COSMETIC SURGERY | FACE & NECK
Face and Neck Lift Surgery
Not a different face. Yours, from some years ago. Consultant plastic surgeon led lifting surgery, from mini lift to full face and neck lift, with the honest conversation first.
Surgery
2 to 4 hours
Anaesthetic
General or sedation
Social downtime
2 to 4 weeks
Results last
Years, honestly framed
Is this you?
Most people who come to us for face and neck lift surgery say one of these things:
I keep pulling my skin back in the mirror, just to see.
The jowls arrived quietly and now they're all I see in photos.
My neck ages me ten years the moment I look down.
I've had the injectables. They've done what they can.
I don't want to look done. That result frightens me more than ageing.
I've researched this for two years. I'm ready for a real conversation.
The mirror-pull test is telling you something specific: your issue is descent, not surface, and repositioning is surgery's territory. The modern operation lifts the structure beneath the skin, which is exactly why good results don't look tight.
THE OPERATION, EXPLAINED
What does a face and neck lift actually do?
A modern facelift repositions the deeper supporting layer of the face (the SMAS), lifting descended tissue back to where it sat, then redraping the skin without tension. That structural approach is why contemporary results look rested rather than stretched: the skin isn't doing the lifting. A neck lift applies the same logic below the jaw, tightening the platysma muscle and removing excess skin and fat to restore a clean neck-jaw angle.
What a lift treats: jowls, deep folds, loose neck skin, the lost jawline. What it doesn't: skin quality, fine wrinkles, sun damage and volume loss, which is why lifts are often planned alongside skin quality treatments or fat repositioning, and why "just a lift" is sometimes only half an answer, honestly discussed.
HONEST SUITABILITY
Our procedures
Good candidates share a pattern: visible descent with reasonable skin elasticity, good health, stable weight, a non-smoker or genuinely committed to stopping, realistic expectations, and the right reason, which means doing this for yourself rather than for an event or a person. The honest screens are just as specific. Early laxity is often better served by non-surgical routes for now, and "not yet" is common advice in this clinic. Heavy smoking, unstable weight and unrealistic expectations are genuine contraindications, not negotiating positions. And a longer anaesthetic asks for proper medical fitness, which is assessed rather than assumed.
The part of our consultation patients mention afterwards: you'll be told what a lift will not change about your face, in the mirror, feature by feature. It's the conversation that separates a considered operation from a sold one.
The part of our consultation patients mention afterwards: you'll be told what a lift will not change about your face, in the mirror, feature by feature. It's the conversation that separates a considered operation from a sold one.
Apex Medical
Expert care for the
change you choose.
WHICH LIFT IS RIGHT?
Three lifts, honestly compared
Shorter incisions, focused on early jowling and the lower face. Smaller operation, shorter recovery, and honestly smaller scope: right for the right candidate, oversold to everyone else. If your neck is the issue, a mini lift will disappoint, and you'll hear that here first.
The comprehensive operation: SMAS lift for the face with platysma tightening for the neck, addressing jowls, folds and neck laxity together. The most durable and most natural-looking option for established descent, because the face and neck age as one unit and are best treated as one.
For the patient whose face holds well but whose neck has gone its own way: banding, looseness, the lost angle. Muscle tightening, skin redraping and, where needed, fat contouring under the chin.
Consultant-led care
Your Surgeon,
From consultation to final result.
A lift is plastic surgery's long game: several hours of decisions about vectors, depth and tension that determine how your face ages for the next decade. Technique is learnable; the judgement of how much, in which direction, for this particular face, is what you're actually choosing a surgeon for.
At Apex, face and neck lift surgery is planned and performed personally by Mr Kuen Yeow Chin, Consultant Plastic Surgeon and founder of Apex, with facial surgery among his core procedures. The surgeon you meet at consultation is the surgeon who operates, and the same surgeon follows your result through every structured review.
At Apex, face and neck lift surgery is planned and performed personally by Mr Kuen Yeow Chin, Consultant Plastic Surgeon and founder of Apex, with facial surgery among his core procedures. The surgeon you meet at consultation is the surgeon who operates, and the same surgeon follows your result through every structured review.
Your clinical team:
Mr. Kuen Yeow Chin
Consultant Plastic Surgeon & Skin Cancer Specialist
Reconstructive surgery and advanced skin cancer treatment
Sarah Millward
Skin Cancer Nurse Specialist
Skin checks, mole screening, and early skin cancer detection.
Laura O'Hare
Skin Cancer Nurse Specialist
Skin lesion care, post-surgical recovery, and private dermatology services.
Jackie Brighton
Skin Cancer Nurse Specialist
Expert mole checks, lesion assessment, and aftercare for skin cancer patients.
Jennifer Povey
Skin Cancer Nurse Specialist
Skin care treatment, photodynamic therapy (PDT), cryotheraphy, and personalised patient care.
Mr. Kuen Yeow Chin
Consultant Plastic Surgeon & Skin Cancer Specialist
Reconstructive surgery and advanced skin cancer treatment
YOUR CARE, STEP BY STEP
How Face & Neck Lift
Works at Apex
Five steps, and for this operation the second matters most: time. Nobody should book a facelift in the room where they first discussed it.
A
Consultation with your surgeon
Face and neck assessed as a unit, in a mirror, feature by feature: what surgery would move, what it wouldn't, which operation fits, and the full risk conversation (haematoma, nerve injury (rare and discussed properly), scar quality, asymmetry, numbness, and recovery realities).
B
Two weeks minimum to think
For this operation, most patients rightly take longer; the quote holds.
C
Pre-operative assessment
Anaesthetic review, health optimisation, smoking cessation, medication planning.
D
Surgery day
General anaesthetic or deep sedation; two to four hours by scope; overnight stay where appropriate. Incisions follow the hairline and natural ear contours, where they're designed to disappear.
E
Recovery and review
Support garment and swelling management in week one; stitches out progressively over one to two weeks; socially presentable at two to four weeks, camera-comfortable at four to six; the true, settled result at three to six months, with structured reviews throughout, and results that last years.
Transparent Pricing
Face & Neck Lift Pricing
Fixed, transparent pricing with no hidden extras. Your exact quote is confirmed in writing at consultation, before you commit to anything, and includes your follow-up care.
Initial Consultation
Including hospital and general anaesthetic fees. Your fixed written quote reflects the scope agreed at consultation.
from £9,800
Neck Lift
Including hospital and general anaesthetic fees. For the neck that has gone its own way while the face holds well.
From £8,000
Mini Facelift
A smaller operation for the right, well-selected candidate. Quoted individually at consultation, once your surgeon has confirmed it's genuinely the honest recommendation.
Combined face and neck surgery is quoted as one procedure at consultation, with one anaesthetic and one recovery. Every quote is confirmed in writing before you book, and holds through your cooling-off period.
ONGOING CARE
Recovery, week by week
Swelling and bruising peak around days two to four, then recede; a support garment and sleeping propped upright do the early work, and cool compresses help. Stitches come out progressively over one to two weeks, hair-washing returns with a little care once your surgeon confirms, and numbness around the ears is normal for weeks to months as the nerves settle.
Most patients are socially presentable at two to four weeks and camera-comfortable at four to six; driving returns when you can move your neck freely, desk work at around two weeks, exercise builds back from week three or four, and hair colouring waits about six weeks.\
One thing worth knowing in advance: a dip in confidence in week two, when swelling distorts and the result feels far away, is so common it has a name in recovery literature. It passes. The true, settled result is a three-to-six-month judgement, reviewed with your surgeon throughout.
Most patients are socially presentable at two to four weeks and camera-comfortable at four to six; driving returns when you can move your neck freely, desk work at around two weeks, exercise builds back from week three or four, and hair colouring waits about six weeks.\
One thing worth knowing in advance: a dip in confidence in week two, when swelling distorts and the result feels far away, is so common it has a name in recovery literature. It passes. The true, settled result is a three-to-six-month judgement, reviewed with your surgeon throughout.
Where to find us
Consultant-led care at Berkshire Grove Hospital
Apex Medical is based at Berkshire Grove Hospital, Grove House, Waltham Road, White Waltham, Maidenhead SL6 3TN, with clinics also at the Parkside Suite. Patients travel to us from Maidenhead, Windsor, Reading, Bracknell and Slough, and from across Berkshire, Surrey, Oxfordshire and London, for consultant-led care in a regulated private hospital without long waiting times. On-site parking is available.
Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 5:30pm · Saturday by appointment only · Sunday closed
Call 020 3871 5898
Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 5:30pm · Saturday by appointment only · Sunday closed
Call 020 3871 5898
COMMON QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about face and neck lift surgery at Apex Medical
Not if the structure does the lifting and the skin is closed without tension, which is the entire logic of the SMAS approach. The wind-tunnel look is a technique failure, not an inevitability.
The clock restarts; it doesn't stop. Expect to look consistently younger than you otherwise would for many years, with the operation's benefit still visible a decade on for most. Anyone promising "forever" is selling.
They follow the hairline and the natural curves of the ear, designed to be undetectable in normal life once matured. Scar quality is discussed honestly, including your personal healing factors.
The mini lift is a smaller answer to a smaller problem. If your concern includes your neck, or your descent is established, the honest recommendation is usually the comprehensive operation once, rather than the small one twice.
Neither is a number decision. Candidacy is about tissue, health and goals; we operate on well-selected patients across a wide age range, and decline poorly-selected ones at any age.
Bleeding (haematoma) in the early hours, infection, nerve injury affecting movement (rare, usually temporary), skin healing problems (smoking is the big multiplier), asymmetry. You'll hear these from your surgeon with real numbers, not from a leaflet.
Frequently done, one anaesthetic, one recovery, where both are genuinely indicated: blepharoplasty addresses what a lift cannot touch, the eyes.
Patient Stories.
In Our Patients' Own Words
BOOK A CONSULTATION
Have the real conversation
Two years of research deserves an hour with the person who'd actually do the operation. Mirror in hand, feature by feature: what would move, what wouldn't, what it costs, and whether now is your time. Then take all the time you need.
Book a Consultation
Consultant-led private skin, hands and aesthetic care across Berkshire. Precise, caring and expert.