To achieve facial balance, many plastic surgeons take into consideration the Golden Ratio, a mathematical principle that can be applied to the relationships between the features. By lifting drooping midface contours, eradicating jowls, improving symmetry, and sharpening jawline definition, a facelift can play a significant role in enhancing overall facial harmony.
Dr. Sarmela Sunder at Sunder Plastic Surgery in Beverly Hills, known for creating customized surgical plans that achieve natural-looking transformations, explores the idea of facial balance and harmony through precision-oriented facelift techniques in the following blog.
What Is the Golden Ratio?
The underlying idea of facial harmony is that balanced, well-proportioned, and symmetric features enhance natural beauty and attractiveness. Features are assessed based on how they affect the whole face rather than how they look on their own. The Golden Ratio (1:1.618) is a mathematical concept that artists, architects, and even plastic surgeons have utilized over the years as part of their analysis process to enhance results. In the cosmetic field, the ratio can be used to evaluate spatial relationships between different components of the face to ensure a balanced, pleasing whole. Some examples might be:
- The distance from the top of the nose to the center of the mouth should be 1.618 times the distance from the middle of the mouth to the bottom of the chin
- The distance from the hairline to the upper eyelids should be 1.618 times the distance from the upper eyebrows to the lower eyelids.
How Can a Facelift Enhance Facial Harmony?
A facelift can support overall facial balance by correcting signs of aging that upset the equilibrium of the features. With the aging process, sagging skin, wrinkles, drooping jowls, and loss of definition in the cheeks and jawline can impact facial symmetry and diminish contour harmony. By elevating sunken midface folds and reshaping the lower face, a facelift can restore youthful vitality and overall balance to the appearance. A facelift that takes into account harmony among the features provides patients with enhanced self-confidence and a more positive self-image.
Which Features Are Most Impacted By a Facelift?
A skillfully performed facelift will adjust, enhance, and support harmony among the following facial features:
- Cheeks – A facelift can be pivotal in restoring midface balance and proportion. By elevating the cheeks to a more youthful-looking location, a facelift allows the gaze to refocus on the eyes and the smile, which are typically a patient’s best features. Facelift surgery is often performed in tandem with facial fat transfer to offset age-related volume loss and further improve facial harmony.
- Jawline – With maturity, the jawline typically begins to soften, and wilting jowls obscure the lower facial profile, telegraphing aging. A facelift can restore the sharpness of the jaw to present a more balanced overall facial shape – the universally praised V-shaped contour. Removing excess drooping skin from the lower face also improves symmetry.
Complementing Your Facelift Results With Additional Procedures
While a facelift alone can improve overall facial harmony and balance, the addition of other aesthetic procedures can take those results and exponentially elevate them. The following options are available for augmenting your facelift outcomes:
- Fat grafting – As mentioned earlier, facial fat transfer can reverse age-related volume loss, something that is difficult to achieve with a facelift by itself. Fat grafting can also correct instances of asymmetry while improving the skin’s overall texture and tone.
- Chin augmentation – By reshaping the chin, your surgeon can produce a more balanced, attractive profile. Chin augmentation can be performed with implants, dermal fillers, or surgery.
- Rhinoplasty – Nose surgery can correct an overly prominent, wide, or long nose that upsets the balance among the features. When the nose is well-proportioned and symmetrical, it acts as a central anchor, allowing the smile and eyes to shine.
- Blepharoplasty and brow lift surgery – Drooping, puffy eyelids and a sunken brow can make a person look much older than they feel. By rejuvenating the upper face at the same time as the lower face, a combination approach involving eyelid surgery, a brow lift, and a facelift can dramatically impact the patient’s presentation.
Choosing the Best Cosmetic Surgeon for a Balanced, Harmonious Facelift Result
When choosing a facelift surgeon, it is critical to assess their training background, board certification, results, and testimonials. Board-certified plastic surgeons like Dr. Sunder in Beverly Hills undergo extensive industry vetting and rigorous written and oral exams to ensure they have mastered their craft. It is also essential to choose a surgeon who understands the requirements of facial harmony and is devoted to producing a balanced, natural-looking outcome that will continue to please for years to come. Dr. Sunder is a facelift specialist who will go above and beyond to deliver the customized changes you desire to look and feel your best. Call today to schedule a private consultation.