Rhytidoplasty with Fat Grafting

Abstract

Living in Dubai with its multitude of patients from different ethnic backgrounds makes our work as plastic surgeons more difficult, it is always a challenge to choose the right procedure to fit every patient’s different concept of beauty. Choosing the right facial rejuvenation technique involves many different aspects, according to the age and sex of the patient and to the patient’s motivations. When a younger patient is not ready for the scars of the facelift, and will opt for noninvasive or minimally invasive techniques, we prescribe botulin injections or fillers, facial liposculpture, with fat aspiration and injection. Others have reached the age when these small procedures are not enough and will need plication of SMAS/platysma, replacement of the lost volume, and resection of excess skin. For these patients we indicate rhytidoplasty with fat grafting, combined or not with blepharoplasty. Some patients prefer to treat only some areas of the face, such as the neck or the midface, and we do tailor the procedure according to their wishes. Most of the cases we perform face and neck lift. We use a separate treatment for the temporal area. To treat the sad mouth, we elevate the corners of the lips by resecting small skin triangles and resecting the depressor labii muscles and attaching them to the zygomaticus major muscles. The volume loss or displacement is always treated with fat grafting, in the malar, zygomatic, nasojugal, and perioral areas. Fat grafting also helps to maintain the skin rejuvenated.