There are as many facial procedures on offer in plastic surgery as there are on the rest of the body combined. It is no wonder, then, that the choice of facial plastic surgery procedures can be confusing.

What are the worries of usually turning to a beauty clinic? For what reasons are beauty treatments and surgeries considered?

Considering beauty procedures and surgeries usually starts with a specific need – with something, that is seriously bothering. Since the face is our number one business card, because it is visible to everyone and always, we are generally more sensitive about our face than about other parts of the body. For example, a small pimple on the face can bother a person more than a large deformity anywhere on the body. There are many reasons for turning to the clinic: signs of aging, mimic wrinkles, a deformed nose after a trauma, congenital “beauty defects”, such as facial differentiation, sunken eyelids, and so on.

What are the first simplest facial procedures to start with? At what age should you think about plastic surgery?

The very first level is usually laser and injection procedures. People of all ages may need them. For example, botulinum toxin injections can smooth mimic wrinkles, improve facial differences and position of eyebrows, reduce excessive muscle tone, and correct excessive gummy smile and chin stiffness. Filling injections allow deep hydration of the skin with hyaluronic acid, smoothing wrinkles, modelling the face, etc. The laser can be used to remove various skin problems such as pigment spots, thickeners, acne, (acne) scars and various skin formations. It is definitely not worth waiting until the very last minute to turn to a specialist and ask what can be done to prevent aging or eliminate the first signs of aging. Injection or laser procedures may be indicated, for example, for a woman or man who is already 20+ years old and whose skin is damaged by excessive sunlight or who is suffering from a skin problem. Combined methods using different lasers, skin care products and injections at the same time have given enormous results in our practice.

When should you start thinking about surgical procedures? What are the options offered by aesthetic surgery?

It is not possible to prevent the signs of aging indefinitely with injections, and at around the age of 35+, surgical sutures for supporting and lifting of the underlying tissues of the skin can be a good solution. These threads essentially remain as a frame to the subcutaneous tissues and muscles and can later be tightened. Surgical support sutures work best preventively – one thing is to have the procedure performed for the purpose of rejuvenation, another thing is to have it done to prevent aging. We have been installing surgical support sutures for 9 years and patients have been very satisfied with the results.

However, if the skin starts to sag and there is excess skin (caused by weight loss, age, genetics), then the support threads alone are not enough. Excess skin should be surgically removed. The most radical method is a full facelift, which removes excess skin and tightens loose muscles.

Other surgical options include jaw endoprosthesis, and face and neck liposuction. These procedures bring out the facial features nicely and the person visually gives a much fresher and younger impression.

What to pay attention to when having your face corrected?

It is extremely important to turn to a health care facility that deals with both, injection procedures and aesthetic surgery. The saddest thing is when a woman goes to an injector with only basic training who specializes in only one procedure or part of the face to correct her face or increase her lips. The face should be seen as a whole, not just focusing on the eyes, lips, nose, cheekbones or chin line. The latest trend in aesthetic surgery is about profile surgery – all the proportions of the face and how one part of the face is placed in relation to the other must be taken into account. For example, when adjusting the nose, you also need to pay attention to the chin, and the bite plays a role in injecting the lips. Similarly, it is not always wise to overfill mimic wrinkles or wrinkles around the mouth with injections, as tissue injections may not produce the desired youthful results if the tissues fall. Quite often, patients who have spent a lot of money on procedures such as mesonites or (wrongly done) refill injections or laser treatment in another clinic, turn to us as they have not received the expected help or their problem has been worsening because the approach had been wrong from the start.

How much can aesthetic surgery delay aging?

The work depends on the “customer’s material”. Depending on the condition of the facial skin and a person’s lifestyle, it is possible to “turn back the clock” for as far as 15-20 years. However, it is, of course, impossible for us to turn a 70-year-old into a 20-year-old. You cannot buy eternal youth for any money, if you have not properly taken care of yourself. For example, in the case of Reet, a participant in the TV show “My Wonderful Change”, we had to deal with very serious skin damage caused by long-term smoking and negligence of the facial skin. Each cigarette smoked was drawn on her face. To put it bluntly, unfortunately, smokers do not really know the insane harm they are doing. One thing is nicotine, which traumatizes blood vessels and organs, and another thing is tar, which localizes to fat cells. While the fat cell is usually slightly light yellow, the smoker’s fat cell is brown – this means that the capillaries passing through the primary support layer of the skin’s surface have atrophied and not enough oxygen is reaching under the skin. Therefore, the smoker’s skin is always grey, low in oxygen and tired.

Attention! This is a healthcare service. Christinas Clinic is licensed by the Health Board, permit L04361 (CBF Medical OÜ). Operations and procedures are performed by healthcare professionals.