Ask Dr. Seckel » Blog Archive » Dear Dr Seckel, 2 years ago I had a lifestyle lift at the age of 42. The results were wonderful in the beginning but I was left with horrible scarring. I understood that I would have a scar in front on my ear, but I have huge scars 1/4″ below my ear that is thick and jagged. I look like I was in a car accident. I cannot wear my hair back or up and I can’t leave the house without self tanning lotion and heavy makeup. I wrote to the Dr. that developed this procedure but he has failed to respond. All I want to do is have this fixed, but I am concerned that this will be very difficult and expensive. Do you think I will have to have a full facelift to repair the scarring? Have you had any emails similiar to mine? Thank you for your time.Kelly, Jacksonville, FL

Dear Dr Seckel, 2 years ago I had a lifestyle lift at the age of 42. The results were wonderful in the beginning but I was left with horrible scarring. I understood that I would have a scar in front on my ear, but I have huge scars 1/4″ below my ear that is thick and jagged. I look like I was in a car accident. I cannot wear my hair back or up and I can’t leave the house without self tanning lotion and heavy makeup. I wrote to the Dr. that developed this procedure but he has failed to respond. All I want to do is have this fixed, but I am concerned that this will be very difficult and expensive. Do you think I will have to have a full facelift to repair the scarring? Have you had any emails similiar to mine? Thank you for your time.Kelly, Jacksonville, FL

Dear Kelly,

I am very sorry to hear of your scarring and unhappiness following your lifestyle lift. I do not do the lifestyle lift, rather I do the traditional face lift as done by most board certified plastic surgeons in this country, so I have no experience with the lifestyle lift.

Usually following face lift surgery scars are very well concealed in the crease in front of the ear and behind the ear, it is very unusual in my experience to have scars below the ear. Also, in my experience, visible thick jagged scars as you describe are not usually present following a well performed face lift, but scarring is a risk of any surgical procedure such as a face lift.

I want to encourage you and tell you not to give up.

Happily a skilled, board certified plastic surgeon who is experienced in face lift surgery should be able to remove the scars and revise the face lift to give you a some improvement in your face lift scars. If you can read chapter 10 in my book “Don’t Let Just Anyone Touch Your Face” I give very detailed instructions on how to find a board certified plastic surgeon, and once you find two, how to evaluate their skills and compassion and choose one to be your doctor.

The good news is the problems you have should be able to be corrected but I recommend that you find an experienced surgeon whose references you can check. I will be very happy to try to help you offline.

For more information on face lifts and facial rejuvenation read Save Your Face or contact me.

Sincerely

Dr Seckel

Boston, Massachusetts

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 9th, 2006 at 9:10 pm and is filed under Face Lift, Unhappy Results. Both comments and pings are currently closed.