Thank you
for your question. You're asking a very simple question—you’re asking if the Y Lift™
is worth it. Well I can certainly help you with that question. I'm a Board-certified
cosmetic surgeon and a Fellowship-trained oculoplastic surgeon, practicing in Manhattan
and Long Island for over 20 years. And I was the first surgeon to be trained by the inventor
of the Y Lift™, and have very happily integrated the Y Lift™ into my practice of cosmetic
facial rejuvenation.
In the body of your question, you basically brought some public information in about what
the Y Lift™ is, but I can certainly understand questioning why it is worth it. I myself am
also very innovative in my practice, I understand what it's like to do something differently
than the other people, and it raises questions about illegitimacy and value of such a procedure.
So to help you understand whether or not it's worth it for you, let's learn more about the
specifics of the Y Lift™ so that you can answer for yourself if it is worth it. First
of all, the Y Lift™ or any facial rejuvenation procedure is aimed to deal with one or both
of the changes that occur with facial aging. Number one is volume loss. As we get older
we lose bone, muscle, fat, and soft tissue. Two is sagging. The skin sags, the support
of the skin sags as well, the SMAS (superficial muscular aponeurotic system).
So let me think about lifting. For a surgeon, lifting means vertical lifting—when I do
a surgical facelift, I'm restoring definition of the angle of the jawline, the cheek, etc.
So a person who's lost that definition looks younger because now they have definition—that’s
what a youthful face is. With traditional use of fillers, it is limited, typically by
dermatologists and non-surgeons, to the superficial level of the skin such as the dermis or below
the skin.
With the Y Lift™, what we're doing is we're actually using a long-lasting hyaluronic acid
filler, such as Juvederm and Voluma, at the deeper levels of the face, at the level of
the bone and below the muscle. The method is so elegant and so efficient that we can
actually place a fair amount of material to restore definition of the cheek, the vertical
aspect of the jaw, the jawline, and the chin, in terms of production. We can also augment
the temples. We can do a lot with this method to enhance the structure of the face and restore
definition. This is why there so much skepticism by patients and my colleagues, other physicians
and surgeons, when they see these results. They think that there's some type of deceptive
practice or that these procedures are facelifts that are being represented as something with
filler, but that's absolutely not true. I perform this procedure routinely.
When you are placing the filler deeper, this is where someone with a surgical background
who does cosmetic surgery, facial plastic surgery, does face lifting, cheek implants,
chin implant, the surgeon has actually worked in the space and understands that very well.
For me, it was a very natural evolution to learn this technique using filler in an artistic
way to restore structure.
I think it's very much worth it. You know there's a certain sweet spot that this procedure
fills. For the person who doesn't have enough skin to justify a lifting procedure or surgery,
but wants to develop more angularity, this is a fantastic procedure. This can be for
women in their 40s, as well as anyone in their 60s, depending on their facial structure.
So the fact that it can also last two years or more is also makes it a very good investment.
In terms of the overall plan, we do see our patients so that we can maybe add a little
bit if necessary, because we can't say that everybody it'll last exactly the same amount,
but it does fill a very important void in the world between traditional use of fillers
and surgical procedures such as face lifting and neck lifting.
So I think the Y Lift™ is very much worth it, but you have to see if it's right for
you. Meet with a qualified Y Lift™ provider, someone who has been trained to perform the
Y Lift™, and who does the Y Lift™ in their practice, and see if this is the right solution
for you. I've always told my patients who come in for consultation that they don't necessarily
have to have the whole procedure, because if they do have certain elements that are
still good, then for example we can just augment the cheeks and use this Y Lift™ method without
using the large volume of syringes. It's all about customization and artistry, it’s not
a cookie cutter procedure. The concept and the method is very very specific and requires
a very specific training and experience to do it in the way that the inventor performs
at himself. So I hope that was helpful and I wish you the best of luck. Thank you for
your question.