After losing weight, you naturally expect a surge in confidence. But when your weight loss leaves your face looking gaunt or aged, it can have the opposite effect, making you wonder about a facelift.
At Cosmetic Surgery Center in Oklahoma City, our triple board-certified and fellowship-trained cosmetic surgeon Dr. Trent Fogleman is also an anti-aging and weight management specialist. These qualifications uniquely position him as the surgeon to see for facial aging concerns related to weight loss.
In this post, we share how weight loss can affect your face and what you can do about it.
Just like fat tends to collect in certain areas, it may drop off more noticeably in some areas versus others. While most of us would love to focus the weight loss mainly on our bodies, the face is, unfortunately, often one of the first places to lose fullness.
Mild to moderate volume loss can accentuate your cheekbones and show off your facial structure, but if you lose a significant amount of weight, it can quickly have negative effects for your face.
As you lose fat, the volume that once supported your skin vanishes, so skin can droop, wrinkle, and sag, with your face taking on a hollow appearance. Common complaints are:
These changes are common and quite normal after losing a lot of weight, but they don’t have to be permanent.
A facelift is designed to lift and tighten the deeper layers of your face while restoring a more youthful, refreshed look. Facelifts focus on the middle and lower face, particularly the cheek, chin, and jaw areas.
Although Dr. Fogelman removes extra skin and performs complex tightening and repositioning of the tissues beneath it, it's important to know that a facelift isn't really about volume increase. It's more about restoring skin tightness and lifting facial tissues.
Dr. Fogelman customizes your facelift to fit your needs and facial structure. For example, if you've experienced dramatic volume loss that leaves you looking gaunt, Dr. Fogelman may suggest adding volume in the form of facial fat grafting during your procedure. With fat grafting, Dr. Fogelman performs liposuction in a spot where you have some fat to spare, like the lower abdomen or thighs. After purification, he places the fat where you need volume.
Facelifts today are not the same as they were decades ago. Modern techniques aim for a natural, refreshed appearance, not a pulled or tight look.
If you're unhappy with your facial volume after weight loss but aren't quite ready to consider a facelift, not to worry. We also offer nonsurgical options to restore facial volume, such as dermal fillers and Potenza® radiofrequency (RF) microneedling.
These options can be ideal if you're looking for a nonsurgical approach to boost volume, but aren't dealing with excessively sagging skin.
Dr. Fogelman and our team take time to understand your goals and recommend treatments that fit your lifestyle, age, and desired outcome.
A facelift may be the right step, or we may suggest nonsurgical treatments. We can guide you to an option that helps your face align with your new body. You deserve the confidence boost!
If you're dealing with a hollow-looking face and want to restore youthful volume, call our Cosmetic Surgery Center office in Oklahoma City at 402-526-5449 to book your consultation today.
