure, she had dimples in the skin. Mary went back to the specialist for a corrective procedure, but the dimples remained and new scars were made from the "corrective" procedure.

It turns out that Mary's procedure had been performed by a dermatologist with no surgical background. The dermatologist had taken a weekend course and was "certified" to perform the Threadlift facelift procedure. However, the dermatologist did not have any of the non-invasive treatments available, and certainly did not have the experience to offer more invasive procedures. Therefore, Mary was given the only choice available through this physician. To make matters worse, the physician had very little experience in performing the Threadlift facelift procedure (thus this presence of dimples) and had even less experience in correcting problems (thus the presence of new scars).

The bottom line -- although it may be more expensive to go to a surgeon who has the full spectrum of treatment options available, you can be assured that you are being offered the treatment option(s) which best suit your needs.  Remember, you only have one face - place your trust in the hands of an experienced cosmetic plastic surgeon.

 

EXPERIENCE COUNTS!

If someone (ASPS board certified or otherwise) is advertising that they are "certified" to perform a 1-Hour Facelift, Threadlift (Thread Lift) or Featherlift (Feather Lift) procedure, they probably have recently completed a weekend course and they do not actually have much experience in performing the procedure. Think about it...you never see a reputable board certified surgeon advertising that they are "certified" to perform liposuction or a breast augmentation! Certification in a procedure does not mean that they are an expert in the procedure...it's the surgeon's experience that counts.  Always ask to see photos of patients on whom your contemplated facelift surgeon has operated on personally.  Also, have an open discussion regarding your surgeon's experience with complications and correcting problems.

Dr. Summers has been performing Suture Suspension Lifts since the mid-1990's. As one of the first surgeons in the United States to perform a successful series of Suture Suspension Lifts, Dr. Summers has a unique perspective and significant experience with Suture Suspension Lifts. In fact, Dr. Summers began work on a paper about this experience in 1998 which was subsequently published in the prestigious Plastic Surgery Journal, and he has presented the technique at national meetings.

Additionally, Dr. Summers has experience correcting problems caused by improperly placed Threadlift (Thread Lift) procedures performed by less experienced physicians. He also has been instrumental in evaluating new modifications in the Threadlift design and subsequent changes to the suture have been made based on his recommendation.

In order to obtain the best Threadlift results, Dr. Summers recommends that the sutures be placed slightly deeper than the technique originally taught to surgeons performing the Contour Lift -- this reduces the risk of seeing or feeling the suspension sutures. Also, to achieve long lasting results, Dr. Summers recommends that the sutures be placed in multiple layers and that the sutures be secured to the fascia.

Based on his extensive experience with Suture Suspension Lifts, Dr. Summers has developed specialized insertion techniques to achieve an up-turning of the corner of the eye and of the corner of the mouth. Dr. Summers can also achieve significantly greater cheek elevation when required, replacing the need for cheek implants.