Facial Slimming 2022 and Beyond! – Part III

1. 1. “Chin Filler Augmentation”aka “5 minute facial slim job”

   2. “Botox Reduction of Masseter Muscle Hypertrophy“

   3. “Jawline and Neck Liposuction” aka “SMJ Lipo”

   4. “Buccal Fat Removal”

   5. 3-D Volume Restoration through Structural Fat Grafting

   6. V-line Lifting through Thread Lifting or Surgical Lifting

If you are reading this Blog, I am sure you thought about which option(s) you may benefit most from and since we want to approach each section in a comprehensive manner with ample before and after pictures, we have chosen to approach this topic as a six part “Mini” series. We hope that this mini series Blog will shed a light into how you can achieve a slimmer profile.

5. 3-D Volume Restoration through Structural Fat Grafting

For patients who progressively appear wider on selfies due to ever flattening of their frontal profile, this optical issue is invariably due to combination of losing their soft tissue and fat volume as well as genetically being endowed with flatter maxillary bone (inner mid face) often associated with prominent cheek bone (outer mid face), as often seen in patients of Asian descent . For most patients who are visual and understand how depth, or lack there of, can play an optical trick in terms of making us look flatter and wider on selfies and on zooming, it is a concept easily grasped.  But for many of us who are not visual, it is initially a difficult concept to grab.  A classic patient would be an Asian female with overall small sized face. They have always coveted their small sized face.  However somewhere between 25 and 35 years of age, as a genetical imprint, they begin to lose facial volume resulting in “reverse apple cheek” appearance making their cheek bone harsher and/or the inherent flat bony profile of their mid face, flatter. As a result, optically they begin to look wider on selfies and equate their changes with facial laxity when in reality it is loss of volume and depth to their facial profile. Misguided, they usually come in looking to get lifting procedure using energy based devices like Thermage or Ultherapy. In reality what they need is restoration of the lost soft tissue volume to return the depth and dimension to their facial profile and contour.  This is a very important concept that many patients would benefit from knowing and understanding.  Alas, many continue with their misguided journey and  undergo Thermage or Ultherapy with no real gain. Worse yet, if inappropriately performed, can result in making them appear even flatter from further loss of volume on their face.  The ideal way to make them more slender is using “Structural Fat Grafting” technique to restore their 3-Dimensional contour and profile back to younger days. This can only be achieved through a combination of my careful artistic interpretation of the individual face as much as sound lipo-transfer technique. If properly done, 3-D Structural Fat grafting can be near magical and optically create a more slender face even immediately after transferring 30cc to 40cc of harvested fat into the face. Very often in older patients entering 40’s and 50’s who are beginning  to experience actual laxity of their face, the 3-D fat grafting is often coupled with PDO thread lift.  We perform a few of these combined procedures on a weekly basis with only a few days of recovery time required.  Please refer to our Instagram where we are always updating our pictures to show minimal swelling and bruising associated with this procedure.

6. V-line Lifting through Thread Lifting or Surgical Lifting

Finally no matter how ideal the patient’s contour and profile might have been in their younger days, everyone loses their slender V-shape profile as age takes over beginning 40’s, for some, even earlier. The effect of gravity to the ever weakening collagen and elastin along with dimensional loss of soft tissue and fat volume, makes all of our facial profile more lax and flatter as we age.  When the cheek eminence appear to drift downwards or the jowling begins to soften the crispness of the jawline, at this junctuon, no other treatment modalities beat surgical lifting.  There are so many different approaches and the surgeon and patients really need to have meeting of the minds whether the main area of interest is temporal/peri-orbital area, cheek eminence and mid-face area, or  jawline/jow/neck area or all of the above as the approach can be taylored optimally for the individual patient’s needs.  Alternatively, in properly trained Surgeon’s hands, all these areas can be elegantly and nearly imperceptibly lifted using “Multi-Vector” Thread lifting often combined with InMode RF Embrace “Facetite”system. The Embrace “Facetite“ is truly a revolutionary system to provide anatomically trained Board certified Facial Plastic Surgeons like myself a comparable and realistic alternative for our patients who desire tightening of their neck and jawline without undergoing a traditional open surgery along with inevitable prolonged recovery period. In the near future I will be adding more blogs about the versatility of the InMode RF platform offering both Morpheus8 RF Micro-needling as well the RF Embrace “Facetite” and “Bodytite” system. Please stay tuned.

Patient Story:: 62 year old female patient  Thread lift & Fat transfer contouring

Patient Story:: 31 year old female patient 3-D contour of face following fat transfer