A One-Hour Facelift With Long-Lasting Results

According to Glen Burnie, MD plastic surgeon Adam Summers, MD, facelifts don’t have to disrupt your lifestyle. At his practice, patients who want to undergo a dramatic change can do so in just one hour with the ‘SMART Facelift’ technique he developed and return to normal social activities in a few days.

What It Is

“In this procedure, the word SMART is an acronym for ‘Skin, Muscle, Adipose, Reduced Tension’ facelift,” says Dr. Summers. “Unlike a traditional facelift where the skin is pulled, with the ‘SMART Facelift’ we tighten the loose facial ligaments using permanent suspension sutures. This provides the unique feature of lifting the cheeks and jowls while simultaneously reducing tension on the skin. With this procedure, lax facial ligaments are repaired with permanent suspension sutures that hold up the soft tissues.”

As we age, the mid-face loses both facial fat volume and facial skeletal bone density, he explains. Combined with the effects of gravity and traction, these changes result in a loosening of the facial ligaments. “I like to address the root cause of the problem. In this case, the ligaments holding up the muscle and fat need to be repaired. As this is done, the deep soft tissue layers are repositioned and the skin is brought along for the ride, so to speak. Because of this, with the ‘SMART Facelift,’ there’s never any tension on the skin,” he explains.

What It Does

Conceptually, Dr. Summers likens his technique to the treatment of uterine prolapse, which many women experience. “After pregnancy, many women find that the internal ligaments which hold their uterus in position have stretched out. As these ligaments lengthen, the uterus will prolapse, or fall. Typically, a gynecologist will surgically repair those ligaments using permanent sutures to restore the uterus to its prior position. This is identical to the ‘SMART Facelift’ where we use permanent sutures to correctly position the soft tissues which had fallen.”

The Best Candidates

Because the ‘SMART Facelift’ technique does not pull the skin, it gives natural-looking results. But not everyone is a candidate. “Some people have severe elastosis, or thinning of the skin from years of sun exposure,” says the surgeon. “With those patients, we repair the skin first with laser treatments. Once we have restored the collagen, these patients can become candidates for the ‘SMART Facelift’. This is great for the patient because both the surface layer and the deep layers are corrected.”

The Major Payoffs

“Typically, with my ‘One Hour SMART Facelift’ procedure, there is very little bruising or swelling, so patients usually have almost no downtime,” he adds. “Because the procedure repositions the sagging cheeks and jowls without pulling on the skin, patients never have a ‘pulled or wind-swept’ appearance. In addition, since permanent sutures don’t stretch, they will continue to support the cheeks for many years.”

How Long Results Last

Having performed the SMART Facelift procedure on over 2,000 patients, Dr. Summers says he now has countless patients that have maintained their elevated cheeks for more than a decade following their surgery. In addition, he says the benefit of this procedure is that years later the lift can be retightened without redoing the entire surgery.

It's Personal

At NewBeauty, we get the most trusted information from the beauty authority delivered right to your inbox

hbspt.forms.create({ portalId: "8806970", formId: "a8aef9b2-6178-4dad-9e2a-98b7661febc2" }); Find a Doctor

Find a NewBeauty "Top Beauty Doctor" Near you

Select a state State AL AR AZ CA CO CT DC FL GA HI IA IL IN KY LA MA MD MI MN MO NC NE NJ NV NY OH OR PA SC TN TX VA WA WI Select a state Specialty Cosmetic Dentist Dermatologist Facial Plastic Surgeon Hair Restoration Specialist Oculoplastic Surgeon Periodontist Plastic Surgeon Prosthodontist Vein Specialist Select a state Treatment Abdominal thread lifts Accent your Body Acne Treatments Alexandrite Laser Arm Lift Asclera Bellafill Belotero Blue Light Body Body Lift Botox Botox Browlift Brachioplasty Brazilian Butt Lift Breast Augmentation Breast Augmentation with Fat Grafting Breast Implants Breast Implants with Saline Breast Implants with Silicone Breast Lift Breast Lift with Implants Breast Reconstruction Breast Reduction Browlift Butt Enhancement Carboxytherapy Cellulite Treatment Cheek Augmentation Cheek Augmentation with Fat Grafting Cheek Implants Cheek Lift Chemical Peels Chin Augmentation CO2 lasers Cool Lipo CoolSculpting CoolTone Crowns Dental Bonding Dental Implants Dimpleplasty Diode Laser Dysport embrace Active Scar Defense Emsculpt Endermologie Endoscopic Browlift Endoscopic Facelift Endoscopic Tummy Tuck Erbium Lasers Exilis Ultra 360 Eyelift Eyelift with Fat Grafting Face Facelift Facelift with Fat Grafting FaceTite Fat Melters and Fat Reducers Forma Fractional CO2 lasers Fractional Resurfacing Lasers Fractora Glycolic Peels Glytone Enhanced Brightening Cream Gum Dermabrasion Gum Lift Hair Hair Removal Hair Transplant Hair-Loss Treatment Injectables & Fillers for Cheek Augmentation Injectables & Fillers for Eyelift Injectables & Fillers for Lip Enhancement Injectables And Fillers Injectables and Fillers with Fat Grafting Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) Invisalign Isolaz Juvéderm Juvéderm Volbella Juvéderm Voluma Kybella Lactic Acid Peels Laser Liposuction Lasers Lateral Tension Tummy Tuck Limited Incision Facelift Lip Enhancement Lip Enhancement with Fat Grafting Lip Implant Lip Lift Liposculpture Liposuction Liquid Facelift Long Pulsed N: Yag laser Lower Blepharoplasty Lower Body Lift Lower eyelid surgery Lower Facelift MACS Lift Mandelic Peels Microdermabrasion Microinjection Microneedling Microwave Laser Treatment Mini Tummy Tuck Mini-Facelift Mommy Makeover Nd: Yag Neck Liposuction Necklift Nonsurgical Facelift Nonsurgical Rhinoplasty Obagi Blue Peel Otoplasty Perlane Phenol Peels Photobiomodulation Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) Photofacial PiQo4 Plasma Resurfacing Lasers Power Assisted Liposuction Prevelle Pulsed Dye Radiesse Radio Frequency with Microneedling Radio Frequency-Assisted Lipolysis Red Light Restylane Restylane Defyne Restylane Lyft Restylane Refyne Restylane Silk Revision Rhinoplasty Rhinoplasty Salicylic Peels SculpSure Sculptra Aesthetic Selphyl Silhouette Instalift Skin Skin Tighteners Skin Treatments Slim Lipo Smart Lipo SMAS facelift Smile Smile Makeover Smoothshapes Straightening Stretch Mark Treatments TCA Chemical Peels Teeth Whitening Thermage ThermiTight Thigh Lift Titan Tooth Contouring Traditional Facelift Tumescent Liposuction Tummy Tuck Ulthera Ultherapy Ultrasound Assisted Liposuction Umbilicoplasty Upper Blepharoplasty Upper eyelid surgery Vanquish ME VASER Lipo Vein Treatments Velashape Velasmooth Veneers Xeomin Search