Extended Deep Plane Facelift Patient Before & After: This middle aged woman had an extended deep plane facelift procedure performed by Dr. Andrew Jacono, which included the restoration of the extended arc of a youthful jawline. (Image courtesy of New York Center for Facial Plastic & Laser Surgery)
In a new study published in Aesthetic Surgery Journal, Andrew Jacono, MD, FACS, and director of the New York Center for Facial Plastic & Laser Surgery, unveils an advanced surgical technique that he suggests could help restore the youthful arc of a feminine jawline.
The study focuses on repositioning excess soft tissue to the back portion of the jaw to restore the contour and volume that creates the arc of a youthful feminine jawline. As we age, soft tissues of the face droop, creating jowls that hide the jawline while there is also a loss of volume over the jaw towards the ear, making the jawline appear shorter and puffier. Until now, facelifts have focused on rejuvenating the fallen jowls, failing to restore the extended arc of a youthful jawline which has come to represent an integral part of the feminine ideal.
In this study, this “arc” is defined as the Mandibular Defining Line (MDL), a new anatomic metric in evaluating the continuous, lower jawline contour from the chin to under the ear. The technique produces a 2.8 cm increase in length of the jawline, on average, re-lengthening the jawline that becomes truncated with age, explains a media release from the New York Center for Facial Plastic & Laser Surgery.
“Although today’s facelifting methods are able to remove jowls, the well-defined lower jawline of youth is not recreated. An easy way to pinpoint someone’s age regardless of whether they have undergone a facelift is to look at the length of their jawline,” Jacono says. “With this new technique, we now have the ability to create a defined, plush jawline from chin to ear. This adds length to the natural arc of youth, thus extending the MDL.”
The study included 203 consecutive patients that underwent extended deep plane facelifts with rotational flap modification. There was a mean increase in the length of the MDL from 7.1 cm preoperatively to 9.9 cm postoperatively. Postoperative imaging was performed using the VECTRA M3 Imaging System, which creates lifelike, high-resolution, three-dimensional renderings of aesthetic procedures, per the release.
[Source(s): New York Center for Facial Plastic & Laser Surgery, PR Newswire]
