Chia Chi Kao, MD, a board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon and founder of the KAO Center in Santa Monica, Calif., has created the Ponytail Lift and Ponytail Facelift, a facial procedure that promises minimal downtown and no visible scarring. But does the viral procedure live up to its hype? Glamour investigates.
Unlike traditional facelifts, which can leave behind telltale plastic surgery scars in front of the ears and require serious recovery time, the ponytail lift hides a handful of tiny incisions behind the ears and hairline. Once healed, they more or less vanish, allowing the majority of clients to emerge “restaurant-ready” in less than a month.
The procedure is a hat trick of surgical adjustments that enable Dr. Kao to vertically reposition the face from top to bottom using a fiber-optic endoscope: a miniature camera attached to the tip of a long, thin tube. By inserting this tube through a small opening in the skin, the surgeon can use it like a pair of binoculars to peer inside the body without having to open it up with longer incisions.
Through two half-centimeter cuts behind the hairline, he can sweep the eyes, brows, and cheeks into Bella Hadid-worthy angles. Add a half incision in the crease behind each earlobe and he can sculpt the jawline and neck too. And by tucking one more incision under the chin, Dr. Kao can tighten the neck all the way down to the décolleté. Top it off with a round of fat transfer across the midplane and superficial dermis, and there you have it: the ponytail lift.
Read the full article on Glamour.
