Endoscopic aesthetic facial surgery: technique and results.

The endoscopic approach to forehead and midface lifting has become popular method of face rejuvenation with minimal incisions. We have performed 67 endoscopic facelift procedures in the last four years. Forehead lifting technique included five small scalp incisions, wide subperiosteal elevation, endoscopic myotomy and forehead tissue fixation with srews, superficial temporal fascia (STF) suture to deep temporal fascia (DTF). Midface lifting technique included temporal 2.5 cm and 1.5 cm vertical intraoral incision, midface subperiosteal undermining and midface elevation with cable sutures Bichat's fat to DTF. Age mediana of patients who underwent endoscopic front lift was 46, patients who had endoscopic front lift and midface lift procedure age mediana was 40. Postoperative complication rate was 7.5% and included frontal branch weakness (n=2), hematoma (n=1), infraorbital nerve paresthesia (n=1) and asymmetrical smile (n=1). The main question is the quality of the results. We have reviewed 49 patients who were followed 6 months or more. Preoperative and postoperative life-size photographs were analyzed. The mean elevation mediana at medial canthus was 2.2 mm, at medial limbus 2.3 mm, at lateral limbus 2.5 mm, at lateral canthus 2.9 mm. Midface - lift effect resulted cheek elevation from 1.07 till 4.71 mm lip corner elevation 1.03 mm to 3.27 mm. We observed cheek elevation, improving nasolabial line, increasing volume of malar region, elevating lip angles in patients after endoscopic midface lift. We have found that important advantage of subperiosteal midface lift, when performed in conjunction with endoscopic brow lift, is its ability to move the cosmetic eye unit, proportionally, leading to a harmonious facial appearance. Endoscopic facelift is effective procedure for face rejuvenation especially for eyebrows and cheek elevation.