By Kelsey Casselbury
Are you ready for the next generation facelift? There're no nips, no tucks, and definitely no scarring—thanks, in part, to the Y LIFT innovator, Dr. Yan Trokel, who created his minimally invasive procedure based on the idea that a youthful appearance is shaped like the letter Y. The straight line of the bottom of the letter draws up from the chin to above the lip, and then shoots out in either direction up through the cheekbones.
Locally, the procedure is available at ProMD Health and Maryland Plastic Surgery, both in Annapolis, and it's a top option for busy Marylanders who want a little something to take a few years off their look. While a traditional facelift can take anywhere from three to five hours, the Y-Lift can be done in 30 minutes, according to ProMD Health's George Gavrila, MD. The effects, which can be seen almost immediately, fix an issue that practically every woman and man experiences, which is the loss of facial volume as part of the natural aging process.
“Anyone who wants to replace the volume lost with aging and restore a more youthful appearance can benefit from a Y LIFT,” Gavrila says. “The procedure is completely customizable and can be performed on male patients to create a stronger more masculine jawline.”
Trokel, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon from New York City, contemplated the idea of using a filler for the Y LIFT but boosting the amount significantly. According to Adam Summers, MD, of Maryland Plastic Surgery, he typically uses 14 syringes for a traditional filler-based procedure. During the Y LIFT, though, he's used up to 22 syringes of filler. The effects need periodic touch-ups to last, as your body absorbs that filler. Don't worry, though, “It's chemically a sugar, but the filler eaks down into water, degrades, and goes away,” Summers notes. “There's no long-term risk from it—it's just not going to do anything.”
One of the biggest advantages of the Y LIFT is the lack of downtime that it requires, post-procedure. Bruising? Nope. Days-long recovery? No way. Gavrila notes a little bit of swelling that's possible, but you can go back to your regular activities without any restrictions the next day. It's Trokel himself who threw in a caveat to his own creation, in an article from the New York Times Magazine, where he said, “Some people will still need facelifts. This isn’t supposed to take their place. But it’s a great tool to have.”
