“Facial Plastic Surgery,” a new textbook on cosmetic surgery of the face features a chapter written by Dr. Tobin and former Cosmetic Surgery Fellow, Dr. George Goffas. The chapter entitled Subperiosteal Face Lift describes a technique of facial rejuvenation in which the approach is from above through an incision across the top of the head rather than the normal incisions along the side of the face. The advantage of the technique lies in the fact that the lift is upward rather than backward. Additionally, the lift is made in the deeper structures and does not involve any skin stretching.
The subperiosteal lift has been carried out at the Facial Plastic & Cosmetic Surgical Center for the past ten years with highly satisfactory results. Dr. Tobin has been teaching this technique both at major medical meetings as well as at courses thought at the Center. The technique has been featured in an article appearing in the Dallas Morning News, and has been described in several other journal articles and text book chapters.
While primarily intended for rejuvenation of the upper face. It is frequently combined with additional procedures on the lower face to produce a full face rejuvenation. The subperiosteal lift offers advantages over traditional techniques in that if improves the lifting of the drooping corner of the eye, the sagging tissue over the cheek bone and the drooping of the corner of the mouth that often occurs with aging.
When performed by itself, it offers the advantage of avoiding any visible scars, since the entire incision can be hidden in the hair. Unlike older techniques of forehead lifting, no hair is removed during the subperiosteal lift, since the technique depends of elevation of the deeper structures rather than lifting through skin stretching and excision. Because of the depth of the dissection, there may be more swelling that with traditional techniques, although most patients can return to normal activity within a few weeks.
As with all surgery, there are risks and complications that must be understood, but, in general, we have found this to be a very safe and effective approach to facial rejuvenation.
The textbook, “Facial Plastic Surgery,” was edited by J. Michael Willett and published by Appleton & Lange. It contains 35 chapters on all aspects of facial plastic surgery written by experts in the field.