SynergyLift™ is the product of a six year study I conducted in my continuing effort to achieve the best possible facelift results in my patients.

Forty years ago plastic surgeons knew that facelifts improve the structure of the aging face — loose jowls, cheeks, and necks - but the damaged skin remained unchanged. They also knew that chemical peels (lasers did not appear until the late 1980s) could improve just that aspect of damaged skin but not the architecture. Early efforts at combining the two treatments (facelifts and peels) had some disastrous results with the facial skin dying. So, for almost 40 years the topic of combined treatments remained silent - until now.

I decided to slowly and carefully use low strengths of TCA chemical peels (starting at 10% and going up to 30%) to facial skin while I did my facelifts. Over the last five years, I have performed over 160 cases with 20% to 25% TCA chemical peels concurrent with my facelifts and have found no additional untoward effects compared to facelifts alone (85 patients) or TCA peels done alone (77 patients) and studied over the same five-year period.

Not only did the simultaneous treatment show no ill effects, it produced results that were superior to the two procedures done separately, say 6 to 12 months apart, as is done most commonly (if done at all). Somehow, (we do not know why yet) a “synergistic” phenomenon takes place: 1 + 1 = 5, or facelift + TCA = much more improvement than facelift alone or TCA alone or when they are done on the same patient but separated by six months or greater. Perhaps it is an improved blood supply or some form of “cross-talk” from skin cells to muscle/fascial cells. Whatever it is, the results are astonishing to the point that I recommend SynergyLift™ to over two-thirds of my patients who come to see me for facial rejuvenation, because I know that the results will be remarkable.

Interestingly enough, it turns out that my study, “Five Year Experience with 160 Facelifts and Concurrent TCA Chemical Peels,” which encompasses SynergyLift™, is the largest and most comprehensive of its kind ever published. This paper was peer reviewed and accepted for presentation at the 40th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Facial Plastic Reconstructive Surgery in New York City, October 2004. A few other surgeons have used 35% TCA (I feel can be too strong) with facelifts but in only 20 to 30 patients over one year follow-up, and no control groups were established.

Other studies using phenol (very strong chemical peel solution) or CO2 laser in place of TCA had serious complications. I do not use phenol in my cases, and I reserve CO2 laser for severely damaged skin, usually for acne scarring, or occasionally for deep lines around the mouth.

SynergyLift™ is a safe and very effective treatment. I believe it to be superior to conventional facelifts, and SynergyLift™ has proven itself in over 160 of my cases studied for more than five years, resulting in tightening of the jowls, cheeks and neck, while erasing the ravages of sun damage on the skin.

To see if SynergyLift™ is right for you or to find out more about it, call our offices at (707) 473-0220 or (415) 443-0303.