If you’re like millions of other people worldwide, looking and feeling like the best version of you is at the top of your 2025 New Year’s resolutions list. For many, this will include goals like improving their diet, hitting the gym more, and managing daily stress better. Although these are fantastic aspirations to enhance your overall health, there certainly isn’t anything wrong with wanting to look your best too! Regardless of how lean and fit our bodies may become, our faces may tell a different story. Deep wrinkles, sagging jowls, and loose skin along the neckline can make us appear years older than we actually are. Fortunately, facelift surgery can turn back the clock on these common signs of aging and refresh your appearance for a more youthful-looking new you in the New Year!
“Not looking as young as you feel can be tremendously disheartening for patients, especially those who are diligent about taking care of their health through diet and exercise,” says Dr. Brian Kobienia, a partner and board-certified plastic surgeon at Edina Plastic Surgery. “Although there are lifestyle habits, treatments, and products that may help us prevent, delay, and correct some of the visible signs of aging, in the end, all of us will experience some degree of wrinkles and sagging skin. Facelift surgery, or rhytidectomy, is a highly customized surgical procedure that aims to address the unique signs of aging on your face by lifting and tightening tissues into a more youthful position. At Edina Plastic Surgery, a facelift is never about making you look like a different person. It’s about turning back the clock to a fresher, younger-looking you that maintains and enhances your best facial features.”
5 Ways a Facelift Refreshes Your Appearance
#1 – A facelift tightens loose, sagging skin on the face and neck to restore a more youthful-looking face
The goal of a full facelift is two-fold. First, it repositions the underlying soft tissue layers of the face and neck to a more youthful anatomic position. Next, it removes excess skin and tightens what remains. A more natural-looking outcome is achieved by including deeper tissue layers in the lift, like muscle and fascia. Incisions are placed along the hairline and around the contours of the ears to minimize the visibility of postsurgical scarring. This technique offers your plastic surgeon the greatest access to underlying structures for a more complete rejuvenation.
“ At Edina Plastic Surgery, we use the most advanced techniques to rejuvenate the face and neck during facelift surgery while maintaining a natural, authentic appearance that is 100% you,” says Dr. Kobienia. “Our techniques are designed to make you look more youthful, healthy, and completely natural – without the telltale signs of surgery. Our goal is to have those around you tell you how refreshed and great you look without them guessing you’ve had a surgical procedure.”
#2 – A facelift smooths the appearance of jowls to redefine your lower face and profile
“During a facelift consultation, I ask patients to show me in a mirror the concerns they have about their face,” shares Dr. Kobienia. “As you can imagine, most patients immediately point to or even pinch their jowls and/or turkey neck area under the chin. So if these bother you as well, know that you are in good company, and facelift surgery can significantly improve them!”
At Edina Plastic Surgery, neck lift surgery is included in your facelift procedure to ensure a more complete low-face rejuvenation.
“A facelift is never cookie-cutter or one-size-fits-all,” stresses Dr. Kobienia. “In fact, the specific steps of surgery are unique to each patient. Generally, a traditional facelift begins with an incision extending from the temporal hairline along the front of the ear. The incision continues around the earlobe and behind the ear and ends at the hair-baring scalp line. Once the incision is made, your plastic surgeon can elevate the skin of the cheeks and neck to reduce sagging. The deeper tissues are also lifted and reshaped to restore youthful definition and facial contours.”
#3 – A facelift can be combined with other procedures for a complete full face rejuvenation
Your facelift journey at Edina Plastic Surgery will be as unique as you are! Because a facelift mainly addresses the lower two-thirds of the face and neck, many patients decide to add on complementary upper face procedures for a more complete and harmonious result. There are many benefits to combining your facelift with other procedures like blepharoplasty or rhinoplasty.
“There are a few different procedures that many patients choose to combine with their facelift surgery,” says Dr. Kobienia. “I generally advocate for those combinations for many reasons. First, it cuts down considerably on the time a patient is under anesthesia. When you have multiple surgeries done at once, you don’t need to be placed under various times. In the long run, it also saves patients money since you only pay for anesthesia and surgical facility fees once. But the most important reason I advocate combining your facelift procedure with other facial surgeries is that your overall result will be more complete, balanced, and natural-looking.”
The Most Common Procedures Combined with Facelift Surgery:
Blepharoplasty (Eyelid Surgery) — Lifting your face will dramatically impact your appearance, but if you have wrinkles around the eyes, the results may feel slightly dampened. Tightening both areas of the face creates a more universally youthful appearance and harmony throughout your facial contours.
Brow Lift — Just like a blepharoplasty, this combination is all about creating harmony and balance throughout the facial appearance. Droopy eyebrows can create eyes that look tired and have a wrinkled and baggy appearance. Correcting both concerns can do wonders for your appearance.
Neck Lift (included with your facelift surgery) — We often focus so much on our faces that we don’t realize when other body parts are beginning to degrade, especially in the neck. Vertical wrinkles on the neck are a telltale sign of aging, and eliminating them can add a lot of value to your facelift surgery.
Rhinoplasty (Nose Job) —While it might seem a little disassociated, the results of your facelift will be hugely impactful to your appearance — so much so that you might once again begin to notice other problems that plagued you before wrinkles set in. Many people are discouraged by the shape of their nose, and when you have taut facial skin, you want every curve to look perfect. In those cases where the nasal structure may be preventing the ideal aesthetic, rhinoplasty is an ideal solution to finally achieving aesthetic balance.
#4 – The Full Focus Facelift at Edina Plastic Surgery combines skincare services and products to dramatically improve your skin’s quality and overall result
“The Full Focus Facelift is the standard approach to facelift surgery at our practice,” explains Dr. Kobienia. “We developed this approach to specifically improve the quality of your results by placing additional effort into your skincare routine before and after your facelift surgery. In addition to the surgery, you are given an entire regimen of skincare products and treatments from our medical spa, Skin Artisans, to dramatically improve the quality of your results.”
At Edina Plastic Surgery, your Full Focus Facelift includes:
- Preoperative skincare regimen to condition your skin before surgery
- Traditional facelift surgery
- Laser resurfacing to improve your skin’s smoothness and texture
- BBL® Photorejuvenation to remove dark spots and improve your skin’s overall tone and luminosity
- Postoperative skincare regimen to support skin’s recovery
- Postoperative shampoo to clean the scalp and help you feel fresh
- The partnership and guidance of a Skin Artisans Advanced Practice Esthetician and ongoing advanced treatments at our medspa
#5 – Once healed, the scars from facelift surgery are barely noticeable
“My patients are often relieved to discover that not only is there minimal scarring associated with facelift surgery but that it can also be easily covered or disguised within the hairline,” says Dr. Kobienia. “This means that once you are fully recovered, you can enjoy a new, younger-looking you in the New Year without anyone knowing you’ve undergone a facial procedure. It’s kind of like the surgical parallel of having your cake and eating it too!”
Are you ready to ring in the New Year with a fresher, more youthful-looking you? Schedule a complimentary consultation to discuss facelift surgery with Dr. Brian Kobienia or another board-certified plastic surgeon at Edina Plastic Surgery by calling (952) 592-5871, texting (952) 925-1765, or CLICKING HERE!
