Dr. Dirk Lazarus
Plastic Surgeon

Tel: 021 424 1112
Fax: 021 424 1118

86 New Church St
Tamboerskloof
Cape Town, 8001
South Africa

Although the male face may exhibit many of the same features of ageing as in women, my opinion is that men do not fare as well as women when it comes to facelift. Men have thicker and more resilient skin, tend to bleed more, have a lower pain threshold, tend to have a higher complication rate and generally tolerate surgery less well. For many men, the main problem is the neck and my male patients will often grab the excess of skin and fat that form their dewlap and say: "Doc, can you get rid of this?"

Fortunately there is an answer in an operation called an anterior cervicoplasty. This relatively simple and safe operation is performed as day case surgery under sedation and local anaesthesia. Liposuction of the neck is performed through two tiny incisions below each ear lobe and a third under the chin. Once the liposuction is complete, the excess skin is simply excised. The muscles can also be re-approximated to each other if necessary.

Although anterior cervicoplasty leaves a scar extending under the chin and down to the Adam's apple, this scar is mostly in shadow and it is situated in the beard area. The scar can be quite red initially and for a period of a few months. As with all scars, maturation takes about 1-2 years.

The surgery can be combined with other procedures, particularly, as in the patient below, with an upper eyelid blepharoplasty.

Read my newsletter on Rejuvenation of the Male.