Facelift & Neck Lift in Wichita, Kansas

Candidates are in good overall health, have reasonable expectations, and are experiencing signs of facial aging such as sagging skin, heavy lower face, or excess skin and fullness in the neck. A facelift is ideal for concerns in the mid-to-lower face, while a neck lift focuses on the jawline and neck. A consultation with us will help you determine the best approach for your goals.

A facelift addresses sagging skin and facial aging starting in the cheeks, going down to the jowls and jawline, lower face, and neck. A neck lift focuses specifically on the neck area, tightening loose skin, removing excess fat, and resolving muscle banding. Because both our face and our neck ages together, these procedures are often performed together for more powerful, natural rejuvenation.

There is no absolute age cut-off where you are too old to undergo the facelift, as long as you are in good health, have well-controlled medical problems, and have clearance from your primary care doctor. We will review your medical history to let you know if you are a good candidate.

When performed with a modern, individualized approach, a facelift is designed to create natural-looking results that make you look rested, refreshed and never wind-blown or pulled. The goal is to refresh your appearance while maintaining your unique facial features, not to make you look like someone else. We offer a deep-plane facelift which lifts the deeper muscle and fascia layer of the face. This allows for the deep facial structures to be resuspended and lifted resulting in more natural appearance, rather than tightening on the skin alone which can cause a wind-blown and pulled look.

In Wichita, KS, Dr. Biskup performs a deep-plane, sub-SMAS facelift in almost all patients who undergo facelift. A deep-plane facelift goes underneath the strong fascia and muscle layers of the face, thus lifting these and resuspending them to a more youthful position. By lifting and resuspending this strength layer, a facelift result looks more natural (avoiding the pulled appearance of a skin only facelift), lasts longer, and results in a finer scar.

Most patients experience swelling and bruising, that peaks at 3 days after surgery, and improves thereafter. Mild-moderate discomfort and a feeling of ‘tightness’ is expected for the first 1–2 weeks. By 1 week out from surgery, when sutures are removed, bruising and swelling are fading; however, you still look as if you’ve had surgery. By 2 weeks out, most patients look ‘normal’ and signs of surgery (such as bruising) have faded away. Thus, many feel comfortable returning to social activities by 2 weeks from surgery, although subtle swelling may take longer to fully resolve.

Facelift incisions are typically placed around the ears and along the hairline, placing then in locations where they are well-concealed. Over time, these incisions usually heal and fade, becoming minimally noticeable, however scars are permanent and do not disappear.

A facelift and/or neck lift result can be expected to last 10-15 years before an additional procedure may be needed.

We commonly recommend combining a facelift with facial fat grafting, which involves taking fat from the abdomen and injecting it into the cheeks, nasolabial folds, temples and other locations. Facial fat atrophy is a natural part of the aging process. Adding fat back to the face can help amplify and nicely enhance the facelift result. Facelift/neck lift is also commonly combined with other facial procedures, such as blepharoplasty, browlift, TCA peel, lip lift, and others.

Neck liposuction (often times referred to as chin liposuction or submental liposuction) can be done alone in younger individuals who have good skin elasticity and minimal skin excess. Liposuction alone does not tone or tighten the skin, but it can remove excess fat underneath the chin and in the neck, thus helping to define and sculpt the jawline and neck. A platysmaplasty is another ‘less invasive’ option to help tighten the muscles of the neck thus enhancing neck contour.

Depending on which procedure or combination of procedures, the average cost can range from $6,000-12,000.

Most patients describe tightness and soreness, not severe pain. Discomfort is usually manageable with short-term pain medicine.

A mini-facelift aims to be less invasive, shorter recovery, and shorter scar. Unfortunately, we do not recommend a mini-facelift as this limits the result and does not allow for a comprehensive, natural rejuvenation. The results are often underwhelming and short-term.

Maintenance treatments like fillers, Botox, and skin resurfacing are necessary and can help delay the signs of early aging – but they can not and do not replace a facelift or neck lift when significant skin sagging and facial descent is present. These maintenance treatments are strongly encouraged after the facelift to maintain and compliment the result.

Results are visible immediately after surgery as the skin will be significantly tightened. However, final, refined results take 2-3 months as swelling fully resolves.

Like any surgery, there are inherent risks, such as bleeding, infection, scar (which can rarely be raised or thick), nerve injury (rare), asymmetry, prolonged bruising, and relaxation of result (which highly depends on your starting skin elasticity).