A quick discussion about the cheek lift… Many plastic surgeons, instead of a cheek lift, will do fat injections, cheek implants, or temporary injection of fillers. Some patients who have had these operations can very often be seen as having fullness in regions of the face that are not quite normal. We recognize that something is off, but it can be difficult sometimes to identify exactly what is wrong.
When I perform a cheek lift, however, I am repositioning the tissue that was originally at the cheek back to its natural position. The postoperative appearance is very natural. The cheek lift has several functions. It rejuvenates the mid face, and can also have a pleasant, reducing effect on the nasolabial crease. While these changes can appear subtle, their promotion of the youthful appearance of the face is profound.
When I discuss the difference between a cheek lift and fat injections with my patients, I explain that fillers and fat injections in modern day cosmetic medicine have become so commonplace that their effects are accepted by the conditioned eye. What I mean by this is that we are so used to seeing this type of look that we no longer identify it as abnormal, though our brain is still wired to notice the “oddness”. Many women who have had fat injections look acceptable by today’s standards, but if you were to insert them into a lineup of beautiful women from the 1950’s, they would stand out like a sore thumb.
In my Santa Barbara plastic surgery practice, my goal is to make my patients appear to be refreshed, more youthful versions of themselves. My goal is the timeless beauty that a natural lifting can achieve without “inflation” of the face by fat or fillers that are not naturally there. In the mid-face, a cheek lift achieves this effect beautifully. Please see our before and after photos and compare them to others that have had fat or filler injected by other surgeons. I think, and my Santa Barbara face lift patients seem to think, that the results speak for themselves.
