What Is a Liquid Facelift, and How Does It Differ From Surgery?
What is a liquid facelift, how does it differ from surgery, and where does it work? Dr. Sinan Akyürek explains realistic expectations.
“I want to tighten my face.” I hear this sentence a lot in consultations. After we talk for a while, what the patient really wants becomes clear. They want to stop looking tired and to look like themselves, only more rested. In recent years people have become wary of overdone filler and toxin treatments. They are fine with their age showing a little, as long as they look livelier and more dynamic. This is exactly where the liquid facelift comes in. My aim with this treatment is to put back the support lost over time and bring the proportions of the face together again.
What is a liquid facelift?
A liquid facelift is a non-surgical method. We apply the right products, in a planned way, to the areas where the face has lost volume and proportion. These can be fillers, biostimulators or techniques such as thread lifting. The word “liquid” comes from the fact that the work is done with injections instead of a scalpel.
I see the liquid facelift as a concept. Increasing collagen is not enough for every face; sometimes volume is needed as well. Putting filler into a single area doesn’t count as a facelift either. You need to read the face as a whole and see what has been lost in which layer.
Why does the face start to drop?
Ageing doesn’t happen only in the skin. Over the years the fat pads first shift and thin, then the support from the bone decreases, and last of all the skin loosens. The face loses its support from below. When we put that support back, the face lifts the way it does when you pull your hair into a tight ponytail. Trying to tighten only the skin often gives an artificial-looking result, because what is really missing is the volume beneath the skin.
How is it different from a surgical facelift?
A surgical facelift removes loose skin and moves the tissues upward. For pronounced sagging, it is still a valuable method. A liquid facelift works by putting back the support that has been lost.
The recovery time is different. With surgery it takes weeks; with the liquid method most patients return to their social life the next day. Reversibility differs too. The result of surgery is permanent, while the products used in the liquid method dissolve over time. This lowers the risk of overdoing it. With the liquid method we can also move forward step by step and assess the result at each session.
The two aren’t really rivals; the right method is chosen for the right patient. Sometimes I tell a patient plainly, “in your case, surgery is the better choice.”
Where does it work?
I most often work on the midface and the cheekbones. When volume returns here, the whole face looks lifted. The chin and the jawline are also areas we often work on. A clear lower-face line makes the face look fresher. When support is restored at the jowls and along the lines at the corners of the mouth, those lines soften. Then there is hollowing at the temples. Most people overlook it, yet it gives the face a tired expression.
How do you keep the result natural?
This is where knowing when to do less matters. I prefer to move forward in measured steps and don’t try to finish the face in a single session. That is also why I give weight to facial analysis. An injection done without seeing the proportions can upset the balance.
What matters to me is that the people who see you notice you looking better without asking themselves, “what have they done to their face?”
Who is it suitable for?
It is very suitable for people with early or mid-stage loss of volume and proportion who don’t want surgery, or for whom surgery would still be too early. Here, how much the face has changed matters more than age. For people with a lot of excess skin it may not be enough on its own, and we discuss this openly at the consultation. We postpone the procedure during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and when there is an active skin infection.