Posted by Dr. Anil R. Shah
What Is a Cheek Lift 2.0?
A cheek lift is designed to lift the cheek tissues. This can be accomplished by a variety of techniques including the deep plane facelift, midface lift, and other options. However, Dr. Anil Shah in Chicago, IL has designed a specific lift centered on lifting the cheek without the requisite downtime and incision.
How does it work?
Any time you are lifting a tissue up, you must release it or it will go back down to where it started. This is a basic principle of plastic surgery and one of the reasons why threads and thread lifts don’t really work. It’s not that the threads aren’t effective, it’s that the tissue is still attached and adhered to the other tissues making threads an exercise in futility.
So for a cheek lift, the key element is what tissues need to be released. Well, in a facelift, the deeper elements seem like this would in effect have an impact on the midface and nasal labial fold. However, the reach of the facelift is limited by the nasal labial fold in most surgeon’s lifts. In addition, since the tissues surrounding the nasal labial fold have not been released, a facelift is designed to fail, at least in this area.
Dr. Shah does a deeper release of the tissue. He does this from inside the mouth in a specific dissection plane to completely release the cheek and the tissues surrounding the smile line. By fully releasing the cheek tissues, they can now be suspended superiorly or upward to allow the cheek to heal in a better and more anti-gravitational position.
Who is a candidate?
Essentially, since Dr. Shah does this with an invisible incision (literally the incision is inside the mouth only), patients from the ages of 30 to 80 can benefit. If you have ever noticed yourself lifting your face back and up, you might be a good candidate.
What kind of anesthesia do I need?
Most patients do well with a mild oral sedative. This is in part since Dr. Shah is a master nerve block injector and can make patients quite comfortable during this part of the procedure.
Can I combine this approach with a facelift?
Yes, in fact Dr. Shah does this on almost every facelift to help improve results.
