Background: Just like women, men have concerns about facial aging and undergo surgical procedures to improve their appearance. While men do have have facial rejuvenation procedures in the numbers that women do, they have surgery which historically is often later when the aging face problems may be more advanced.
There are numerous characteristics that separate men from women in undergoing facial procedures and facelift surgery is no exception. The key difference in this procedure in the presence of beard skin and the location and density of the hairline around the ear incisions. Keeping beard hair out of the ear and not making visible scars that stray far from the shadow of the ear are key considerations in surgical planning.
Case Study: This 47 year-old male presented after having had a ‘necklift’ by another surgeon. He had scars behind his ears but none in front of his ears. The scars behind the ear were low and back along the occipital hairline. He noticed no significant improvement from this type of necklifting operation.
Under general anesthesia, he underwent a more traditional lower facelift approach using a preauricular incision as well as his existing incisions behind his ears. A submental incision was also added to address the central neck area.
His one year after surgery results showed sustained improvement in his neck and jawline that looked natural. His surgical experience shows that neck and jawline improvement really can’t be achieved with incisions that are limited to just behind the ear. It is an appealing approach but without tissue undermining in front of the ear that permits an anterior axis of rotation, the neck and jawline can not really be improved.
The preauricular incision in the male facelift, while usually healing quite well, will shorten the distance of the non-beard skin area in front of the ear. This is unavoidable ut not usually detectable by most people.
Highlights:
1) The interest of most men in treating facial aging is in the neck and jowl sagging that develops
2) The male facelift usually uses a preauricular ear incision to avoid displacement of the beard skin onto the ear tragus.
3) Men seek a natural facelift result which has nearly undetectable scars and a smooth and non-tense skin appearance across the lower face and neck.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana