Middle-Age Lifting, Surgery Case for Under-Eye Bulging Hollows, Deep Nasolabial Folds, and Sagging Lower Face

Hello~ I’m Lee Jangnam, the man who helps you find youth and beauty through lifting, here to deliver that again today.

I’m Lee Han-jeong, a board-certified plastic surgeon and the head director of A-TOP Plastic Surgery.

As people age, it is natural for everyone’s face to gradually sag and for wrinkles to form. But if those changes happen too quickly and become very noticeable,

looking in the mirror every day can feel painful. Today, I’d like to introduce the real lifting process of a female patient in her 50s who came to our clinic with exactly those concerns.

The patient’s worries were deep nasolabial folds and severe sagging in the lower face area below the cheeks, which made her face look square and larger.

🔍1. Identifying Needs During Consultation

At the first consultation, the patient looked very depressed.

1. The area under the eyes protruded, making her look much older,

2. The nasolabial folds were so deep that she looked harsh,

3. The cheeks and jowls sagged so much that her face looked square, and even the hollowed side cheeks made her face look peanut-shaped.

What the patient wanted was not simply wrinkle removal, but a natural and refreshed transformation.

Rather than a look that would make others immediately say, “She had surgery!”, she wanted people to respond with, “How did she get so much younger?”

During the middle-age lifting consultation, I explained that becoming natural and refreshed does not mean simply pulling up sagging skin, but changing the overall facial contours in a natural and smooth way.

1. In other words, gently filling the deep hollow under the eyes,
2. To address the nasolabial folds, moving the fat layer in the front cheek area back to its original position (SMAS lifting),
3. Also moving the fat layer in the lower cheek area back to its original position to naturally fill the hollow side cheeks (SMAS lifting),
4. And then filling or removing any remaining fat volume to reshaping the face as a whole.

📷2. Preoperative Photo Findings

We examined the patient’s face in photos before surgery.

There was definitely a reason she was concerned.

In particular, the under-eye hollow and nasolabial folds were deeply etched, making her look much older than her actual age, and the skin in the lower face area (the area below the cheeks and along the jawline)

was severely sagging. As the skin lost elasticity and seemed to flow downward, her facial contours looked as if they were collapsing.

In addition, as the cheeks sagged, the lower face looked longer and the side cheeks appeared hollow, creating an overall dark impression. Since the entire face was sagging, the wrinkles became even deeper when she smiled, leading to a vicious cycle where her expression looked even darker.

These issues are difficult to resolve with ordinary care, so surgery was needed to firmly improve the deep structures beneath the skin (the SMAS layer).

The surgeries we proposed were:

1. Lower blepharoplasty

2. Deep plane facelift surgery that pulls the muscle layer (SMAS layer) together with the skin

In particular, to minimize the incision area, we performed the surgery in combination with Yeo-ri lifting and jowls lifting.

3. Because middle-age lifting alone cannot resolve sagging facial volume, we also performed liposuction on the jowl area and double chin area

4. Using the fat removed from the face, we simultaneously performed fat grafting to the nasolabial folds, front cheeks, and mouth lines

✨3. Intraoperative Process

Before middle-age lifting, we first perform liposuction to remove unnecessary fat. The lifting surgery was performed with minimal incisions inside the hairline around the ears, in areas that are not visible. After that, we delicately pulled and fixed the fascia layer (SMAS layer) just beneath the skin,

then gradually removed the excess skin to create a natural facial line. The important part of this process was to avoid excessive pulling at all costs and to adjust very precisely so that the facial expressions would remain natural.

💖4. Postoperative Changes

Surgery before - 3 months after surgery

Surgery before - 3 months after surgery

After surgery, the under-eye hollow had almost disappeared, and you can see that the skin under the eyes became tightly smoothed out.

The nasolabial folds that had been a concern became much less noticeable as the front cheek fat moved back to its original position and created a natural contour.

The sagging jowl area was the area where the inner SMAS layer moved the most, and as the fat layer clearly shifted,

the collapsed facial contour was restored, making the face slimmer and filling out the side cheeks.

Not only does the entire face look lively and brighter, but it also gives the impression of looking about 10 years younger than the actual age.

🎈In closing…

Middle-age lifting surgery is not simply about making someone look younger; it is a very meaningful process that helps restore lost confidence and happiness.

Also, because it is important to return to daily life quickly after surgery, the recovery process that minimizes incisions and swelling is also important.

If you are also struggling with similar concerns, do not hesitate and take a brave first step.

Whatever your concern may be, we will do our best to find a solution together and help you become beautiful again.