By Dr Scott J Turner, Specialist Plastic Surgeon (FRACS) | Bondi Junction, Sydney
If you’re considering facelift surgery in Sydney, you may have come across the term “Vertical Restore Facelift” during your research. It’s one of several advanced techniques available today, and understanding what it involves can help you decide whether it’s worth exploring further.
With so many facelift names and variations in circulation, it can be difficult to distinguish one approach from another. Here’s what you should know about this particular technique.
A Vertical Restore Facelift treats your whole face as a single connected system. Not one area at a time. Not bits and pieces. The whole thing. And “vertical” isn’t just a catchy word. It describes the direction your tissues are moved during surgery. Straight up. Gravity dragged everything downward over the years, so it makes sense to correct it in the opposite direction. Plenty of older facelift methods missed that point and pulled sideways instead.
Dr Scott J Turner, Specialist Plastic Surgeon (FRACS), performs this procedure at FacePlus Aesthetics in Bondi Junction for patients from across Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs and beyond.
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So What’s Wrong with Pulling Sideways?
Nothing, necessarily. Lateral tension does work for some people. But here’s the catch with older facelift approaches. Most of them rely on pulling your skin toward your ears. Sure, that tightens things. But you’re asking skin to bear all the load. Skin wasn’t designed for that. It stretches back out over time. And sometimes the result looks tight and drawn. You know the look. Everyone does.
Think about how your face actually changed over the years. Nothing moved sideways. Your brows dropped. Cheeks lost their fullness and slid down. Jowls appeared along the jaw. Your neck softened. All downward.
So the Vertical Restore works against that downward pull rather than across it. Dr Turner goes underneath the SMAS layer (the muscular-fascial sheet deeper than skin and fat) and detaches the ligaments holding your tissues in their current position. Once released, the deeper structures shift upward and get fixed in place. Your skin drapes back over this corrected framework on its own. No pull on the skin, which is a big reason it doesn’t end up looking “done.”
This falls within the deep plane facelift category. But it covers more ground than a typical deep plane procedure. Every zone of your face gets addressed, not just the lower two-thirds.
How Does It Stack Up Against Other Facelifts?
This comes up in almost every consultation. And honestly, the answer changes depending on who’s sitting across from Dr Turner. There isn’t a “best” facelift. There’s only the right one for your particular face.
A few quick comparisons. The SMAS facelift works on the same deeper layer, though it usually skips the full ligament release and vertical vector. Still a good operation for the right person. Short scar facelifts use smaller incisions and work well for earlier changes. The ponytail facelift takes an endoscopic approach through the scalp, but can’t excise much loose skin. Younger patients with mild laxity tend to be the sweet spot.
Revision facelift surgery is a different conversation altogether. Scar tissue, altered blood supply, and anatomy rearranged by another surgeon. Complex work.
The Vertical Restore differs mainly in how much ground it covers. You’re not just getting your jawline and neck sorted. Brows, eyelids (upper and lower), upper lip, and volume all get addressed within the same operation. That scope matters. Freshening up one part of your face while the rest stays unchanged creates an odd contrast.
What Actually Happens During Surgery
Seven components sounds like a lot. Patients sometimes raise an eyebrow when they hear that number. But every single one of those steps exists for a reason, and they’re designed to work together.
Your jawline, jowls, and neck get corrected through the deep plane face and neck lift portion. Depending on your anatomy, a deep neck lift might be added to address fat sitting beneath the platysma muscle, or neck liposuction if that’s more appropriate. The temporal brow lift repositions your lateral brow. For women, that means above the orbital rim. For men, at the rim. Neither should look startled. Upper blepharoplasty takes care of hooded eyelids. Lower blepharoplasty addresses bags and puffiness underneath.
Your upper lip changes with age too. Something most people don’t notice until it bothers them. The lip elongates, dental show drops, and the lip border thins. A bullhorn lip lift at the nasal base brings that back. Then facial fat grafting fills in where volume has gone missing: temples, cheeks, tear troughs, and around the mouth.
Doing it all in one sitting means one recovery period instead of three or four separate ones spread over years. Dr Turner plans the whole thing as a coordinated effort. Each step builds on the last. If your skeletal structure would benefit from a chin implant, that conversation happens during your consultation too.
Are You Actually a Good Candidate?
Honestly? Not everyone. This is a substantial operation. Six-plus hours under general anaesthesia. It’s designed for people whose ageing has spread across multiple zones and who’d rather deal with it all at once.
Your health needs to be in good shape. No uncontrolled heart conditions, no bleeding disorders, stable weight. And if you smoke or vape, you’ll need to stop. Completely. Eight weeks before, eight weeks after. Non-negotiable. Tobacco and wound healing don’t mix, and with surgery this extensive, cutting corners isn’t an option.
You’ll also need a psychological assessment before going ahead. That’s been an Australian regulatory requirement since July 2023 for all cosmetic surgery. Not a hurdle. A safeguard.
Now, if your concerns are more limited (say, just your neck bothering you, or tired-looking eyes), this probably isn’t the right operation. A standalone deep plane facelift, a short scar facelift, or just eyelid surgery could be the smarter path. Men have additional considerations around beard-bearing skin and hairline placement, which is why there are dedicated male facelift and male neck lift options.
Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to surgery. The right procedure is the one that matches what your face actually needs.
What Recovery Actually Looks Like
No sugarcoating here. The first week is tough. You stay overnight in the hospital after surgery, then get sent home the next morning with a stack of instructions.
Days one to three are the worst of it. That’s when swelling hits its peak and bruising becomes visible. You’ll be sleeping propped up on pillows, eating soft foods, and trying not to talk too much. (Patients regularly mention that the not-talking part is surprisingly difficult.)
Week two is when the corner gets turned. Stitches come out. The swelling starts going down. You won’t be keen on bumping into anyone you know around Bondi Junction just yet, but you’ll notice real improvement.
Around weeks two to three, working from home at a desk becomes manageable. Weeks four to six, daily routines start feeling normal again. Gym and heavy exercise? Not yet. Give it more time.
The end result doesn’t fully show itself until somewhere between three and six months out. That’s when residual puffiness clears and scars settle into their final state.
For the full timeline, the facelift recovery page breaks it down week by week. Have a read through facelift scars and the risks and complications page while you’re at it.
Risks You Should Know About
Surgery always carries risk. That’s just reality. And with an operation this extensive, you should go in with a clear picture of what could happen.
The expected stuff: swelling, bruising, tightness, numbness. Those settle down. Complications that occasionally occur include infection, bleeding, scarring that doesn’t fade as well as you’d like, or some asymmetry. Rarer but worth knowing about: nerve branch injury that could affect facial movement, and delayed healing.
Dr Turner covers all of this in your consultation. The goal isn’t to alarm you. It’s to make sure you’re making a properly informed choice. Every procedure takes place in an accredited hospital in Sydney with a qualified anaesthetist running things from start to finish.
Booking a Consultation in Bondi Junction
No two faces age the same way. Your bone structure, your skin, your genetics, your lifestyle. All of it affects what’s happening and what would actually help.
At the Bondi Junction clinic, Dr Turner goes through everything: facial proportions, skin quality, ligament laxity, neck structure, and where volume has disappeared. Sometimes the conclusion is a Vertical Restore Facelift. Sometimes it’s something else entirely.
There are always at least two consultations before any surgery. That’s how FacePlus works. No one gets rushed into anything. If you’re travelling from outside Sydney, the out-of-town patients page covers how to arrange things.
Want to get the ball rolling? Get in touch with the team.
