Turning Back the Clock with the Help of a New Facelift Technique

Vertical restoration is a new facelift technique that was created by surgeons to rejuvenate different parts of the face, including the neck, and lift it into a more youthful position.

With time, the deep fascia layer of the face starts drooping downward causing visible signs of facial ageing such as deflated cheeks, hooded eyelids, droopy jowls, and lax neck skin. Traditional facelifts treat the skin laxity in the face by pulling the skin sideways. This can result in a pulled and unnatural appearance of the face.

A vertical restore facelift works on lifting the saggy facial and neck tissue upward into a vertical and younger position. A VR facelift doesn’t pull the skin, instead, it repositions the deeper fascia layer in order to correct the signs of ageing in the face in the temple, jaw, midface, and neck area in an extremely natural and durable way.

Sydney Plastic Surgeon Dr Scott Turner has dedicated a lot of his surgical skill to perfecting the vertical facial restoration technique to help his patients achieve their aesthetic goals.

What Is Vertical Restore Facelift?

A vertical restore facelift (VR facelift) is a surgical procedure that effectively treats fascial laxity by lifting the entire face including the outer brow, midface, jawline, and neck. It’s a novel surgical method for natural-looking facial rejuvenation.

Gravity constantly pulls your facial tissue downward. And as time goes by, this creates visible signs of ageing on your face, including:

Visible jowling which can make the jawline more square
Laxity in the neck
Drooping in the middle of the face that reaches the corners of the mouth
Fallen cheeks
Deep nasolabial folds
Hooding in the corner of the eyes

Instead of addressing these facial concerns separately, vertical restoration treats different parts of the face that are affected by ageing in a single procedure.

How Is Vertical Restore Facelift Different From a Traditional Facelift?

A vertical restore offers a softer and less aggressive facial rejuvenation compared to the traditional face lift, yet with equally (or even more) stunning results. The VR lift vertically moves the neck, jawline, and cheeks in one block, back up to their normal position. Compared to a traditional facelift, a vertical restore delivers more natural results, and a less “done” appearance, since it involves less stress on the skin, and lifts all the facial layers together.

Another difference between a traditional facelift and a VR facelift is that vertical restoration works more on the deeper layers of the face – the fascia. The fascia is the deep facial layer containing muscles and connective tissue. A vertical restoration, ‘vertically restores’ the deep facial layer into its younger higher position. It treats the source of your facial cosmetic concerns, and doesn’t just masks it. The deep layer of the face is lifted altogether, along with the overlying skin, to fix the facial sagginess at its roots.

Why Is a Vertical Restore Facelift More Natural?

Vertical restoration naturally rejuvenates the face because it does not change the shape of your face. Instead, it lifts your facial skin and tissue to return them to the position they were in when you were younger.

The laxity of the facial skin comes from the laxity of a deeper facial layer called the fascia. The fascia is the layer that holds a lot of your facial muscles together extending from your temples down to your neck.

Different areas of your face are connected together through the fascia, including your cheeks, the corners of your mouth, and your neck. As you age, the fascia becomes stretched down and elongates and your face starts getting longer.

The vertical restore technique works to shorten the face and reposition the skin and facial features to where they were before they became stretched and elongated. A VR facelift also includes the neck- a young-looking face looks more balanced with a young-looking neck.

Therefore, after a vertical restoration facelift, you will not look like a different person. Rather, you’ll look like a younger and more vibrant version of yourself.

What Parts of the Face Does a VR Facelift Treat?

Vertical restoration works on various parts of the face within one procedure to make your entire face look younger and fresher. The vertical restoration procedure treats:

The upper segment of the face: the temple and outer brow area that can droop and cause hooding around the eyes
The midface segment: where you might have heavy nasolabial folds and sunken cheeks
The lower segment of the face: where you might have skin sagging that leads to jowling in the jawline
The neck: laxity in the neck that can make the neck look heavy or bandy and blur out your face contour

What Are The Benefits of Vertical Restoration?

Vertical restore facelift is a combined set of procedures that:

Works on the deeper facial tissue layers where ageing is happening
Simultaneously treats different parts of the face that are affected by ageing
Lifts the whole face, with its different parts, together in one go

Therefore, vertical restoration has been able to give patients amazing benefits that they wouldn’t be able to get with a traditional facelift, including:

More powerful changes to heavy jowls, marionette lines, sunken cheeks, and significant skin excess in the face
Fixes sagging around the mouth by pulling the corners of the mouth slightly upward
Give your cheeks a heart shape that makes them look perkier and highlights the cheekbones without needing cheek implants
Tightens the neck and an improves the neck and face contour
Avoids the clumping of facial skin near the ears and neck that’s caused by pulling the facial tissue sideways during a regular facelift
Addresses the entire face and doesn’t require additional procedures such as fat transfers, a cheek lift, or a neck lift
Gives you more natural-looking results – no “pulled face” or “tight face” appearance
Give you more harmonious and balanced facial features – every part of the face is restored
Gives you more durable results that could last 10-15 years

Vertical restoration is a powerful facial rejuvenation technique that requires a deep understanding of the face anatomy and precise surgical skills that cannot be found in any plastic surgeon.

Dr Scott Turner combines anatomical knowledge with refined surgical experience to give you the best and most natural-looking results after your vertical restore facelift.

How Is a Vertical Restore Facelift Performed?

Dr Turner treats all sections of your face as one unit using a single surgical procedure to give you a more natural, harmonious, and balanced facial restoration.

VR facelift is done under anaesthesia. After you’re sedated:

Dr Turner will carefully make small incisions at the top of your hairline that extends downward, around your ears, and backwards to reach your hairline again. He makes the incisions in a way that ensures they’re well-hidden after your facelift even when your hair is pulled back
Then, he gently separates the skin from the underlying facial tissue, without stretching or stressing the skin, in your temple, cheek, jaw, and neck. The skin is laid back on top of the underlying tissue without causing it any tension
After that, Dr Turner will separate all the important ligaments that hold the fascia down to the bone from the cheek area, to the jaw area, and down to the neck area as well. This will allow him to vertically lift and reposition your entire face without opposition, and restore the facia that has been elongated downward with time
Next, the facial tissue is repositioned at around a 60-degree angle – the cheeks are elevated, nasolabial folds are lifted, the jawline is smoothened, and the neck is tightened
Your skin will then be laid back over your face and any excess skin will be removed
Finally, Dr Turner will use delicate suturing techniques to close your incision with minimal damage to your skin. This will help restore the natural appearance of your skin and help your wounds heal faster after your VR facelift

A highly trained surgeon, such as Dr Turner, can accurately identify the deep fascia layers in the face and customises the angle of the lift based on each patient’s age, anatomy, and degree of facial sagging.

Who Can Get a Vertical Restore Facelift?

If you started noticing that your brow, midface, jawline, and neck started to descend downward, you can greatly benefit from a VR facelift. You might be an ideal candidate for a vertical restoration facelift in case:

You have a lot of sagging in your face after losing a lot of weight
You have advanced signs of facial ageing that also include the neck
You have sun-damaged skin with wrinkles and sagging skin
You have noticed that your face has become longer and your jaw has become more squared with time
You have lower eyelid drooping

Vertical restoration is an extremely powerful facial rejuvenation surgery that can address all of your facial ageing concerns and give you exceptionally natural and long-lasting results.

Vertical Restore vs Deep Plane Facelift

Both the vertical restore facelift and the deep plane facelift use a vertical approach to lift the face upward rather than pull the skin backward. However, they are two different facelift techniques.

During the deep plane facelift, both the skin and the underlying muscle layers are lifted together as a single unit. Therefore, both the skin and deep fascia are repositioned at the same time.

On the other hand, a VR facelift separates the skin from the underlying tissue. This allows the surgeon to reposition the deeper facial tissues with greater flexibility first, then readjust the skin later.

Therefore, the vertical restoration technique allows the surgeon to rejuvenate the face more extensively than the deep plane facelift technique.

That’s why a deep facelift may be more appropriate for younger patients. It can be combined with a cheek lift or fat grafting in people with moderate facial ageing. On the contrary, a vertical facelift is a potent way to improve significant age changes in the face without additional procedures.

FAQs about Vertical Restore Facelift

Who invented the vertical facelift?

The VR restore procedure is a highly unique procedure that was created and trademarked in the USA by Dr Amir Karam- facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon in the United States. Since its creation, this facelift technique has been picked up and further developed by experienced facial plastic surgeons, such as Dr Scott Turner.

What is a mini vertical lift?

A mini vertical facelift is a facelift that uses small incisions to help lift the lower part of your face. It’s done to correct moderate facial skin sagging, especially in younger patients. A mini vertical lift uses the same concept. Dr Turner makes small incisions to reposition the deep fascial layer and fix mild to moderate signs of facial and neck ageing.

How long does the result of a vertical facelift last?

As you grow older, the deep fascia layer of the face starts to slide down and causes visible signs of ageing on your face. Typical facelifts treat the superficial facial ageing signs by pulling your face skin backward. Alternatively, a VR facelift restores your face’s younger appearance by lifting the deep fascia; which is the root of your ageing problems. Consequently, vertical restoration can give you amazing results that can last 10-15 years.

Is vertical facelift a scarless procedure?

The vertical restoration of the face involves incisions that are done high up your hairline and extend behind your ear into the deep crease of your ear. Therefore the scars from your facelift are well hidden in your natural hairline and behind your ear. Most of the time, hair grows back into the incision line further hiding your facelift scar. Vertical facelift scars should not be visible even when you’re not wearing any makeup or when you’re wearing your hair in a ponytail.

What is a Vertical Restore Facelift?