  A patient on the day of the surgery, and then one day after. (Dr. Harold Silver) |
Skimming through the daily paper, I saw an ad from a plastic surgeon claiming to perform a 3 day facelift. This immediately caught my attention, as I had always heard that recovery from a facelift usually takes at least two weeks. Even the Consumer Guide to Plastic Surgery says recovery can take four to six weeks. How can one doctor claim to do this in three days?
Well, in fact, Dr. Harold Silver says it isn’t necessarily three days. The plastic surgeon, whose office is located inside Toronto’s Fairmont Royal York hotel, says it can take less.
“The average person comes in the morning. I bring in an anaesthesiologist, he puts the patient to sleep to control the blood pressure. A couple of hours later [the patient] goes to the hotel bed, spends the night, and comes down the next morning. I take off their bandages. They go back to their room, wash their hair, and then go for lunch.”
He says 98% of his patients experience no bruising and minimal swelling the next day.
“Many, many thanks for the facelift surgery you performed on me recently. I am absolutely thrilled with the results,” writes Diane, one of Dr. Silver’s patients. “The surgery itself was everything you promised (and more)- 3 days, with no discomfort or bruising! I even felt confident enough to take your advice and go out to lunch the day following my surgery.”
Susan from Barrie, Ont. had taken two weeks off but says she didn’t need that much time.
“Returning home the day after surgery, I stopped in to Sherway Gardens for a quick snack. Much to my surprise a handsome gentleman asked if he could join me at my table. (This was the day after surgery no less!) I feel so attractive now and only wish dearly that I had come to you earlier.”
Dr. Silver says his technique is no secret. He is willing to share it with any plastic surgeon willing to watch him perform. There are several factors to a quick recovery, he explains. First and foremost is experience and judgement. Dr. Silver has been a plastic surgeon for more than 25 years and claims to have performed more than 8,000 facelifts. He has worked this particular technique for the past six years. Other factors include using a tissue glue to hold the skin in place, controlling the patient’s blood pressure, using local anaesthetic, and of course making careful incisions and dissections.
“It’s like cutting a diamond, anyone can take a chisel to it, but a diamond cutter is somebody wonderous.”
According to Dr. Silver, a facelift is recommended when other options are no longer effective. “Young patients can sometimes benefit from such procedures as microdermabrasion, ligh therapy, thermage, threads, botox and fillers by injection. But for older patients, once the skin is loose and hangs, no amount of injections or botox will help—honestly.”
According to Dr. Silver, there are four benefits to a facelift:
1. Elevates the cheeks and reduces the grooves that extend from the nose past each side of the mouth (nasal labial lines)
2. Removes jowls and defines the jaw line again.
3. Sculpts the neck by removing excess fat, tightening muscles.
4. Removes excess skin from the face and neck.
“There’s a learning technique when doing [a facelift],” says Dr. Silver. “People were taught something and then do it that way all their lives. I ask myself, what are the problems and how can I solve it.”
To many of his patients, Dr. Silver has managed to craft just the right beautifying solution.
