Since gravity will immediately grab the skin and try to undo the changes that the face lift makes, the operation's goal is to obtain all the improvement that is possible.  By putting tension on the tissues that support the skin, underneath, rather than putting tension on the surface of the skin, the maximum amount of skin repositioning can be achieved while not making the face look pulled or tight.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, we don't try to remove wrinkles with the face lift; that is the task of the skin peel.