Dr. Richard Gentile, a board certified Facial Plastic Surgeon introduced the “SmartBleph™” short for smart blepharoplasty at the 10^TH International Meeting of Facial Plastic Surgery held in Hollywood Florida April 27-May 2, 2010.

“Smartlifting™, is a proprietary group of procedures introduced by Dr. Gentile in 2008 when the LaserSmartLift™ was introduced as Plastic Surgery’s first laser assisted facelift. In 2008 Dr. Gentile presented these techniques to the American Academy of Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at their Annual Meeting and to the American Academy of Plastic Surgery at their Annual Meeting. Utilizing the Cynosure SmartLipo™  Nd:YAG laser we are now able to gently separate the layer between the skin and facial muscles without extensive cutting and dissection.  With Smartlifting™ operating time is significantly reduced as the laser helps to seal of blood vessels before the lifting portions of the facial rejuvenation procedures are begun.  The eyelid applications enable the Plastic Surgeons to gently treat the eyelid fat bags without removing them thus reducing surgical trauma and time.  The procedure is time efficient and gives beautiful results.

Dr. Gentile explained, “Typically in a traditional eyelid surgery incisions are made through skin and muscle frequently denervating the orbicularis oculi muscle. The “Smartlifting™ powered by the Cynosure  SmartLipo™ laser, works in eyelid surgery by precisely delivering thousands of tiny laser pulses into the fat bags in the upper and lower eyelid. Each pulse heats a deep column of the fat bag which shrinks its size.  These zones of heating also shrink the orbital septum which tends to bulge with age and allow the fat to bulge out. Next the volume deficient area is treated by micro fat grafting to increase the fullness in the depressed areas of the lower eyelids.  Laser skin rejuvenation can also be completed with this procedure. Over the next several months following treatment, a natural process called collagenesis results in new, more organized  collagen¹. This collagen plumps the skin and results in even greater smoothing in addition to the results obtained by traditional eyelid procedure.”

Smartlifting™ procedures including the SmartBleph™ benefit both the Plastic Surgeon and the patient notes Dr. Gentile. “The operating time for facial rejuvenation procedures is dramatically reduced with Smartlifting™ and because it is a more gentle technique than traditional rejuvenation methods most of the procedures are performed without general anesthesia. These less invasive facelifts are exactly what many aging baby boomers are looking for.”  Smartlifting™ is utilized for facial, eyelid, forehead and neck procedures and nearly 400 procedures have been completed to date.  The complication rate was very low and the patient satisfaction very high in the patients reviewed.  In addition to the new technique presentation he presented a one hour instructional course on SmartLifting™ and laser lipolysis for International Facial Plastic Surgeons. He also participated in two facelift panels “Facelift Refinements for the 21^st Century” and “Pearls for Midface and Lower Facial Rejvuenation.  For more information on the SmartBleph™ or Smartlifting™ family of proprietary procedures the LaserSmartLift™, UltraMiniLift™, or LaserNeckLift™  call the main office 330-758-2001 or visit www.facialplastics.org or www.drgentile.info.

¹  Ross E. McKinlay J, Anderson  R.  Why does carbon dioxide laser resurfacing work?  Arch Dermatol, 135: 444-454 1999.