In my Newport Beach office, I often hear patients talk about the deep plane facelift as if it’s the new, better version of a traditional facelift. The thing is, it’s not about one being better than the other across the board. Both are excellent tools for facial rejuvenation.
What most patients don’t realize is that these two facelift procedures solve different problems. Choosing the right one depends entirely on your unique facial anatomy, your age, and which layer of your face is actually causing the signs of aging. It’s like the difference between fixing a damaged wall or roof and replacing the entire foundation of a house. You would need to know where the shift is happening before you start the work. It’s the same for your face.
This is where you see skin laxity, loose skin, and wrinkles. Over time, sun exposure and gravity cause the skin to lose its snap. If your main concern is just excess skin along the jawline, but your muscles are still firm, you are dealing with a surface-level issue.
This is a thin, strong layer of muscle and connective tissue just beneath the skin. Think of this as the lining of the face. In many patients, this layer begins to sag, leading to moderate jowling.
This is the foundation. It includes the deeper facial structures, the facial muscles, and the fat pads of the cheeks. When the retaining ligaments (the anchors) in this layer stretch out, the entire facial structure shifts downward. This is what causes sagging cheeks, deep nasolabial folds, and deep creases around the mouth.
Once we identify which layer is the culprit, we can decide between a deep plane facelift or traditional facelift surgery. Both restore youthful contours, but they go about it in very different ways.
A traditional facelift, often referred to as a traditional SMAS facelift, is a fantastic tool for addressing moderate signs of aging. In this procedure, I separate the skin from the underlying tissues, tighten the SMAS layer with sutures, and then remove the excess skin.
This is the Gold Standard for sharpening the jawline. If you have a relatively youthful mid-face but you hate the skin laxity in your lower face and neck, a traditional facelift can provide a beautiful, refreshed appearance. It's a targeted facial rejuvenation surgery that gives you clean, crisp contours without a massive amount of internal rearranging.
The deep plane facelift is an advanced technique for when the foundation itself has settled. Instead of separating the skin from the muscle, I enter the deep plane to release the retaining ligaments themselves.
Because I’m releasing those anchors, I can glide the deeper structural layers, including the facial muscles and fat pads, back to where they sat ten or fifteen years ago. This allows for a more comprehensive lift that handles sagging cheeks and deep nasolabial folds better than a traditional facelift ever could. Because the skin and muscle stay attached during the move, the blood supply stays intact, which is why we call this a tension-free lift.
The pulled look usually comes from outdated facelift techniques. It happens in a traditional facelift when a surgeon tries to fix deep wrinkles or advanced signs of aging by just stretching the skin. If you try to fix a heavy foundation issue with a wallpaper solution, the skin looks strained.
By choosing the right plane facelift for your facial structure, we ensure that the tension is placed on the underlying tissues, leaving the surface looking soft and natural. This is the key to natural rejuvenation.
Another thing patients don't realize is that the recovery for a deep plane lift isn't necessarily twice as long as a traditional one. Because the deep plane technique moves the facial tissues as one cohesive unit, I’m actually preserving the blood vessels between the skin and the muscle.
Whether we are doing a deep plane approach or traditional facelift techniques, you can generally expect about 10 to 14 days of social downtime. During your facial rejuvenation surgery recovery, you’ll have some surgical fullness, but the end result for both is a natural appearance that makes you look like a rested version of yourself. Since there is no tension on the skin, the visible scarring is usually minimal and hidden in the natural facial contours.
As a board-certified plastic surgeon, my job is to look at your facial contours and tell you what area needs work. We are looking to restore youthful volume in a way that looks like you’ve simply stepped back in time. For each person, there’s a right way to get there.
