Face Lift Expertise

• Dr. Steinsapir is facial plastic surgeon in Los Angeles who strives for the most natural, youthful look for a given face.
• Dr. Steinsapir is a UCLA Medical School and University of Chicago School of Medicine trained surgeon who did separate fellowships in cosmetic surgery and eyelid plastic surgery.
• Since 1990, Dr. Steinsapir has led the trend towards small incision, minimal down-time face lifts.
• Patients travel from all over Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, California and the World to consult Dr. Steinsapir on face lifts and benefit from his technical efficiency and artistic skill that produce a natural non-surgical appearance.
• Dr. Steinsapir was elected as a Fellow to the prestigious American Society for Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, one of about 500 members worldwide. In addition, he is an elected Fellow to the American Academy of Ophthalmology and American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery.
• Dr. Steinsapir is world renowned in his expertise for fixing both facial and eyelid cosmetic surgery
• Dr. Steinsapir is a board certified Ophthalmologist, as well as an Associate Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at the prestigious Jules Stein Eye Institute at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Benefits

• The face lift continues to be the single most powerful facial cosmetic surgery available for rejuvenating one’s appearance.
• The face lift smooths and tightens the jaw line and cheeks by tightening the deeper layers of the face, removing unwanted fatty deposits in the face, and tightening the loose skin that accounts for deeper facial lines and the loose skin under the chin that results in the unwanted turkey neck.

Facelift Consultation

• Over the years, the face lift procedure has evolved from a simple skin lift to the more complex deeper plane lift. There are many types of face lifts. Variations include the deep plane lift, the superficial musculoaponeurotic system (SMAS) face lift, the endoscopic face lift, S-lift, the MACS lift and the short scar face lift.
• At your consultation, Dr. Steinsapir will give you a comprehensive examination and discuss with you both the benefits and risks of each procedure. Dr. Steinsapir will recommend an intelligent treatment plan to address your facial structure and needs. Dr. Steinsapir strives for a natural non-surgery result. Dr. Steinsapir believes that procedures should be tailored to your aesthetic needs, therefore he will discuss a range of options with you and help you find the most appropriate combination of services that achieve your goals with the least risk and minimum of downtime.
• Face lifts can be performed in the office awake under local anesthesia for individuals in good health. For others, general anesthesia may be the right choice. For cases requiring deep sedation and general anesthesia, Dr. Steinsapir will performed surgery at the UCLA Ronald Regan Medical Center where he is on staff. Following deep sedation or general anesthesia, an overnight stay at the surgery center is recommended.

Your Face Lift

• Dr Steinsapir favors carefully tailored small incisions and deeper tissue work to provide profound, lasting, yet serene and natural results.
• Once the incisions are made, various degrees of undermining of the skin are performed, and the deeper layers of the face are “lifted.” Dr. Steinsapir then separates the skin and muscles of the face from the deeper facial tissues. Excess skin is removed. In most cases fat may be removed as well, with open liposculpture.
• In other cases, the skin and muscle tissues are reshaped. The underlying muscle may be tightened with the skin, or separately. After the tightening or removal of excess skin, the skin is re-draped and sutured and stapled in place. Following the surgery, Dr. Steinsapir will apply a dressing to protect the entire area where the incisions have been made.

Recovery

• A face lift usually takes approximately four hours. Typically it is an outpatient procedure, but overnight stays are recommended after deep sedation or general anesthesia.
• Usually there is minimal discomfort afterward; it can be managed with either over-the-counter or prescription pain medications. Also you may experience moderate swelling of the eyelids and other areas. Downtime can range from 2 weeks to 7 weeks depending on the procedure. However, most find that after about 6 days they can camouflage the healing process and resume many activities.

Testimonials

• “Wow, I can’t believe what a difference my face lift made. Healing was so fast and the process so easy. Thank you again.” MG
• “I shopped for a lifestyle face lift surgeon after seeing the ads on tv. But then I found Dr. Steinsapir and I am so glad I did. The comparison between those offices and Dr. Steinsapir couldn’t be bigger. I’ve sent several friends to Dr. Steinsapir and we are all thrilled with our results.” SB
• “Thank you for recommending surgery at the UCLA Medical Center. What a great facility. The staff was so professional and compassionate.” BL

How do I know I am ready for a face lift?

The key feature that prompts most face lifts is the presence of a neck cord, that band of skin and muscle under the chin in the midline. If this is not present, almost every other facial concern can be addressed with minimally invasive methods avoiding surgery.

I am thinking of having a facelift but I am afraid of the pain. A girl friend of mine had a facelift and she had to stay drugged in a recovery facility for 5 days.

We do seem to like our drugs in Los Angeles. It is the style of some surgeons to keep their patients heavily medicated after surgery. This may be so they don’t have to spend a lot of time speaking with them. Dr. Steinsapir’s face lift patients generally stay overnight at the UCLA surgery center before being discharged home. A prescription of Vicodin®, or its equivalent, is provided but many face lift patients find that this medication was never needed. Keep in mind that many of Dr. Steinsapir’s patients have their face lift awake under local anesthesia in the office procedure suite. This would be impossible if the procedure was inherently uncomfortable.

I’ve been reading about the deep plane facelift. Does Dr. Steinsapir perform a deep plane facelift?

Dr. Steinsapir very much believes that the punishment should fit the crime. Plastic surgeons tend to be a macho bunch. The deep plane face lift carries with it a risk of facial nerve injury, even in the best of hands. This is because the nerves are exposed in performing the dissection. It is not possible to have a great face lift result if part of your face does not move correctly after surgery due to a facial nerve injury. This small risk might be justifiable if the deep plane face lift led to a much better result or a more long lasting procedure. The operative word here is might. The reality is that after six months it is impossible for experts to tell what technique was used in a particular face lift. So it makes no sense to perform high-risk maneuvers under the facial flaps. So if you feel you need a deep plane face lift Dr. Steinsapir is not your surgeon. However, be careful what you look for.

I am considering having a face lift. It is reasonable to have abdominal liposuction at the same time?

Dr. Steinsapir does not think so. A detailed, properly tailored face lift takes 3 to 4 hours to perform. To add liposuction to this procedure requires that both procedures be performed under general anesthesia. This substantially increases the risks of surgery. Dr. Steinsapir strongly advises against this type of “blue plate special.” It is far safer to separate these types of procedures in time. This reduces the risk of toxicity from the combination of anesthesia. Patients are sometimes coerced into having these combination procedures with the argument that the first hour of anesthesia is the most expensive and reduced facility fees for multiple surgeries. Our best advice is don’t try to save money this way. There are some logical combination surgeries like lower face lift and lower eyelid surgery, or lower face lift and endoscopic forehead lift. These types of options can be discussed at the time of your consultation with Dr. Steinsapir.

How does Dr. Steinsapir close the ear? I have a girl friend who had a face lift and her ears have never looked right.

Dr. Steinsapir spends a good percentage of his face lift tailoring the face lift closure. Some of the alterations in the appearance of the ear after a face lift are the results of sloppy technique. Dr. Steinsapir believes that it is well worth taking whatever time is needed to tailor the face lift closure. These myriad details and choices account for why Dr. Steinsapir’s face lift results are so beautiful and natural.

When will I be able to resume my workout after my face lift?

Generally Dr. Steinsapir will allow you to go for a walk two days after your face lift with certain restrictions. Most face lift patients are back to work in 7 to 10 days. By three weeks, it is generally possible to resume your regular work out.

How do I know if I am a candidate for having my face lift performed at Dr. Steinsapir’s accredited surgery center?

Most indivduals with reasonable good health are appropriate to have surgery in the accredited surgery center. Facelift surgery is typically done in the accredited office based surgery center under intravenous sedation. The drugs have a short duration minimizing the hung over effect that can be associated with general anesthesia. Typically for a facelift, Dr. Steinsapir advises at least the first night of recovery at a recovery facility. For individuals with more significant health issues, surgery at the UCLA surgery center with overnight recover at the surgery center may be recommended.

I really don’t have a neck cord but I do have more fullness in my lower face and I am wondering if I could benefit from a lower face and neck liposuction rather than a lower facelift?

It is remarkable how beneficial a lower face and neck liposuction can be. All face lifts involve some degree of liposuction or in some cases fat injury that effectively results in the same type of improvement. Lower face and neck liposuctions are truly minimally invasive procedures, and can be comfortably performed in the office surgery center under light iv sedation, and most people return to work in just a few days. We encourage you to come into the office and have a personal consultation with Dr. Steinsapir to learn if a lower face and neck liposuction will be right for you.