P.C.S. on Better Arizona
Dr. Richard Fisher discusses the simple surgical solution to a very common and embarrassing problem many men face, that of having female-looking breasts, or gynecomastia.
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A Facelift vs. A Fadlift
Not infrequently, patients will ask my opinion of heavily advertised procedures designed to rejuvenate the aging face such as the Quicklift, the Lunchtime Lift, or the Lifestyle Lift. Purveyors of these lifts usually boast that their particular procedure is an innovative advance, done totally under local anesthesia in little more than an hour, yielding singularly spectacular results with an amazingly short recovery time.
In considering any one of these products, you should know the following: Far from the innovative advances claimed, these lifts are merely modifications of mini facelifts that have been around for years. While the recovery from one of these procedures may be shorter than a more traditional lift, it is only a matter of several days shorter, not weeks. Purporting to be less expensive than a regular facelift, when a patient pays for necessary “extras”, such as lifting a particularly saggy neck or eyelids, the cost is the same as what we normally charge for the same procedures. In the case of the Lifestyle Lift, your relationship is with the company, not the physician performing the surgery, a contract employee hired by the company and paid on a percentage basis. Not having a relationship with your surgeon can be particularly distressing if a postoperative complication occurs. The very formidable advertising by some of these companies may be less than truthful: Lifestyle Lift was recently fined $300,000 by the State of New York for false advertising.
Coming to me for a second opinion, complaining of a painful procedure with poor results, I have had to tell more than one patient who had undergone one of these “fadlifts” that the only way to obtain what they wanted was to redo the entire procedure; not a very happy prospect.
It’s important to know when considering a facelift, that it is one of the most complex and intricate of cosmetic surgical procedures, requiring adequate sedation for the three hours or more needed to do the job properly, sufficient time to heal and an ongoing relationship with the surgeon performing the procedure. Short cuts can often leave you short; a mini lift, a mini result.
