Can a Facelift Effectively Correct Your Jowls?

Aging inevitably causes your body to change in numerous and wide-ranging ways. When you’re younger, everything tends to remain in the right place, but most bodies tend to expand and stretch out a bit as a person ages. In fact, the combination of decreased collagen production as you age and the cumulative effects of gravity often leads to the belly, breast and other body parts becoming saggier over time. These same factors are also what causes some people to develop jowls as the skin around the jaw and neckline eventually loses its tightness and slowly begins to stretch and sag.

If you’re like most people, you probably find your jowls unsightly and wish that there was something you could do to eliminate this issue and return your skin and face to the tight smoothness of youth. In this case, you might be wondering whether a facelift can help you to overcome your issues and restore some of your confidence. With this in mind, here is everything you need to know about jowls and how facelifts can potentially provide effective relief.

Factors That Can Contribute to Jowl Formation

The term jowls is generally used to refer to any skin and tissue that sags below the jawline and chin, and the fact is that almost everyone will develop at least minor jowls as they age. Still, some people obviously have it far worse than others, and the problem is that the condition will inevitably become more and more noticeable as you grow older.

As with breasts and other body parts, gravity is one of the main factors that contributes to the gradual stretching out and sagging of the skin. Your body also begins producing less collagen as you age, and this further compounds the problem. Collagen is what helps to support the skin and keep it tight and firm, and this lack of collagen that occurs as people grow older is also what causes lines, wrinkles and other signs of aging.

Prolonged exposure to the sun also greatly increases your chances of developing jowls. In this case, the issue is that the sun’s harmful UV rays can penetrate down into the deeper layers of the skin. When this happens, they can directly damage not only the skin’s collagen but also the elastin. As its name suggests, elastin is what gives your skin its elasticity, and when both the elastin and collagen experience sun damage, it usually results in various signs of premature aging including the formation of jowls.

Genetics can also play a huge role in determining both whether or not a person will develop jowls and how pronounced they will be. In fact, you often only need to look at your parents or other older family members to get a fairly good idea of how jowls may begin to affect your face as you continue to age.

Being overweight or obese can also increase your chances of developing jowls as any excess fat around your face will obviously increase the effect of gravity. Moreover, people who suddenly lose weight may be more likely to develop jowls as well. In this case, the problem is similar to what you can see on people’s stomachs, arms and other body parts after losing a significant amount of weight. What happens is that your skin eventually stretches out and grows bigger as you gain weight, but it is unable to shrink back down to its normal size once the weight is gone and thus you end up with saggy extra skin around your face.

Surgical Options for Treating Jowls

There are a wide range of different methods and treatments that will supposedly help to tighten your skin and get rid of your jowls. Some people turn to various facial exercises, but these are mostly ineffective and may actually make your jowls worse. Many skin-tightening and rejuvenating creams, lotions and other products also claim to hold the secret to firmer, tighter, younger looking skin, but again few if any of them can live up to their bold claims. On the other hand, cosmetic surgery is one option that repeatedly has been shown to be successful at eliminating jowls, turkey neck and various other aging-related appearance issues. 

In this sense, a facelift is definitely one of your best options to permanently tighten up your skin and reduce or eliminate the appearance of jowls and other sagging skin. During this procedure, a cosmetic surgeon creates several small incisions around the face and removes excess skin and fat tissue. These incisions are then sutured in a way that pulls the skin so that it once again stretches tight over your bone structure to restore the appearance of youth.

Full Facelift vs Lower or Mini Facelift

If you are primarily concerned with eliminating the appearance of your jowls, a lower facelift (or so-called mini facelift) can be a great choice. With this type of procedure, the surgeon only focuses on the lower third of your face, and this often means a shorter, easier recovery since only part of your face is being operated on. A mini facelift also requires fewer incisions, and these incisions are generally hidden away near the ears to ensure minimal noticeable scarring.

A lower facelift will definitely help to tighten up the jowls and make them less noticeable, but it is important that patients also understand that the results usually won’t be as noticeable as with a full facelift. Of course, this can sometimes be a good thing as this means it is also less likely that people will be able to tell you’ve had any work done on your face. Mini facelifts are obviously less expensive since they require less time and work. Nonetheless, if you are also concerned with wrinkles on your forehead, saggy cheeks or any other noticeable signs of aging, a full facelift is definitely the best option since it will tighten up these other problem areas in addition to getting rid of your sagging jowls. 

The fact is that there are several different options that can help you to successfully deal with your jowls. However, it is essential that you choose an experienced, skill surgeon as this will greatly increase your chances of being satisfied with the results of your procedure. As one of the Los Angeles area’s most-renowned cosmetic surgeons, Dr. Andrew Jacono specializes in a wide range of facial rejuvenation procedures and has been helping New York residents look their best for many years. Visit his site if you are interested in a facelift specialist practicing in NYC.