Facelift
A Refreshed and Refined You
Why Choose Athré Facial Plastics for a Facelift?
Deep wrinkles? Sagging neck and jowls? What can be done to turn back the clock? A facelift in Houston with facial plastic surgeon Dr. Raghu Athré can retain the beauty, fullness, and youthful look of your face.
Your facelift journey deserves the best. Dr. Raghu Athré is a double-board-certified facial plastic surgeon who leverages his expertise and artistry to create a personalized facelift plan for you. Utilizing advanced techniques, Athré Facial Plastics prioritizes natural-looking results that enhance your unique beauty.
“Couldn't be any more pleased! I came in with a mindset of what I was expecting and they surpassed my expectations!”
-Julie P. (Houston, TX), facial plastic surgery patient
Benefits of a Facelift
Our facelift procedure has several benefits for both your appearance and your self-confidence:
Restore a youthful appearance: Facelift surgery addresses visible signs of aging, such as wrinkles, sagging skin, and loss of facial volume. By tightening underlying tissues and removing excess fat, a facelift can:
- Smooth wrinkles and lines around the eyes, forehead, and mouth.
- Restore lost volume in the cheeks and jowls, creating a lifted and sculpted appearance.
- Tighten sagging skin on the cheeks, jawline, and neck for a more defined contour.
- The result? A visibly younger and rejuvenated appearance that can significantly boost your confidence and make you feel more comfortable in your own skin.
Reignite your self-esteem and embrace new possibilities: Stepping out with a refreshed and youthful appearance can empower you in social and professional settings. Feeling confident in your appearance can motivate you to pursue new ventures and experiences. Your appearance also plays a role in first impressions—facelift can help you project a youthful and energetic image.
A long-lasting investment in your happiness: While results may vary, a facelift can offer long-lasting improvements, typically lasting 10-15 years in some cases. This longevity allows you to enjoy the benefits of your rejuvenated appearance for years to come.
Key Takeways
- Natural rejuvenation: Achieve a visibly younger appearance through surgical correction of wrinkles, sagging skin, and loss of facial volume.
- Personalized treatment plans: Dr. Athré designs a customized facelift plan to address your unique concerns and deliver your desired outcome.
- Long-lasting results: Enjoy the benefits of your facelift for years to come, with results typically lasting 10-15 years.
- Advanced techniques: Minimally invasive facelift procedures with shorter recovery times for a quicker return to your routine.
- Experienced expertise: Dr. Athré's double board certification and artistic approach ensure optimal outcomes and natural-looking results.
Before & After Photos
Facelift Gallery
About Facelift Procedures
A facelift (also called a rhytidectomy), is a cosmetic surgical procedure designed to rejuvenate the face.
The primary goal of facelift surgery is to tighten tissues that have started sagging due to age and gravity.
A facelift will:
- Tighten muscles
- Remove excess fat
- Redrape excess skin
- Remove excess skin
- Elevate dropped/fallen tissues
With a facelift Houston patients can tighten the jowls, cheeks, and neck tissues, as well as soften the smile lines. Advances in surgical techniques and materials allow tailoring facelifts for individual patients. A facelift can be a saving grace for those who want to turn back the hands of time and restore youthfulness and buoyancy to the skin around their face.
Houston facelift specialist and double-board-certified facial plastic surgeon Dr. Athré offers several different facelift techniques to customize results for each individual patient.
Your skin loses its elasticity as you age.
Your tissues are made of cells and held together with a matrix of proteins like collagen and elastin. As we age, the extracellular matrix of skin degrades, and collagen and elastin fibers reduce in quality and in total volume. The reduction of these proteins, collagens, and elastin causes thinner skin and fine lines — making your face appear older, tired, and less full.
The same type of process happens to the deeper layers that connect the skin to the underlying bony skull structure. These ligaments lengthen and fall because they cannot hold up against the forces of gravity.
The combination of all of these factors leads to:
- Fallen midface
- Jowls, fallen tissues along the jawline, and loss of jawline definition
- Sagging neck with loose neck skin
- Platysmal neck bands
- Excess fat in the neck, double chin
- Skin laxity of the face with excess facial skin
- Deepened smile lines or melolabial/nasolabial folds
- Marionette lines along the jowls
- Cheeks that have fallen down causing a tear trough at the lower eyelid cheek junction
These characteristics can be caused by the natural aging process.
Other factors that can speed up the aging process are:
- Sun exposure
- Tanning bed usage
- Environmental factors (Airplane pilots and flight attendants age faster because of increased UV light exposure)
- Smoking
- Rapid weight gain
- Rapid weight loss
- Frequent changes in large amounts of weight
- Poor nutrition
- Excessive alcohol consumption
- Chronic medical problems
- Poorly controlled diabetes
Facelift Pricing
Typically performed under general anesthesia, the procedure requires about two weeks of downtime, with most patients resuming daily activities soon after.
Endoscopic Facelift
$29,000 Starting Range
- + Facility Fees ($2,750)
- + Anesthesia (Local $1,500), (General $2,500)
Deep Plane Face/Neck Lift
$31,000 Starting Range
- + Facility Fees ($2,750)
- + Anesthesia (Local $1,500), (General $4,800)
4D™ Facelift
$32,000 Starting Range
- + Facility Fees ($2,750)
- + Anesthesia (Local $1,500), (General $4,800)
Total Facial Rejuvenation
Full Face Rejuvenation is a customized approach that combines multiple procedures to address the full spectrum of facial aging.
It often includes a blend of treatments, such as a facelift, eyelid surgery, brow lift, and sometimes non-surgical enhancements. The process begins with a detailed consultation, where Dr. Athré works with you to identify the best combination of treatments to achieve lasting results.
Total Facial Rejuvenation
$38,000 Starting Range
- + Facility Fees ($2,750)
- + Anesthesia (Local $1,500), (General, $4,800)
Explore Facelift Options
Every Houston facelift procedure performed by Dr. Athré is uniquely designed for the individual patient.
- The types of facelifts outlined below are not firm categories.
- In many cases, Dr. Athré combines approaches as required by the patient’s facial anatomy, concerns, and goals.
- Dr. Athré also offers a non-surgical facelift, often referred to as a “liquid facelift” because it uses dermal fillers to provide comprehensive facial rejuvenation, as well as stem cell facelift.
Defy Aging with Confidence
What is a facelift procedure like?
Dr. Athré will make an incision in the hair around the temples and ear. A small (less than one inch) incision is made right under the chin to sculpt and tighten the next tissues. After Dr. Athré lifts the skin, the underlying muscle layer is tightened, and the excess skin is trimmed. Meticulous technique, attention to detail, and microscopic sutures all contribute to a natural, non-operated look.
The goal of a facelift procedure is to restore a very natural appearance, and to have the patient look like themselves, just refreshed and younger. No two patients are identical, so no two facelifts Dr. Athré performs are the same. Tailoring the surgery for each patient is the only way to prevent a “pulled” or unnatural windblown appearance.
Anethesia for a Facial Rejuvenation Procedure
Facial rejuvenation procedures can be done using various types of anesthesia.
Procedures such as an isolated lip lift or an upper blepharoplasty are usually performed under local anesthesia. In such procedures, medication is injected into the tissues where the surgery will be performed. These medications stop the receptors from sending signals of pain to the brain.
Dr. Athré is one of the few surgeons to perform facelifts in Houston under local anesthesia. Most facelifts in Dr. Athré’s practice are performed under local anesthesia with oral sedation. In this type of anesthesia, the patient takes a “cocktail” of oral medications. These medications give partial amnesia, reduce anxiety, reduce nervousness, and reduce pain.
Once the oral medications have been given time to work, the actual tissues are anesthetized with local anesthesia. The advantage to this type of anesthesia is that it has reduced bleeding, reduced bruising, maintains a high level of anesthesia, and is cost efficient.
Some patients may opt for general anesthesia. This type of anesthesia is performed in an outpatient surgical center. This type of anesthesia also has gradations ranging from mild to the type of anesthesia required for open heart surgery. This type of anesthesia is great for nervous individuals, anxious patients, and patients with a very low threshold of pain. The primary disadvantages of this type of anesthesia is cost, increased bruising/swelling, and increased bleeding.
If you feel that you are a very anxious individual, consider using general anesthesia. The cost of general anesthesia can be found on our pricing page.
Video Guide
All of the topics on this page are covered in Dr. Athré’s video series about facelift surgery.
Ali's Facelift Patient Journey
Rebecca's Facelift Patient Journey
I Had a 4D Facelift with Dr. Athre and It CHANGED My Life!
Treatment Areas
Turn Back the Clock on Aging
What conditions does a facelift address?
A facelift addresses a range of visible signs of aging on the face and neck:
- Wrinkles and lines: Facelift surgery targets wrinkles around the eyes (crow's feet), forehead creases, and frown lines, smoothing and softening their appearance for a more youthful look.
- Loss of facial volume: By surgically repositioning tissues and removing excess fat, a facelift restores lost volume in areas like the cheeks and jowls, creating a lifted and more sculpted appearance.
- Sagging skin: Facelift procedures address sagging skin on the cheeks, jawline, and neck, tightening the underlying tissues for a more defined and youthful contour.
By addressing these concerns, a facelift can significantly rejuvenate your appearance and restore a sense of confidence.
Classic Beauty Awaits
What areas of the face can a facelift address?
A facelift primarily targets the lower two-thirds of the face and the neck. This includes the cheeks, jawline, jowls, and neck area, addressing concerns like wrinkles, sagging skin, and loss of volume for a comprehensive facial rejuvenation. For more comprehensive facial rejuvenation, some patients elect to combine a facelift with other procedures like a brow lift or blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery).
Ideal Candidates for a Facelift
Wondering if a facelift is right for you? In general, good candidates are:
Schedule a consultation with Dr. Athré to discuss your goals and determine if facelift surgery aligns with your desires.
Facelift Recovery
The surgery itself takes approximately 3 ½ hours.
The time of surgery is based on what procedure and how many procedures are done. Many patients who opt for a facelift may also undergo blepharoplasty, brow surgery, or other cosmetic surgery procedures. More procedures increases the time of surgery. A full facial rejuvenation will take approximately 6 hours.
The recovery time for most facelift surgery patients is approximately 2 weeks. Patients are seen the day after their procedure, 5-6 days after their surgery, and 7-10 days after their surgery. Patients are generally back to work in one or two weeks, and complete healing can take up to one year. A facelift can provide very good results for up to 15 years. Even as facial aging continues, your face will always look younger than it would have without surgery.
Heal Faster with Elixir MD™
At Athré Facial Plastics, we believe in providing the best possible care, which means looking after every part of your experience, including how you heal.
Dr. Athré offers Elixir MD, a special recovery treatment that helps patients heal up to 50% faster after facial surgery.
Elixir MD helps ease swelling, bruising, and tenderness so you can start enjoying your results sooner. It's part of Dr. Athré's promise to bring you the latest tools that truly make a difference and to keep your recovery smooth, simple, and comfortable. Here’s how Elixir MD supports you through every stage:
- Before Surgery: Preps your skin and tissues by lowering bacteria on the surface and creating a better healing environment.
- After Surgery: Reduces swelling and bruising to speed up the early recovery phase.
- Long-Term: Supports deep healing and helps your skin stay healthy and strong over time.
Elixir MD uses different types of light energy to guide your body’s natural healing process, choosing just the right wavelengths at the right time to help you bounce back faster.
It’s one more way Dr. Athré ensures you receive the expert care and attention you deserve, from your first consultation to your final results.
Why Dr. Athré?
Dr. Raghu Athré is a double board-certified facial plastic surgeon known for combining technical precision with a highly individualized approach to patient care.
With a background in both engineering and reconstructive surgery, he approaches each procedure with a focus on structure, function, and long-term facial balance, not just surface-level results. Every patient experience begins with a thorough consultation designed to understand aesthetic goals, functional concerns, and personal priorities. Dr. Athré takes the time to walk patients through each step and clearly explain all treatment options, both surgical and non-surgical, so they can make informed decisions with confidence.
Located in Houston’s Heights area on Ella Boulevard, Dr. Athré serves patients throughout Houston and the surrounding region. His approach attracts patients looking for precise, natural-looking results and a clear, well-structured treatment process.
Facelift FAQ's
See below for frequently asked questions about facelifts.
Patient Reviews
“Couldn’t be any more pleased! I came in with a mindset of what I was expecting and they surpassed my expectations! His staff made me feel so comfortable along the way. Dr. Athre was so kind and makes sure you know what’s going on during the procedure. To anyone contemplating a procedure, go in for a consult and just do it!”
