Procedures

EuroLift: A Modern Facelifit
Facelift surgery was once considered an extreme way to smooth wrinkles, tighten muscles, lift sagging cheeks and appear more youthful. Although the extreme methods are still available, those kinds of surgeries are not what you get when you see Dr. Rim Marcinkus for a EuroLift.

The first difference to be noted is that you are not given general anesthesia, which immediately eliminates one of the greatest risks in all surgeries. Some patients may be given a light sedative, but the procedure is done with local anesthesia, the patient is awake through the outpatient surgery, which is virtually painless. The EuroLift usually takes less than an hour, as opposed to the two or three hours of surgery required for a conventional facelift. There is also no “lifting of the skin off the face” to reposition it.

Improved Techniques
With the EuroLift, small beveled incisions are made in the hairline, behind the ear, and under the earlobe. The method of making one incision that starts in the temple area and circles the ear is a thing of the past. Dr. Marcinkus is an advocate of new techniques that are either minimally invasive or noninvasive.

Once the incisions are made, the skin and the soft tissue beneath it are tightened and excess skin is removed. The EuroLift, like conventional facelifts, includes tightening the neck and just under the chin where aging has caused the skin to sag. To suture these small incisions, Dr. Marcinkus uses a technique that eliminates the chance of visible scarring.

No More Lengthy Convalescences
The Eurolift also will not require the patient to be bandaged and hospitalized; and there is no “drainage tube” placed behind the ear for one or two days after the surgery. Patients will return home the same day without the swelling, bruising and lethargy that accompanies a conventional facelift. Instead they will already appear younger.

Recovery time for the EuroLift is as little as two days or less. Many people have the procedure done on Friday so that they may return to work well rested early the following week. Waiting two or three weeks to be back to a normal schedule is not an option for most people today, and Dr. Marcinkus understands this.

Pain, Side Effects Reduced or Eliminated
Some of the same precautions regarding surgery are applicable to the EuroLift procedure. You should avoid smoking in the weeks before and after the surgery since tobacco slows the healing process and does increase the possibility of scarring. Pain medication after the EuroLift, if it is needed, will likely consist of an analgesic or aspirin.

It’s unlikely you’ll experience any of the side effects—such as numbness or dry skin—that you’ve heard of accompanying facelifts; those are due to the invasiveness of conventional facelifts. The Eurolift is not a drastic “redraping” of the skin over the face. It offers a very light touch to achieve the same youthful new appearance.