Interview with Doctor Eric Plot
AAM: How does a face age?
Dr Plot: Facial aging associates, in varying proportions, a loss of volume and sagging skin. This leads to a loss of definition in the facial contours, the appearance of jowls, a saggy neck and a crinkled décolletage.
AAM: How can we get our oval back?
Dr Plot: Let me define two different situations.
In the early stages – only slight jowls and a non-saggy neck – aesthetic medicine techniques (hyaluronic acid and botulinum toxin injections, tensor threads) are excellent solutions that enable us to slow down (in particular by preserving the facial volumes) the appearance of the signs of aging.
But no aesthetic medicine technique can lift the jowls and reposition the tissues in the oval of the face and neck to recover the V shape that is characteristic of youth. Injections would only aggravate the heavy and square appearance of the lower face. Only a surgical lift can restore the oval and correct a saggy neck.
AAM: What does a lift involve, exactly?
Dr Plot: The deep vertical lift that I perform, described by my friend Doctor Alain Bonnefond, involves repositioning the deep tissues of the face to their original position, possibly associated with a light, volumising lipofilling (fat injection) treatment.
AAM: But lifts can often sound quite scary…
Dr Plot: Because of common perceptions, always the same ones, which are not true and should be forgotten!
The first preconception – “I’m scared of looking stretched” – is the fear of an unnatural-looking result, of a frozen face with inexpressive features. Since nowadays the work is done deep within the face, never by pulling the face’s skin, the mouth and smile are not fixed. The patient is rewarded with a younger-looking face and the result is extremely natural-looking.
The second preconception: “I won’t be able to go out for three months afterwards.” False. Nowadays, downtime is only ten days or so, because with this technique the skin detachment is much more limited than with other techniques. The scars are small and are absorbed quickly. I also place them in the face’s natural folds so they quickly become invisible. My patients can wear their hair up a month after the procedure.
Third preconception: “I’m scared of the anaesthetic, I don’t want to be put to sleep.” This fear is completely unjustified. In cosmetic surgery, we don’t use a deep anaesthetic like in abdominal or open-heart surgery! The anaesthetist injects just the right amount of anaesthetic as and when it is needed. The patient wakes up quickly, just after the dressings have been applied at the end of the procedure.
AAM: From what age do you perform face lifts?
Dr Plot: There is no set age for a face lift because we do not all age in the same way – some faces age faster than others – and I perform them on women aged anywhere between 40 and 75! A face lift is a straightforward, reliable, long-lasting operation, and is the only way to recover the face’s natural-looking youthfulness.
Doctor Eric Plot
Plastic surgeon, qualified with the French Order of Doctors and the French Health Authority for Plastic, Reconstructive and Cosmetic Surgery; member of numerous national and international scientific societies (SOFCEP, SOFCPRE, ISAPS); author of numerous publications about rejuvenating surgery for the face and breasts.
