Lunchtime Facelift

SARASOTA, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- One of the most recent trends in cosmetic surgery is to plump and fill out the face with facial fillers. But it's not a permanent fix, and patients often return in less than a year for a touch up. Now, doctors are taking a new approach to tackling jowls and deep folds by literally melting away the problem. The procedure is so quick and recovery so fast, it's often referred to as the "lunchtime facelift."

Forty-two-year-old Terri Warth knows what it takes to captivate her students.

But sometimes being at the head of the class has brought her unwanted attention.

"All my life, I've had these fat deposits underneath my eyelids," Warth told Ivanhoe. "Parents would come to me and say, 'Oh, you look so tired.'"

Then she heard about a new procedure called acculift. J. David Holcomb, M.D., of Holcomb Facial Plastic Surgery in Sarasota, Fla., is one of the first in the world using a special fiber optic laser -- as thin as six strands of human hair -- to smooth out the face.

"It helps us to be able to contour the face in ways we never really could before," Dr. Holcomb explained to Ivanhoe.

Tammy Browning is hoping it will take years off hers. As we age, fat in our face descends. The laser delivers a special wavelength of energy that heats up and literally melts away those fatty deposits.

Another tool removes any additional fat left inside. Results can be seen immediately. The alternatives are fillers or a more invasive facelift. Acculift takes just 30 minutes, requires only local anesthetic, and doctor Holcomb says the fat removal is permanent.

Warth was back at work the next day, and her confidence speaks for itself.

Since last December, Dr. Holcomb has performed the AccuLift procedure on more than 100 patients.