Amir Karam, MD discusses his innovative Vertical Restore procedure

It was during Amir Karam, MD’s first year of medical school that he realized that he wanted a career as a facial plastic surgeon. After graduating at the top of his class, he went on to pursue surgical training in otolaryngology — head and neck surgery — followed by a fellowship in advanced facial plastic and reconstructive surgery. “The field offered an opportunity to truly touch lives, make a difference, and required the highest level of surgical execution and techniques,” says Dr. Karam, who leads Carmel Valley Facial Plastic Surgery. “I also loved how creative it was and how it allowed innovation to improve outcomes.”

After a dozen years of innovation, Dr. Karam has created a new method toward facial rejuvenation, his trademarked Vertical Restore procedure, which yields a more natural look and a truly restored appearance. According to Dr. Karam, “A big difference between Vertical Restore and a traditional facelift is how balanced and comprehensive Vertical Restore is. It addresses everything from the top of the temple down to the neck as one unit. This includes the outer eyebrows, the midface, the jawline, and the neck. This comprehensiveness is key to a natural outcome.

Rather than “pulling” the face sideways or toward the ears, the Vertical Restore lifts the soft tissues of the face back to their original positions, not new ones. By lifting vertically, patients look restored, not pulled. “It’s about looking like you used to and looking refreshed, not like you are walking through a wind tunnel permanently,” adds Dr. Karam.

Explaining the thinking behind the evolution of his Vertical Restore procedure in even more detail, Dr. Karam says that as we age, “the ‘net’ under our skin that holds our face nice and firm (called the fascia) tends to loosen up, and when it loosens we get all sorts of not-so-pretty elements cascading down,” he says. “The lateral brow, the temple region, the mid-face, jawline, and the neck all develop a downward drift. While gravity is partly to blame, the prime suspect is actually a loss of integrity in that ‘net’ under our skin, resulting from hormonal shifts, genetics, and aging.”

Dr. Karam says that patients can expect about a 10- to 14-day recovery period. And the benefits continue as the weeks and months go on. Results tend to last 10 to 15 years (effectively twice as long as a well-done facelift, Dr. Karam states). But the benefits don’t stop there — rather than the general anesthesia typically administered during a typical facelift, Dr. Karam performs the Vertical Restore procedure with IV sedation and local anesthesia.

In the year since its debut, Vertical Restore has unveiled incredible outcomes, and has had patients falling in love, says Dr. Karam, whose Instagram account (@dramirkaram)  has nearly 55K followers. 858.252.6826, drkaram.com