The Vampire Facelift has gained a lot of attention for its somewhat controversial name.
The term “vampire”, being associated with a youthful appearance by using your own blood.
The term can be confusing, particularly the word facelift which should be clarified.
I’m Dr Amiya Prasad.
I’m a Board Certified Cosmetic Surgeon and Fellowship Trained Oculofacial Plastic & Reconstructive
Surgeon.
I’ve been in practice in Manhattan and Long Island for over 20 years.
I’ve been a member of the Vampire Facelift Network for many years, and I’ve been a
resource for media periodically when question arise about the procedure after someone famous
brings attention to it.
It’s important to clear some misconceptions about this procedure.
The most common misconception with the Vampire Facelift is that it can actually replace a
surgical facelift, without surgery.
This is not the case.
A surgical facelift lifts descending tissue and skin upward, while tightening the muscles
below facial tissue.
I generally perform surgical facelift for patients about 60 years and older who have
significant signs of facial aging and tissue descent.
The procedure called Vampire Facelift as practiced by trained and certified members of the Vampire
Facelift network consists of 2 elements.
The first being a single syringe or 1 cc of a hyaluronic acid filler such as Restylane
or Juvederm to elevate from the underlying bone or soft tissue to enhance areas such
as the brows tear trough, or cheeks.
Dr. Runels who invented this name and procedure explained that the lift is the tissue being
lifted outward as opposed to a surgical lift which is more upward.
The second component of the Vampire Facelift is the use of platelet-rich plasma, or PRP
which is derived from your blood, hence the Vampire name.
PRP is harvested from your blood, which is first drawn like it would be for a routine
lab test.
To concentrate the PRP, the blood is spun in centrifuge, separating the heavier, red
blood cells from the clear, yellowish plasma.
The plasma is rich with blood platelets, hence the name.
Platelet-rich plasma contains a host of wound healing and growth factors, which are needed
when you have a cut.
These same factors can be used to improve the skin from by using the same wound healing
elements to build collagen and improve blood supply.
PRP can also be made into a thicker form with a gel-like consistency by adding calcium,
which makes it to a more viscous form called platelet-rich fibrin matrix, or PRFM.
Essentially, you’re improving appearance by adding volume with a hyaluronic acid filler
and improving skin quality and luster with PRP.
There is also a well established benefit from combining hyaluronic acid with platelet rich
plasma.
The Vampire Facelift as a procedure by itself is best for people in their thirties and early
forties.
This is a time when facial volume loss becomes more significant along with changes in the
skin.
A surgical facelift is more suited for significant skin and tissue descent seen in your 60s and
older.
In between, when the face has significant volume loss, but limited skin and tissue sagging,
I recommend a volume enhancing procedure called Structural Volumizing.
This involves placement of longer lasting fillers at the level between the bone and
overlying muscles.
The Vampire Facelift doesn’t involve any significant recovery or healing time.
Patients can feel and appreciate benefits of immediately.
The benefits of PRP will be ongoing for several months afterwards.
The Vampire Facelift is considered a “lunch time procedure”, and patients often return
to work right after.
Closing: The Vampire Facelift has created greater awareness of the benefits of PRP or
platelet rich plasma for more youthful skin which when combined with the volume enhancing
benefits of hyaluronic acid filler can help the right candidate look better.
It is not an alternative for a surgical facelift nor is it enough for more significant facial
volume loss which would require more cosmetic filler than a single syringe.
I hope you found this information helpful...thank you for your question