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How Weight Fluctuations Can Affect Your Facelift

When considering a facelift, most patients don’t think about their body weight. They may feel a difference of 10 or 15 pounds shouldn’t affect their facial appearance. But the truth is that weight fluctuations can impact facelift benefits, a surgery where submental fat plays an integral role.

Ideal Facelift Candidates

The goal of facelift surgery is to refresh the lower two-thirds of your face, including your cheek and jawline, by tightening the facial muscles and their supporting tissues, redistributing or removing underlying fat from the lower third of the face, and redraping the skin to appear firmer and more youthful. It can profoundly impact a patient’s appearance, sometimes removing a decade or so from their apparent age. Therefore, careful planning for such a procedure is essential to its success.

An ideal facelift candidate is an adult in good physical health who does not abuse alcohol or drugs and is a nonsmoker. For optimal benefits, you should be as close to your ideal weight as possible and lead a healthy lifestyle to keep their weight stable. Daily habits should include maintaining a proper diet and exercise routine.

Losing Weight Before a Facelift

Most plastic surgeries, including a facelift, deal with the removal and redistribution of fat volume. Therefore, losing weight before your facelift and keeping it off is the best way to ensure you reach and maintain all your cosmetic goals.

If you choose to lose weight before a facelift, it’s critical to time it right. You should never make dramatic changes between your consultation and the day of surgery, since you risk altering any surgical plan your surgeon has devised.

However healthy your changes may be, a change in underlying tissue significantly affects your surgeon’s overall approach. If you plan to lose weight, disclose this to your surgeon at your consultation. Dr. Ali Sajjadian may delay creating a surgical plan until you reach your desired weight loss goal. Ideally, you should be at your target weight at the time of your initial consultation and maintain that weight until the day of surgery and the years that follow.

Eat a balanced diet and implement a regular exercise routine to lose weight safely. Avoid fad diets or dangerous fasts. These might achieve dramatic initial results before eventually ending in dangerous weight fluctuations. Unfortunately, dieting can adversely affect your overall health and make you an unsuitable candidate for a facelift. Losing weight at a healthy pace and committing to the lifestyle changes that will keep it off are your healthiest options.

Losing Weight After a Facelift

There is an excellent chance you will love your new look after your facelift surgery. But, for long-term benefits, especially the initial years after your facelift, you should not plan to lose significant weight. If you’re not at your ideal weight or within five to 10 pounds of it, considerable weight loss could be tempting. After a facelift, many men and women feel increased motivation to transform their bodies to fit their new facial profile.

However,  significant weight loss after your facelift may not be the wisest decision – especially if you lose that weight quickly and experience a reduction in facial fat loss while getting your body in shape. In addition, skin laxity could be an unwanted consequence of dramatic weight loss after surgery.

While losing excess weight and keeping it off should be a goal for everyone, most patients don’t want to sacrifice their surgical benefits. If you plan your weight loss carefully, you can preserve your facelift results and achieve your ideal weight by following these tips:

  • Lose weight at a healthy pace. Most doctors recommend one to two pounds of weight loss per week for safe and lasting results.
  • Check in at five-pound milestones and see how you look. While some notice a change in their facial appearance first, others drop significant weight from elsewhere on their bodies before seeing it on their face.
  • You should never sacrifice your overall health to preserve your facial appearance. Instead, talk to Dr. Sajjadian about fat transfer or injectable fillers to replace any lost volume from your weight loss.

It is possible to manage weight following a facelift, especially with your surgeon’s help. During your consultation, be honest about any weight struggles to get recommendations for your specific case, ensuring you meet all your surgical goals with time and patience.

Plan Your Weight Loss for Surgical Success

How much weight you can lose after a facelift depends on two principal factors – your age and your skin elasticity. It is best to get within five to 10 pounds of your target weight before having surgery. Still, if your skin has excellent pliability, it may be more resilient to losing additional weight. When in doubt about losing weight for your health vs. improving your appearance, choose your health every time.

Consult with a reputable, board-certified plastic surgeon for guidance on weight loss and your surgical needs. Dr. Sajjadian specializes in facial plastic surgery and offers extensive experience in successful outcomes and overjoyed facelift patients. A recognized expert in facial rejuvenation and rhinoplasty, triple board-certified Dr. Sajjadian has shared his techniques with his peers at various national and international plastic surgery conferences.

Facelift Options

Depending on your concerns and goals, Dr. Sajjadian may recommend a less invasive procedure to promote fast recovery and fewer post-surgical side effects. Endoscopic facelifts, short-scar facelifts, and mini facelifts are excellent procedures for patients who need less correction. They offer a shorter recovery and less discomfort than a traditional facelift with excellent results.

He may also recommend combining your facelift with other cosmetic enhancements. For example, complementary procedures like liposuction or facial implants can help improve your facelift benefits and overall facial contours. Discuss your cosmetic goals with Dr. Sajjadian, and he will design a customized plan for a facelift.

For more information on what a facelift can do for you, schedule a consultation with Dr. Sajjadian today!