Deep Plane Facelift Turkey

Find a mirror with decent light and look at the grooves either side of your mouth, the ones that start beside your nostrils. Now look just above them, at your cheek. If the fullness that used to sit high on the cheekbone has slid down and is now piled up against those folds, that's what the line under our heading means. Lifting the surface won't reach it. A deep plane facelift in Turkey is designed for exactly that kind of descent.

Fair warning before you get attached to the idea: of our three lifts, this one keeps you in theatre longest and asks the most patience afterwards. Worth checking you actually need it, then.

The cheek fat a lighter lift can't reach

There's a small cushion of fat sitting on each cheekbone. Surgeons have a name for it, the malar fat pad, but you'd know it better as the bit of your face that catches the light in a photo. Over the years it slips down and drifts towards the nose. The cheek above goes flat, and the groove below gets deeper, because the fat that left the cheek has piled up right on top of it.

Doctors call it midface descent. You've probably seen the result of ignoring it: someone with a sharp, freshly lifted jaw and the same flat, tired cheeks they had before. Nothing went wrong in theatre. The lift just never went deep enough to touch the cheek.

What "deep plane" actually means

Under the skin sits the SMAS, the supportive layer that the SMAS facelift page explains in detail. Under the SMAS, in turn, is a natural gap, a plane, where the surgeon can work. Across that plane run a few small, tough ligaments that tie the soft tissue of the face to the bone beneath. Once the cheek has dropped, it's those ligaments that keep it pinned at the lower level.

In a deep plane lift, the surgeon goes into that space and releases them. Skin, SMAS and the cheek fat then move upwards together, as one connected piece, back along roughly the path they came down. Nothing needs to be pulled tight to hold it there. That's the real difference: the result comes from tissue that's been put back, not from tension.

Are you a deep plane facelift candidate?

The face that benefits most usually shows several of these together. Cheeks that look flatter than they did in photos from ten years ago. Deep, heavy folds from nose to mouth. Jowls that have properly formed. And often a lengthened look under the eyes, where the lower lid seems to run further down into the cheek than it used to.

If most of that is there, deep plane is probably the right tool. If your cheeks still sit high and the trouble is mainly the jaw and neck, a SMAS lift will usually reach it with an easier recovery. If it's early and confined to the jawline, the mini facelift page is the better place to start, and our guide to facelift in Turkey compares all three.

Is a deep plane facelift worth it if SMAS would do?

No. And we'll tell you so, even if you've come specifically for a deep plane facelift in Turkey. Because all three lifts carry the same price here, we've got no reason to steer you deeper than your face needs. If the cheek hasn't dropped, the extra dissection doesn't give you a better result; it gives you a longer operation, more swelling and a few more weeks of recovery.

Where deep plane earns its place is the face where the midface has genuinely fallen. There, nothing else does the same job.

The facial nerve, and why the surgeon's own number matters

Small branches of the facial nerve, the ones that move your smile and your brow, run close to the plane this operation works in. That's the main reason deep plane is considered the hardest of the three to do well. Temporary weakness, a lopsided smile for a few weeks, is a recognised risk. Lasting damage is rare, and its rarity depends very much on how often the person holding the instruments works at that depth.

Which is why, when you're weighing up a deep plane facelift in Turkey, a general "we do lots of facelifts" tells you almost nothing. Ask for the surgeon's personal deep plane count. The page above gives our specialist's figure, more than 860 cases, counted separately from the clinic's total. Ask how they protect the nerve branches during the dissection. And ask to see results labelled as deep plane, not a general facelift gallery.

Does a deep plane facelift look more natural?

Often, yes. The reason's fairly mechanical. Moving tissue, rather than stretching it, leaves the skin relaxed, and relaxed skin doesn't give you that flattened, blown-back look. You get the cheek back where it was and a softer fold, and people tend to say you look well rather than asking what you've had done.

There's a catch, mind. Haul a deep plane lift too high or too far back and it can look every bit as strange as an over-tight skin lift. The surgeon's judgement about how much to move things, and in which direction, matters far more than the label on the operation.

Correcting an old, over-tight facelift

Some people come to us having had a facelift years ago, usually one that relied mainly on tightening skin, and they don't like how it's aged. The face looks pulled sideways, the cheeks have dropped anyway, and the lower face still sags under the stretched surface.

A deep plane approach is often used in these revision cases because it can move the deeper structures that the first operation left behind. It's more complex the second time round, as there's scar tissue to work through, so bring every detail of your earlier surgery you can find.

Deep plane and the lower eyelids

Lifting the cheek has a knock-on effect under the eyes. As the cheek goes back up, the junction between the lower lid and the cheek usually shortens, and some of the hollow or bulge there improves on its own. Sometimes that's enough. If there are true eye bags, though, lower blepharoplasty is often combined with a deep plane lift, because the two areas are so closely linked that it makes sense to plan them together rather than months apart.

When deep plane isn't advised

There are a few cases where we'd rather not go this deep. Heavy smokers unable to quit for a few weeks either side of the operation, people on blood thinners that can't be paused safely, and anyone with uncontrolled diabetes or high blood pressure all carry a higher risk with a longer, deeper operation. Very early sagging is another: there's simply nothing for the extra depth to fix.

Four to six hours in theatre

Allow four to six hours under a general anaesthetic, temple lift included, and then a night on the ward. Ahead of booking, our anaesthetist looks at your health separately from the surgeon and decides how long it's safe for you to be asleep. That cap is also what settles whether a neck lift or eyelid surgery can go on the same day, or should wait.

Deep plane facelift recovery: why it's slower

Because more of the face has been moved, more of it swells. Your cheeks will be puffy, not just the jawline, and for a while there may be some fullness under the eyes too. Smiling can feel a bit wooden for a fortnight or so. Numb patches on the cheek tend to hang around longer than they would after a SMAS lift. None of that signals a problem. It's the extra depth showing up.

Most people are walking around and reading from the first few days. Light activity is usually comfortable by about three weeks, and full recovery takes around eight to ten weeks. The cheek keeps settling quietly for up to a year.

How long will you stay in Istanbul?

Of the three lifts, a deep plane facelift in Istanbul is the one that keeps you here longest, usually two to three weeks. Most patients aren't cleared to fly until somewhere around day twenty-one, as the timeline above mentions, and your written plan gives the exact number of nights. Bring company if you can. The first week is slow, and having someone to fetch things and keep you sensible about resting makes a real difference.

How long does a deep plane facelift last?

Typically ten to fifteen years. It tends to hold longer than the other two techniques because the cheek and jowl have been moved back to where they belong, rather than held up by tension that slowly gives way. You'll keep ageing, of course; the difference is the starting point.

Judging deep plane facelift before and after results

The best deep plane facelift before and after photos are judged on the cheek, not the jawline. Is the fullness back up on the cheekbone? Is the fold from nose to mouth softer? Lower lid: does it now meet the cheek a little higher up? Finally the side view, and the ear. Neither should give anything away.

Wait a good eight to ten weeks before deciding where the cheek has settled; the gallery above says the same. Early swelling makes the midface look fuller than it really is, so before and after shots from the first month or so can flatter. For the recovery itself, reviews from people describing their first three weeks will tell you more than any photo.

Deep plane facelift price in Turkey

Our deep plane facelift price is €5,000: no more than a mini or a SMAS lift. Inside that figure sit the temple lift, a general anaesthetic, your night on the ward, airport transfers, an interpreter, plus twelve months of us keeping an eye on you. The comparison table above puts the same operation somewhere between €14,000 and €17,500 in Britain, €7,000 to €9,500 in Germany and about €23,450 on average in America.

Abroad, deep plane is usually the most expensive lift, and that higher price quietly encourages surgeons to recommend it. Here it costs the same as the lighter options, so the recommendation is based on your face alone. That's worth bearing in mind when you compare any deep plane facelift cost elsewhere.

Photos for your deep plane assessment

We'll need a front view, both profiles and both three-quarter angles, taken in daylight with no make-up and your hair pulled back. Add one where you're smiling and one with your chin tilted up a little. And here's the one most people forget: an old photo, ten or fifteen years back. Nothing shows us faster how far your cheeks have travelled, and it gives your eventual before and after a proper starting point. Then fill us in: how old you are, any earlier surgery or filler, any regular tablets, and whether you smoke or vape. With that in hand, the Istanbul team will tell you straight whether a deep plane facelift in Turkey is the right call, or whether a lighter lift would serve you just as well.