(iVillage Total Health) - A new facelift technique that places the surgical incision in the temple area or a sideburn may offer patients more options for concealing scars and styling their hair, a new study reports.
Published in the May issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), the report describes a technique for manipulating the growth of hair follicles at the temples so that hair grows over and covers the facelift incision. Facelifts are one of several types of cosmetic plastic surgery. It is designed to remove wrinkles and other signs of aging from the face by pulling the skin back and removing excess tissue.
In the traditional facelift (also called a rhytidectomy), a surgeon makes incisions near the hairline behind or above the ear. Researchers took hairline strips from the temples of 16 fresh cadavers and studied 227 hair follicles for the direction and angle of growth. They found making an incision at a certain angle (30 to 45 degrees) into the skin allowed the hair to grow through the scar and reduce visibility of the scar. They noted that women can wear their hair pulled back and men can grow sideburns without feeling self-conscious about showing a scar or missing hair.
"With the youngest Baby Boomer turning 42 and the oldest turning 60 this year, the demand for surgical procedures that produce results without tell-tale signs of having had a facelift are going to continue to increase," said a doctor.
Copyright 2009 NBC Health
Click here to read the rest of the article at HealthVideo.com
