Deep Plane Facelift Before and After:58-Year-Old Patient from Turkey's Face and Neck Lift

The Patient's Goals

This case centred on a request that shaped the whole plan: change as little as possible. A 58-year-old woman from Turkey came in with sagging in her face and neck. The first recommendation covered a face and neck lift, a brow lift and eyelid surgery. She explained that she did not want to change much or look artificial. What she wanted was to look like a younger version of herself.

That wish has real surgical weight. Operating on every ageing area at once can be anatomically complete. It also changes more of the features people use to recognize a face, especially the brows and eyelids, which carry much of a person's expression. Her goal called for correcting the sagging that brought her in while leaving her recognizable features alone.

The operation performed was a deep plane face and neck lift. The brow lift and eyelid surgery from the original recommendation were not part of it. The surgery stayed on the face and neck, where her concern was.

Surgeon's Expert Approach

The assessment

Her presenting concern was sagging of the face and neck. In general, this laxity begins beneath the skin. The deeper soft-tissue layer descends with age and the skin follows. The cheek tissue sits lower, the jawline softens and the neck loses definition. The brows and eyelids were included in the first recommendation. Her priority of not looking changed or artificial set the final plan.

Why a deep plane facelift

For a patient worried about looking artificial, the depth of the lift is the deciding factor. Lifts that rely on pulling skin tend to show through stretched skin, a flattened look and visible tension. A deep plane facelift works beneath the SMAS. It moves the descended deep layer back toward its earlier position, with the skin carried along as a unit. The change comes from repositioning tissue rather than stretching it, which suits her goal of looking like a younger version of herself.

Why a neck lift as well

Her sagging was in the neck as well as the face. A facelift alone improves the jawline and upper neck to some extent, but laxity lower in the neck generally needs its own correction. A lifted face over an unchanged neck is a typical sign of surgery. A neck lift lets the jawline and neck be treated as a continuous contour.

How the face lift and neck lift work together

The SMAS of the face continues below the jaw as the platysma muscle of the neck. Because this is a continuous sheet, a face and neck lift in the same operation repositions the lower face and neck in the same direction. No visible boundary is left between a treated face and an untreated neck.

How the technique works

• In a deep plane facelift, the surgeon works beneath the SMAS and releases the retaining ligaments, such as the zygomatic and masseteric ligaments, that hold the descended tissue down.
• The SMAS and the overlying skin are then moved together as a unit and secured. The tension is carried by the deep layer, not by the skin.
• Because the skin is not used to do the lifting, the technique aims to avoid the stretched or wind-swept appearance of skin-only lifts.
• A neck lift addresses laxity of the neck, typically by tightening the platysma and redraping the neck skin. The exact steps depend on the anatomy of each neck.

Doctor's note

Op. Dr. Göknil Gültekin performed a deep plane face and neck lift for this patient in April 2026. The after photos were taken one month after surgery. They show her healing appearance at four weeks next to her face before the operation. A facelift generally keeps settling past the first month, so these photos record an early stage of healing.