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Total Facial Rejuvenation: Cheek Lift, facelift, and More

The sun is a wonderful thing, the source of life on earth and a symbol of divinity in cultures worldwide, but it can take a disheartening toll on the skin, especially in the face and the features near it. Throw in the effects of gravity that accumulate over a lifetime and the gradual sapping of the skin’s elasticity caused by age, and you can see why people say that youth is fleeting. Crow's feet, hanging jowls, puffy eyes, and many other undesirable characteristics arise as a result. With the help of Dr. Mark E. Richards, though, you can turn back the clock. His broad expertise in cosmetic surgery, including cheek lift, facelift, facial implants, and more, allows him to effect complete facial rejuvenation. Working from his Bethesda, Maryland office to serve all of the Washington, D.C. and northern Virginia areas, Dr. Richards strives to offer the nation’s finest and most innovative plastic surgery procedures to clients from throughout the world. In fact, facial plastic surgery is one of his specialties, as those who have witnessed the work he did for former White House employee Linda Tripp can attest. Read below to learn more about the many ways he can restore brightness and smoothness to the faces of his clients.

Cheek Lift

The cheek lift, often called a mid-facelift, is a relatively new procedure, having been developed in the latter part of the 1990s to address an area of the face that the traditional facelift often failed to fully restore. Its advantages are its ease, relatively low cost, and short recovery period. These factors, combined with the fact that virtually anyone who wants the procedure can be a candidate for it, are making the cheek lift an increasingly popular choice for those seeking facial rejuvenation.

In a cheek lift, a couple of small incisions are made in the scalp and inside the mouth on each side to allow access to the malar fat pads, the small fat deposits that give the cheeks their shape. Over time, these pads tend to sink downwards, dragging the skin and other tissues around them down as well. A cheek lift remedies this condition by attaching two slender sutures to the pad and anchoring them under the scalp. As the sutures are tightened, the malar pads are pulled up and out, resulting in a fuller, more oval-shaped, and more youthful and attractive cheek. A cheek lift also can improve the appearance of the skin folds between the lip and the nose, reduce the appearance of the sagging lines that run from the nose to the edges of the mouth, and restore shape to the lower eyelids, making the eyes appear less hollow.

This procedure, if done properly, leaves virtually no noticeable scarring. Satisfactory results can be achieved with little invasion and a relatively short recovery period. To learn more about how a cheek lift can take your look back in time, contact Washington, D.C. plastic surgeon Dr. Mark E. Richards and his friendly staff at the Ageless Impressions Plastic Surgery Institute today. Dr. Richards discusses his cheek lift technique in further detail in our video gallery.

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Eyelid Surgery (Blepharoplasty)

Over time, eyelids tend to sag, which can cause a number of problems with both aesthetics and function. Droopy eyelids above the eye and puffy or stretched lids below tend to give the face a tired appearance. If the upper eyelids fall enough, they can even reduce the patient’s field of vision. Eyelid surgery corrects problems with the eyelids by removing excess skin and tightening and resurfacing the remainder.

Eyelid surgery involves very fine incisions that follow the natural contours of the eye in order to minimize the appearance of scars afterwards. For work on the upper eyelid, the cut is placed in the crease between the eyebrow and the lid itself, while the incision for the lower lid runs just beneath the row of eyelashes below the eye. At Dr. Richards’ practice in Bethesda, Maryland, a specially designed laser is the tool of choice for this procedure. The laser offers several advantages when working with the eyelids: it puts less stress on the delicate skin, it cuts very accurately, and it minimizes bleeding and bruising by sealing severed blood vessels as it goes. Once the cuts have been made, the lids are separated from the underlying muscle and excess skin and fat are removed, and the cuts are sewn back together. The laser is then adjusted to project a less intense beam and serves to rejuvenate the remaining skin with brief applications of its light.

Eyelid surgery patients are usually able to go out in public with their brand new looks within a week after the procedure. Reading and watching television are possible even sooner. Some side effects, such as sensitivity to light, may persist for a couple of weeks, but rarely present major problems. All told, eyelid surgery, like the cheek lift, is growing in popularity due to its ability to rehabilitate the appearance of the face with very short recovery time. To set up a consultation on eyelid surgery, please contact Maryland and Virginia area cosmetic surgeon Dr. Mark E. Richards today. If you would like to get a closer look at the procedure, take a moment to visit our video gallery.

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Facelift

The facelift, while very effective at accomplishing its intended purpose, is one of cosmetic surgery’s most misunderstood procedures. Its benefits are mostly confined to the lower third of the face, including the mouth, jaw, and neck. In addition, when performed according to the more meticulous principles endorsed by Dr. Richards, does not result in a stretched or unnatural look. The goal is to look younger, happier, healthier, and more rested. The facelift does not address the presence of fine wrinkles; these are best treated using microdermabrasion or Restylane® injection.

The facelift offers the possibility of a natural, rejuvenated look to those who have lost their facial brightness to age. Using inconspicuous incisions around the curve of the ears and under the chin, Dr. Richards gains access to the muscles and other tissue structures that lie underneath and support the skin of the lower part of the face. By tightening and adjusting the positions of these features, Dr. Richards is able to give the skin a solid, shapely foundation on which to rest. When the skin has been redraped over these muscles (minus a bit of excess skin and fat where appropriate), it naturally conforms, giving the patient long-lasting freedom from the pouchiness and droopiness of their former appearance. Youth is restored without unnatural stretching. After a few weeks of recovery, Dr. Richards’ clients are able to greet the world with a brand new expression that will impress friends, family, and coworkers alike.

Those interested in learning if they are candidates for facial rejuvenation via facelift should contact Ageless Impressions Plastic Surgery Institute today to set up a preoperative consultation. You may also learn more about Dr. Richards' approach to facelift by viewing his discussion of the procedure in the video gallery.

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Forehead Lift

The forehead lift, also known as a brow lift, aims to improve the appearance of the face by raising the skin of the forehead and brow back into its initial position. Many clients of Dr. Richards complain that age has left their faces looking sad and angry as the brow has creased and sunk with age. In these cases, he often finds that a forehead lift is the best course of action.

A forehead lift, like a breast lift, tummy tuck, or arm lift, consists of making inconspicuous incisions in the skin, adjusting the underlying structures that give the outer features their form, and reattaching the skin in an improved position. A forehead lift can be performed in two different ways: with one long incision from ear to ear in the scalp above the hairline, or — better yet — with a few small incisions and a device called an endoscope that allows the surgeon to see what he is working on without cutting as much skin. In either case, the connective tissue, muscle, and fat that hold the skin of the brow in place are then lifted and adjusted so that the skin will sit in the ideal place without stretching. Once this is done and the incisions are sutured, healing begins and is mostly complete within a couple of weeks.

If you would like to bring your worried, angry-looking brow in line with your true personality, please contact the office of Dr. Mark E. Richards in Maryland today to learn more about how this procedure can help you.

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Facial Implants

When most people think of implants and cosmetic surgery, breast implants are the first option that comes to mind. Facial implants, though, can enhance the appearance just as dramatically when properly selected and applied. Available for a variety of different facial features, implants supplement the basic bone structure, enlarging and reshaping “weak” features so that remodeled skin and muscle will have a pleasingly constructed frame to adhere to.

Facial implants are desirable because they are long-lasting — they even allow the living bone to grow around them — and can often be inserted during other procedures, such as cheek lift, without requiring any additional sutures. The implants can be applied to the chin, cheeks, or jaw to correct features that have bothered patients their whole lives. When combined with other treatments like rhinoplasty, implants can improve the balance of the facial appearance with very attractive results. To find out if facial implants are the answer you’ve been looking for, contact the Washington, D.C. area’s premier plastic surgeon, Dr. Mark E. Richards, today.

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Lip Enhancement

Lips are among the most prominent and expressive features on the face, and many people want them to be fuller and more sensual so they can look their best. At his northern Virginia area practice, Dr. Mark E. Richards offers several options to give his clients’ lips a boost. The results of Dr. Richards’ chosen methods tend to last longer than those of the older collagen injection products and give his patients better returns on their investments.

The more easily performed of the two treatment options makes use of products like Restylane® or JUVÉDERM™. These injectable methods of lip enhancement use a natural substance called hyaluronic acid that has been purified to ensure that the body’s immune system does not reject it. Both have the added benefit of stimulating natural production of collagen in the area where they are inserted, thus prolonging the life of the treatment. Restylane® and JUVÉDERM™ treatments take very short periods of time, and the patient can leave immediately afterwards with only very minor discomfort.

The second lip enhancement method employed by Dr. Richards is known as AlloDerm®. This product comes in the form of small sheets of collagen that can be inserted into the lips via small incisions. While it is slightly more invasive than Restylane® and JUVÉDERM™ and requires a two-week recovery period, AlloDerm® has the advantage of lasting longer. If you contact him today to set up a face-to-face consultation, Dr. Richards can help you determine which of these procedures is best suited to giving you the luscious lips you deserve.

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Neck Improvement

The neck — which loses its muscular integrity as it ages, collects fat, and starts to sag — can be enhanced using two different but related procedures: the full and the partial neck lift. One or the other is frequently performed along with a facelift to ensure a uniform look throughout the lower part of the face, or as part of a program of plastic surgery procedures available after weight loss. A full neck lift requires the surgeon to remove the fat deposits from the neck and tighten the muscles through incisions hidden around the ear, just like a facelift. The skin is then pulled tight, and the excess is trimmed off before the incision is sewn back together. A partial neck lift does the same thing but does not remove any skin, thus requiring fewer and smaller incisions and resulting in less scarring. This method can be effective for those whose skin retains enough elasticity to conform to the newly tightened muscles underneath without surgical aid.

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All the procedures discussed on this page, from cheek lift to neck lift, are part of the physician’s arsenal as he attempts to bring about complete facial rejuvenation. Dr. Mark E. Richards, Bethesda, Maryland’s nationally acclaimed cosmetic surgeon, is expert at performing all of them. His status as one of the country’s most innovative plastic surgeons allows him to completely revise the facial appearances of his clients with as little pain and recovery time as possible. To start your journey toward a younger, brighter look, contact Ageless Impressions Plastic Surgery Institute today, or find more information at our sister site, FaceLiftUSA.com. We would also be happy to discuss any other procedures not listed on this site.

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Mark E. Richards
Ageless Impressions - Plastic Surgery Institute

11300 Rockville Pike Suite 912
N. Bethesda, Maryland 20852

Phone: (301) 468-3458

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See firsthand how Dr. Richards has helped patients across Northern Virginia, Maryland, the Washington, D.C. area, and the entire nation with his advanced cosmetic surgery techniques. View our online video gallery and learn how the transformations happen.