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

The Patient's Goals

A 58-year-old woman from Turkey came to us with sagging in her face and neck. The initial recommendation was broad: a face and neck lift, a brow lift and eyelid surgery. She was clear about what she did not want. She did not want to change a great deal or look artificial. She wanted to look like a younger version of herself, not like someone else.

That request changes how a plan is weighed. Treating every ageing area at once can be anatomically thorough. It can still alter the features people use to recognise a face, above all the brows and eyelids, which carry much of a person's expression. For this patient, the right question was not what could be treated but what needed treating to correct the sagging she had come with.

The operation carried out was a deep plane face and neck lift. The brow lift and eyelid surgery that had been recommended were not included. The surgery stayed on the face and neck, where her concern lay.

Surgeon's Expert Approach

The assessment

She presented with sagging of the face and neck. As a rule, this kind of laxity starts below the skin. The deeper soft-tissue layer descends with age and the skin follows it. The cheek tissue sits lower, the jawline loses its line and the neck loses definition. The brows and eyelids were part of the first recommendation. Her priority, though, was not to look changed or artificial, and the plan was built on that priority.

Why a deep plane facelift

When a patient's main fear is an artificial look, the depth of the lift becomes the key decision. Lifts that depend on pulling skin tend to give themselves away through stretched skin, a flattened face and visible tension. A deep plane facelift works beneath the SMAS. It returns the descended deep layer to its earlier position, and the skin travels with it. The change comes from repositioning tissue, not from stretching it, which fits her wish to look like a younger version of herself.

Why a neck lift alongside it

Her sagging involved the neck as well as the face. A facelift alone improves the jawline and upper neck to a degree, but laxity lower in the neck generally needs its own correction. A lifted face above an unchanged neck is among the clearest signs of surgery. Adding a neck lift treats the jawline and neck as a continuous line.

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 they form a continuous sheet, lifting face and neck in the same operation repositions the lower face and neck in the same direction. This avoids a visible step between a treated face and an untreated neck.

How the technique works

• In a deep plane facelift, the surgeon enters the plane beneath the SMAS and releases the retaining ligaments, such as the zygomatic and masseteric ligaments, that tether the descended tissue.
• The SMAS and overlying skin are then moved together as a unit and secured. The holding tension sits in the deep layer rather than the skin.
• Because the skin is not the lifting structure, the technique aims to avoid the stretched, wind-swept look associated with skin-only lifts.
• A neck lift addresses neck laxity, typically by tightening the platysma and redraping the neck skin. The exact steps depend on the individual neck's anatomy.

Doctor's note

Op. Dr. Göknil Gültekin performed a deep plane face and neck lift for this patient in April 2026. The after photographs were taken one month after surgery. They show her healing appearance at four weeks alongside her face before the operation. A facelift generally continues to settle beyond the first month, so these images document an early stage of healing.