[M Medi][AB Plastic Surgery] Parents’ Day Gift: Demand Rises for Facelift and Upper/Lower Blepharoplasty as “Filial Piety Plastic Surgery” Gains Popularity

Although the passing of time and aging are inevitable, more middle-aged and older adults are making efforts to look younger rather than simply accepting them as they are. As life expectancy increases due to population aging, they want to look even a year younger for the time they have left and maintain a youthful appearance and sense of style. As a result, more people are visiting plastic surgery clinics, and as Parents’ Day approaches during Family Month, gift options involving “filial piety plastic surgery” are becoming increasingly popular.

Popular procedures for middle-aged patients include facelift surgery, upper blepharoplasty, and lower blepharoplasty, which are known as rejuvenation procedures. These surgeries lift sagging facial skin, the skin and muscle tissue around the eyes, and related structures, and may help improve sagging skin and wrinkles.

A facelift is a procedure for people with severe facial sagging or advanced signs of aging. An incision is made inside the hairline around the temple, following the boundary of the ear and extending behind the ear. The loosened skin and SMAS layer are then lifted to improve sagging and elasticity in the midface and lower face.

This surgery is divided into a deep-plane lift, which dissects below the fascial layer and lifts the skin and SMAS layer together, and a dual-plane lift, which separately dissects the skin and SMAS layer and lifts them in two stages.

The deep-plane lift is mainly suitable for relatively younger patients, those with smaller faces, or those with thin skin. The dual-plane lift is suitable for middle-aged and older patients whose faces have sagged significantly, become lax, and developed deep wrinkles. Because the surgical method differs depending on each person’s condition, rather than insisting on only one procedure, it is advisable to proceed with the method that best suits the individual through an accurate diagnosis.

A facelift involves working with nerves, muscles, and ligaments during the tissue dissection process. If the medical team lacks sufficient clinical experience and skill, there is a risk of tissue damage, and if the surgery is not performed skillfully, the earlobe may end up sticking tightly to the skin and appear sharp, a condition commonly referred to as “knife ears.” If the hair roots are affected in the hairline area, hair loss can also occur along the incision line. In addition, the possibility of side effects such as skin flap necrosis, hematoma, sensory abnormalities, and damage to the parotid gland should also be considered.

To prevent these side effects, it is important to comprehensively evaluate the patient’s skin thickness, the degree of fascial sagging, and other factors to establish a 1:1 customized surgical plan suited to each individual. Because the procedure itself is highly complex, it should be performed by lifting specialists with extensive facelift experience and a high level of anatomical understanding.

Following a facelift, another popular procedure among middle-aged patients is upper and lower blepharoplasty. The representative eye surgery for middle-aged patients, upper blepharoplasty, improves drooping eyelids by properly removing lax eyelid skin, muscle, and fat, and firmly fixing the levator muscle, which opens and closes the eyes. It can also improve functional problems with the eyes, such as when sagging eyelid tissue blocks vision, causing a habit of straining the forehead and leading to forehead wrinkles, or when eyelashes rub against the eyeball and irritate the cornea, resulting in decreased vision.

Lower blepharoplasty is a procedure that tightens the under-eye area by removing or repositioning some of the bulging under-eye fat caused by aging. It is important to secure the fat pocket surrounding the under-eye fat to the periosteum to prevent it from sagging again. Through lower blepharoplasty, under-eye fat, tear troughs, dark circles, and crow’s feet wrinkles can be improved, resulting in a brighter, more youthful eye area.

Because the degree of aging, eyelid sagging, thickness of the skin tissue, and amount of fat differ from person to person, a surgical plan suited to each individual’s condition must be established. Aged skin is more difficult to operate on than younger skin, so proper tissue removal is essential. For upper blepharoplasty, removing too much eyelid skin can lead to incomplete eyelid closure, and if the muscle is pulled too tightly during fixation, it can create a harsh impression. For lower blepharoplasty as well, if too much sagging skin is removed or if secure fixation is not achieved and bleeding is severe, ectropion, in which the lower eyelid turns outward, may occur and cause dry eye syndrome.

Director Song Cheon-ho of AB Plastic Surgery said, “Facelift, upper blepharoplasty, and lower blepharoplasty should all be handled from consultation to surgery by specialist medical staff with extensive clinical experience and know-how, who must also take responsibility for post-operative care,” and added, “Since middle-aged patients do not want to look artificially altered, the surgery should focus on creating a naturally younger appearance.” He also advised, “In addition, because recovery ability is lower than in people in their 20s and 30s, patients should disclose their past surgical history and medical conditions before surgery to receive the procedure safely.”

He further added, “It is also essential to check whether a thorough safety system is in place, where a specialist in anesthesiology and pain medicine is on site to monitor everything from anesthesia suitability testing to anesthesia induction, monitoring, and recovery.” <Help: Director Song Cheon-ho of AB Plastic Surgery>

[M Medi][AB Plastic Surgery] Parents’ Day Gift: Demand Rises for Facelift and Upper/Lower Blepharoplasty as “Filial Piety Plastic Surgery” Gains Popularity Original article