Many morbidly obese people have large round faces and very full heavy necks. The fullness of the face and neck are a result of the excess fat. As these morbidly obese people lose weight, their faces lose their youthful appearance and they look older than they did when they were obese. There can actually be an impressive aging result as the weight loss continues. The face looks deflated and sags. This sagging of the facial skin creates heavy appearing lines, especially around the cheek. As the cheek loses fat in hangs lower and will cause shadows on the face. The cheek can have a ‘Saint Bernard' look, with heavy nasolabial folds and jowls extending below the angle of the jaw.
The neck's changes with weight loss can be equally as impressive if not even more impressive than the face's changes. The heavy cheek blends into the sagging neck and the necks sags giving the ‘turkey neck' or ‘waddle'. This can be distressing and impede in the emotional and psychological recovery from morbid obesity. Not only are these facial changes disturbing it may affect the employment ability and personal interactions of the morbidly obese person who is losing weight. People in sales and other professions have to look their best.
The plastic surgery options for the treatment of weight loss affecting the face and neck are the face lift and the neck lift. The face lift and neck lift plastic surgery operations are typically done at the same time. The person who has had a massive weight loss will typically have a significant amount of excess skin, which is the primary reason for them looking so old. Because of the large amount of excess skin, the great majority of the face lifts and neck lift plastic surgeries will be performed using long incisions hidden at the hairline, and traveling in front and around the ear and then down along the hairline behind the ear and into the neck if necessary. There is an extra incision under the chin to repair the neck muscles in the front of the neck.
The face lift and neck lift are plastic surgery procedures that are usually done as outpatient procedures with the patient going home afterwards. However, many patients and plastic surgeons will prefer to have the patient spend the first night after the plastic surgery in a specialized medical setting, including a hospital. The plastic surgeon may place plastic surgery drains in the neck to assure any light bleeding can be evacuated without need for additional plastic surgery. The drains are usually removed one to four days after plastic surgery.
If the plastic surgery patient did have an overnight stay at a medical facility, they will typically be sent home the next morning. The skin staples in the hair and the sutures on the face will stay in from roughly 5 days to 10 days, depending on the type of sutures, their function, and their location on the face. Depending on the plastic surgery technique, the post operative face lift and neck lift patient is typically presentable in public within a week or two. There is a fair amount of variations in plastic surgery techniques and the long term results and recoveries will also very greatly.
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