Providing the Minneapolis Area with Facelift, Rhinoplasty, Eyelid Surgery and More
Our faces are our unspoken introduction to the rest of the world. Before we even open our mouths, our faces make our first impressions for us. If your appearance is no longer an accurate reflection of you, it may be giving other people the wrong impression. Trauma, disease, and the passage of time slowly wear on the appearance of your face, causing it to look older, more anxious, or weary than you feel. The facial rejuvenation techniques Dr. Kobienia utilizes at his Minneapolis-area practice—including facelift, rhinoplasty, and eyelid surgery—can help bring the way you feel and the way you look back into harmony.
Facelift and Neck Rejuvenation
As we age, the affects of gravity, exposure to the sun, and the natural breakdown of the skin's building blocks can cause parts of the face to sag slightly, creating wrinkles and deep creases around the nose, mouth, cheeks, and neck. While exercise, a healthy diet, and plenty of sleep will slow this process, there is no stopping the passage of time or its reflection in the face. There is, however, a way to regain a more youthful appearance and make your face a truer representation of how you feel inside.
Our Minneapolis-area practice offers facelift surgery (also called a rhytidectomy), a cosmetic surgery designed to smooth and tighten the appearance of loose, wrinkled skin of the cheeks, jowls, and neck. Candidates for facelift include people with excessive skin and fat of the anterior neck, loose, excess skin in the cheek area, “cords” along the neck, and those with a poorly defined jaw line. This procedure is commonly done to help both men and women. During this surgery, redundant skin and fat are removed and the skin is tailored to give a more youthful appearance. This procedure is often performed in conjunction with eyelid surgery or a brow lift.
Q: What should I expect following my facelift?
A: Most patients are amazed by how little post-operative pain they experience following facelift surgery. Some exhibit slight tightness in the neck for several days due to swelling and healing - many report this as the most bothersome part of recovery. This will subside in several days as will any bruising that may be present in the neck area. Bending, lifting, running, or other mild exercise can make the swelling worse, and should not be resumed until three to four weeks after the surgery.
Q: Is a facelift permanent?
A: Undergoing facelift surgery will not halt the aging process; it can, however, set back the clock. Many patients are satisfied with their results for several years following the surgery. To extend your results for as long as possible, it is important that you maintain a healthy diet and exercise program, try to keep your weight steady, avoid prolonged exposure to the sun, and keep your skin well-hydrated.
Eyelid Surgery
Over time, the skin and connective tissue surrounding the eye loses some of its elasticity and begins to sag. Eyes that were once alert and youthful-looking become droopy, giving the outward appearance of fatigue, lethargy, or disinterest. In some cases, drooping eyelids can create blurry vision or can obscure the field of vision altogether, creating a health and safety hazard, as well as an unfortunate aesthetic consequence.
Blepharoplasty, or eyelid surgery, remedies drooping eyelids and baggy skin under the eyes by removing small amounts of excess skin and fat from the area. Dr. Kobienia makes incisions in precise locations to ensure that the scarring is minimal, and that it blends in with the natural skin. Simply by trimming away unnecessary tissue, eyes appear brighter and the entire face looks fresher. Because eyelid surgery is performed so close to the eye and most patients are uncomfortable being awake during the surgery, blepharoplasty is most often done under IV sedation. In some instances where drooping eyelids are causing vision problems, eyelid surgery may be covered by insurance.
If the image gazing back at you from the mirror doesn’t look as young as you feel, contact our plastic surgery practice today for a free consultation at Dr. Kobienia's Minneapolis-area office to see if eyelid surgery may help you.
Q: What is the time period for recovery from blepharoplasty?
A: Eyelid surgery is an outpatient surgery, meaning you will be able to leave shortly after the surgery is completed. However, you will not be able to drive yourself home, as vision will be impaired by bandages and swelling. Mild bruising will last from four to eight weeks, though most patients are able to return to work within a week or two.
Q: How do I know if my insurance will cover my eyelid surgery?
A: Most insurance companies have a list of criteria that must be met in order for eyelid surgery to be covered by insurance; these criteria can include relief from impaired vision or pain. Check with your insurance provider before your surgery to find out for sure if you will be covered or contact Dr. Kobienia’s office today for more information on what to do before you contact your health insurance provider.
Rhinoplasty
The most prominent feature on the face, the nose, is often a source of insecurity. Slight disproportion in the length, width, or protrusion of the nose can cause anxiety in many people, as well as in those whose noses have been disfigured due to trauma. In some cases, a misshapen nose may cause more than merely aesthetic dissatisfaction; it can create respiratory problems such as sleep apnea (difficulty breathing while sleeping).
Patients in the Minneapolis area can turn to Dr. Kobienia for rhinoplasty, a procedure to correct nasal abnormalities. Asymmetry of the nose, large bumps on the bridge of the nose (called “dorsal humps”), a nasal tip that is too long or too short, and many other imperfections in the nose can be remedied through rhinoplasty. Rather than reshaping the nose altogether, the aim of rhinoplasty is to make subtle improvements that bring the nose into aesthetic and physical balance with the rest of the face and body. As this procedure is as much an art as a science, it is important to choose a qualified and knowledgeable surgeon. Contact board-certified cosmetic surgeon Dr. Brian Kobienia today to set up a consultation and let him help you discover or rediscover the nose you want.
Q: What should I expect following nose surgery?
A: After your surgery, Dr. Kobienia will place a pressure dressing over your eyes and a gauze pad underneath your nose to catch blood and mucous. You may remove the dressing within a few hours of surgery, or as directed by Dr. Kobienia. You may experience nausea due to ingestion of blood during the procedure; this is normal, so do not be alarmed. The cast will be removed approximately a week after the surgery, and special care must be taken not to bump the nose following the removal of the cast. Within two months or so the nose will be healed, but immediately following surgery it will still be very fragile.
Q: When will I see the results of my surgery?
A: The results will be noticeable immediately; however, the swelling will persist for several months. Within a few weeks the majority of the swelling and just about all of the discoloration will have disappeared. However, it may take several months for the swelling to subside completely.
Ear Correction
Children will tease and pick on each other no matter what particular attributes or abnormalities any individual child has. Children with particularly prominent facial features, however, often endure more taunting and ridicule as they grow up.
Thanks to otoplasty (also known as “ear correction” or “ear pinning”), children and adults alike now have an alternative to simply living with ears that they consider too large or too prominent. Ear pinning can be done on anyone, though it is usually performed on children between the ages of 5 and 14, when the cartilage in the ears has completely grown. While children can benefit greatly from this surgery, it is important that they are completely comfortable with the procedure, and want to have it done. Dr. Kobienia can sit down with you and your child to discuss the surgery, and help determine whether or not the procedure should be performed.
Q: What should be expected post-operatively?
A: The dressing is removed after five days to a week, and a child who has undergone the procedure should be kept relatively quiet during that time. The dressing should not get wet. The patient should refrain from bending over for about three weeks, to keep the surgical location elevated above the heart, and should sleep on his or her back for that period of time as well. Routine exercises can begin following the fourth post-operative week, and contact sports following the sixth.
Q: Is the recovery after otoplasty painful?
A: There is normally very little pain reported post-operatively, though there will be swelling for about a week and a half. Bruising is normally not much of an issue, though that is dependent on each individual case and how prone to bruising the patient is.
Forehead / Brow Lift
A furrowed brow can be a signal that an individual is thinking particularly hard, or focusing on the task at hand. However, if a brow is furrowed or a forehead particularly wrinkled when a person is completely at rest, it can indicate years of tension or muscle activity, or just the natural aging process reflected in the skin. The appearance of a drooping or tense brow can be easily remedied by a simple brow lift surgery, giving you a younger, more refreshed appearance.
Brow lift, which is sometimes referred to as forehead lift, is a surgical procedure performed to minimize drooping eyebrows, hooding over the eyes, and a furrowed or deeply wrinkled forehead. This operation corrects the sagging or low position of the eyebrows by removing excess skin, altering muscles that create wrinkles, and tightening the forehead skin. Tightening of the forehead skin can be achieved through a standard (coronal) or endoscopic procedure, both of which hide the incisions in the hair-bearing scalp. This procedure is often done at the time of an eyelid surgery or facelift, though it can be performed on its own.
Q: What should I expect following browlift surgery?
A: You should expect to be somewhat tender and swollen, and you may be slightly bruised as well. Make sure to take your medication and relax, let the healing process take care of itself. The swelling will gradually subside over the first two to three months following surgery, and some patients worry that their brow has been lifted too high during this period. This is normal, so do not be alarmed.
Contact Our Practice for Facial Plastic Surgery
If you live in the Minneapolis area and are considering eyelid surgery, rhinoplasty, facelift, or any other cosmetic surgery procedure, contact our Edina plastic surgery practice to schedule a consultation with one of Minnesota's finest cosmetic surgeons, Dr. Brian Kobienia.
Dr. Kobienia also offers body contouring plastic surgery procedures including tummy tuck and liposuction, in addition to breast augmentation and other breast enhancement procedures.
Brian J. Kobienia MD, FACS
7450 France Avenue S.
Suite 220
Edina, MN 55435 MAP
Phone: (952) 925-1111
Contact Dr. Kobienia’s Minneapolis-area office to learn more about rhinoplasty, facelift, eyelid surgery, or any of our other facial procedures.
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