Quantifying Skin Removal During a Face-lift: Does the Approach Matter?

[BACKGROUND] The purpose of this study was to measure the amount of skin removed around the ears during a face-lift procedure. The secondary metric assessed skin removal comparing different face-lift techniques of SMASectomy versus deep plane approach and lastly comparing with and without midline corset platysmaplasty (MCP).

[METHODS] One hundred fifty consecutive face-lift patients were measured for skin removal at 3 cardinal locations in the postauricular, preauricular, and temple regions. Measurements were quantitated and compared statistically with different face-lift techniques.

[RESULTS] The average skin removal in the postauricular area was 4 cm, the preauricular area was 2.4 cm, and the temple 1.9 cm. There was no difference in skin removal comparing SMASectomy and deep plane face-lift. There was a small but significant difference when MCP was performed, with more skin removal with MCP.

[CONCLUSION] Quantifying the amount of skin removal during a face-lift procedure provides surgeons and patients important information. There was no difference when comparing the simpler SMASectomy technique with the more invasive deep plane technique.