The core of any facial plastic surgeon’s skills come from their training in fellowship, which follows their residency training. The premier body for fellowship training in facial plastic surgery is the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS). Established surgeons learn from their colleagues by visiting them in the operating room and by engaging with them through medical literature and at meetings. True advancements in surgical techniques are more likely to be published in reputable journals than kept within the surgeon’s operating room. Moreover, these advancements usually improve upon previous innovations in an iterative process where the wisdom of a surgeon’s colleagues is built upon.

Those surgeons who advanced early facelift techniques (e.g., Suzanne Noel) set the stage for improvements based on an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of those techniques and an improved understanding of the anatomy of the face and neck. No truly innovative technique ignores history. The deep plane facelift as developed by the plastic surgeon Dr. Sam Hamra (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) was a combination of the advancements made by previously developed techniques, specifically the SMASectomy facelift, and new understandings of facial anatomy. The extended deep plane facelift, a technique developed by my AAFPRS fellowship director Dr. Andrew Jacono, advanced upon the deep plane facelift technique as developed by Dr. Sam Hamra (6, 7, 8, 9). This blog post seeks to explain the differences between the deep plane facelift and extended deep plane facelift. As a result, this blog post will explain why these techniques were such an incredible improvement on previous facelift techniques. It is important to seek not only a fellowship-trained but also a double board-certified facial plastic surgeon if you have aesthetic concerns about your face and/or neck.