Facial Plastic Surgery

In Paradise Valley, AZ

Learn more about facial plastic surgery procedures in Paradise Valley with Dr. Gruszynski.

If you’re thinking about undergoing a facial plastic surgery like a facelift or neck lift, then you may have questions about what the procedure can do for you and which face surgery is right for you.

In this comprehensive guide, you’ll learn what facial surgery is and what areas it will target. You’ll learn what to expect at your pre-surgery consultation and what techniques will be used during the surgery. You’ll also learn the best ways to recover and what you can expect from your healing time. As a special bonus, we’ve added a glossary guide to define common facial surgery terminology to help guide you as you make your decision for undergoing a facial surgery.

Facial Plastic Surgery Procedures

Facial Surgery can come with a lot to think about. Here, we break down the terms so that you can understand what surgery options are available to you and what might be the best pick for you.

Ear

Earlobe Reduction

Your earlobes can accentuate your natural beauty or detract from it as a face-framing feature. Earlobes that have become stretched over time can age your face, especially if you’ve had a facial rejuvenation procedure, like facelift surgery. Large earlobes are also a concern, as they take attention away from the eyes, lips, and cheekbones.

Earlobe Repair

Earlobe repair involves a reversal of damage to an ear and restoration of the contour and symmetry of the lobe. It is designed to alter the appearance of an earlobe following trauma or congenital birth defect.

Otoplasty

Otoplasty is a surgical procedure that decreases the size of large ears, brings protruding ears closer to the head or treats misshapen ears by pulling them back in a way that creates balance to the ears for a more natural shape. With more natural and proportional ears, otoplasty makes the prominent ears less noticeable and makes someone less self-conscious about their ears.

Eyes

Blepharoplasty (Eye Lift)

Puffy eyes can derail a youthful appearance. Eyelid surgery can reduce puffiness and give you a more youthful appearance.

Browlift

Who doesn’t hate those ugly lines on the forehead? A brow lift will help take care of the top of your face and reduce the sagging of the skin due to heredity, gravity or environmental factors. If you have a protruding brow, excess skin can be removed to ensure a thinner appearance.

Canthopexy/Canthoplasty

Canthopexy is a surgical procedure that corrects issues like eyelid laxity and ectropion. When these conditions occur, the lower eyelids either turn outwards or droop. This less invasive surgical procedure involves extremely careful positioning of sutures that tighten, restore, and stabilize the lower eyelid.

Canthoplasty is where the tendon under the eye is detached, divided, and then moved into position to create tauter support under the eyelid. Canthopexy does not cut the tendon from the attachment point, but rather the procedure involves using sutures to make the tendon tighter and stabilize it underneath the eyelid.

Fat Transfer (Eyelid Hollows)

Fat injection is also referred to as “Fat transfer” or “lipo transfer.” This cosmetic procedure is performed under local anesthesia with or without sedation. Fat cells are harvested from the patient (from an area where they don’t need it) and injected into an area on the patient’s body where they do need it. It is can be harvested from the abdomen, flanks (“love handles”), and thighs through small incisions.

Depending upon the amount of fat needed, 10 to 100 cc’s are removed. The harvested fat is carefully processed before injection. Some surgeons feel that rejuvenating cells known as “stem cells” are included with the live fat cells. The harvested fat cells are then injected into various facial areas, including brows, temples, and around eyes (tear troughs), cheeks, lips, and nasolabial folds.

Face

Buccal Fat Removal

Are you looking for more defined facial contours? You can get rid of your chubby cheeks with a buccal fat removal procedure that accentuates your cheekbones and gives you a slimmer appearance. Also known as cheek fat removal, it removes fat from the cheek area with the end result of a more accentuated facial definition.

Cheek Implants

There are several valid reasons why patients might seek out cheek augmentation, whether it’s in the form of fillers or cheek implants. Some patients are dissatisfied with their natural bone structure and want to create a more angular look. Others simply notice volume loss as they age and want to restore their youthful appearance.

Endoscopic Mid Facelift

An endoscopic mid-face lift offers an effective alternative to the traditional facelift. As one ages, gravity causes the facial tissues to droop in a vertical direction. This less invasive facelift technique combines repositioning of the orbital and buccal fat pads (deep fat pads in the face) over the cheeks, hollows under the eyes, and smile line areas. It restores a youthful, heart shape face. Old face lifting techniques with larger incisions did not restore the youthful volume in the eyes and cheeks arc.

Few plastic surgeons can perform this operation through this approach without incisions on the face that can potentially be visible.

Facelift

A facelift is one of the most well-known of all plastic surgeries. A facelift helps with issues with the lower third of the face. A facelift is personalized for each patient but generally performed under general anesthesia. Dr. Gruszynski will make incisions along your hairline and around the folds of the ear. These will be very hard to see upon healing.

Face, Neck + Chin Liposuction

Facial liposuction is a common procedure in large part because our face is how others see us, and consequently, how we see ourselves. It makes sense to want a more naturally sculpted and refined facial appearance. By reducing areas of fullness, it contours your face and gives you a more youthful appearance.

Facial Fat Transfer

There are many options to refill the face after it has lost volume.  Using your body’s fat is a great way to rebuild the face.  Facial fat transfer, also known as autologous fat transfer, uses fat from other areas of your body to create a more youthful facial appearance.  Fat transfer injections to the face are a safe, natural, non-allergenic procedure designed to restore volume and enhance the contour of the face.

Jaw, Chin Reduction

Jawline reduction surgery is performed on patients with a prominent, masculine jawline. The purpose is to make a face more feminine and slender.

When the jaw appears too wide from a frontal view, the outer half of the bone is shaved off. This procedure is performed from inside the mouth. Depending on the circumstance, the prominent masseter muscle may or may not be shaved along with the bone. In cases where the jawline appears too prominent from a side view, the bottom borders of the bone can be shaved using an approach from behind the ear. In many cases, the chin is shaved along with the jawline if the chin is also prominent.

Jaw, Chin, Cheek Implants

Plastic surgery may be done to change the shape of the chin, cheek, or jaw. This procedure is typically done to enhance certain facial features or bring a specific aspect of the face into proportion with the rest. It may also be done to address a defect present since birth or as a result of a traumatic injury.

To reshape the chin, cheek, or jaw, Dr. Gruszynski may insert an implant into the area to redefine its appearance.

Rhinoplasty

There are a few different reasons for wanting surgery on the nose. Maybe you find your nose too large or too wide. This procedure will help ensure your nose is a natural fit with your face.

Dr. Gruszynski specializes in rhinoplasty; see the types of rhinoplasty services we offer.

Mole Removal

A visit with Dr. Gruszynski will help you find out more about the mole and if you need to have it removed. Many moles can be excised with minimal scarring and can be performed on any part of the body. Removing a mole can decrease skin irritation and enhance your appearance, including smoother skin. Moles can often go unnoticed depending on their location with some skin cancers like melanoma starting in the shape of a mole.

Necklift

The jawline and neck area are also areas that show aging fast. This procedure can remove excess fat and skin, help shape and contour the jawline and fight the effects of gravity and sagging.

Scar Revision

A scar revision is a surgical procedure that can minimize a scar’s appearance by harmonizing it into the skin usually following a traumatic injury. The goal is to make the scar as inconspicuous as possible and blend it in with the surrounding skin. Poor healing creates unsightly and more obvious scars depending on their size and location.

Lip

F.A.T.M.A

FATMA (fat transfer & mucosal advancement) are two procedures rolled into one. This surgery produces permanently fuller lips with your tissue, combining rearrangement of the tissue inside your mouth with fat transfer. These procedures act by working synergistically to create fuller lips that either technique cannot produce on its own. As we age, many people notice that their lips tend to thin. However, the situation is more complex than the simple attenuation of lip tissue. The lips lose support from the teeth (since the actual bony skull retracts in shape pulling in the teeth along with it), invert or roll inwards while the actual mouth width gets wider. FATMA directly addresses these pathophysiological issues by rolling out the lips while narrowing the oral aperture.

Lip Fat Transfer

This is one area where over-correction is important to ensure a meaningful aesthetic result. With fat transfer alone to the lips, subtle shape changes such as an elevated corner highlighted vermillion border or ‘white roll’ could be attained. It is essential to deeply appreciate the aesthetic proportion of the lips as it pertains to the size and shape of the upper vis-à-vis the lower. Unlike the breasts, body, eyes, or face, the upper lip should not be a replica of the lower nor vice versa. Fat can be successfully transferred into the vermillion border, upper and lower lip, and the subtle irregularities surrounding the pink lips themselves, such as marionette folds, creases, and the vertical wrinkles known as “smokers lines.” As with all plastic surgical procedures, it is imperative to have realistic expectations of what fat transfer can achieve and cannot. During your consultation, ask questions-your plastic surgeon should give you the skinny in regards to fat.

Lower V-Y Plasty/Lower Lip Lift

A Lower Lip lift incorporating V-Y plasties or other tissue rearrangements helps solve the complex problem of the aging lower lip. An aging lower lip manifests itself as a lip that flattens in shape, and thins while turning inward towards the teeth (except if a weak, underdeveloped chin is present as well). It drops down to expose the lower teeth (the opposite effect of a dropping upper lip).

Beverly Hills lower lip plastic surgery BEFORE Dr. Haworth lower lip plastic surgery expert AFTER

The above effects can be significantly lessened through a simple operation involving minor muscle tightening and rearrangement of the tissue located just inside of the lower lip. However, complete correction with any current technique is heretofore near impossible.

Traditional/Medialized External/Dao Release Corner Lip Lift

Corner Lip Lifts elevate an otherwise drooping outer corner of the mouth. Patients often complain of constantly looking angry or sad, compounding their aging appearance. However, young patients can also have downward turning corners of their mouths that they may have had ever since they can remember. Dr. Gruszynski performs three versions of the permanent lip lift.

  • Traditional Outer Corner Lip Lift
  • Medialized External Lip Lift (MECLL)
  • An Inner One (Depressor Anguli Oris-Dao Release)

Upper Lip Lift

UPPER LIP LIFTS ACHIEVE 3 GOALS:

  1. They shorten the distance between the nose and upper lip. The upper lip grows longer with age, so often, an upper lip lift is performed along with a facelift at the same time. Patients who have had previous rhinoplasties occasionally complain that their upper lip appears long after the nasal surgery, so an upper lip lift can also be appropriate for these individuals.
  2. They allow more upper tooth exposure. One need not go further than any common fashion magazine and realize that all the young models seem to have one thing in common with their lips and oral area- their upper teeth are nice and are visible (about 4-5 mm) with their lips slightly parted in natural repose (i.e., not smiling).
  3. They roll out the upper lip that is otherwise inverted. This means that the upper lip’s red portion will be more visible, therefore, enhanced. This effect is subtle and will not create exaggerated Angelina Jolie’s lips alone.
Beverly Hills upper lip lift BEFORE (with markings) Beverly Hills upper lip lift Stylized rendering after excision Beverly Hills upper lip lift AFTER