Guide:
- What Is A Mini Facelift?
- How Is A Mini Facelift Different From A Traditional Facelift?
- Best Candidates For A Mini Facelift
- How Long Does A Mini Facelift Last?
What Is A Mini Facelift?
The mini facelift tightens and removes excess skin around the chin, jawline, and neck to restore a youthful contour to the lower face. It can be a great solution for people noticing aging changes such as early jowls and skin laxity.
Mini facelifts involve shorter, thinner incisions than other facelift techniques and aim to treat superficial tissues to refresh the lower face while allowing for a quicker recovery. They can be an excellent procedure to pair with other facial rejuvenation treatments, such as eyelid surgery or lip lift, for more comprehensive results.
How Is A Mini Facelift Different From A Traditional Facelift?
The next question most patients ask after “What is a mini facelift?” is “How is a mini facelift different from a full traditional facelift?” Just as a traditional facelift does, a mini facelift involves targeting and adjusting tissues and skin on your face that have changed due to the natural aging process. This surgical approach to tightening signs of aging promotes longer-lasting anti-aging results that are not achievable with non-surgical treatments such as Botox, fillers, or energy treatments.
The main area of focus for mini facelifts is the lower face, as this is typically the first area to show signs of aging. It promotes a subtle, yet valuable improvement in the appearance of excess, drooping skin in the lower thirds of the face. Incisions are typically thin and well-hidden along the hairline and near the ears. While it can remove minimal amounts of skin, the mini facelift is mainly done to tighten sagging skin rather than remove substantial amounts.
The mini facelift results in tightened facial skin, improved skin laxity, and mild rejuvenation of certain areas with sagging skin and wrinkles. If you choose a mini facelift over a traditional facelift, you will likely resume normal activities faster as the recovery for this less invasive procedure is much shorter.
The traditional facelift, on the other hand, does more than just tighten loose skin. It adjusts the underlying framework causing the drooping contours and removes the excess skin and tissues stretched due to aging. It also addresses a much larger area than the mini lift, comprehensively tightening, lifting, and sculpting the face and neck. Most plastic surgeons combine the traditional facelift with a neck lift to promote balanced rejuvenation from the midface down to the collarbones.
The full facelift makes more dramatic adjustments in tightening and removing and targets deeper layers than the mini facelift for more significant improvements in facial contours, a more defined jawline, and a slimmer, more sculpted neck contour.
You may have a better chance at achieving your goals with a full (SMAS) facelift or, for even more dramatic rejuvenation, a deep plane facelift if you have more severe signs of aging such as sagging cheeks, jowls, muscle banding in the neck, and loose skin around the neck.
While its results are less substantial or enduring than a full facelift, the mini facelift can be just the right amount of rejuvenation in the right patients, delivering exceptional results. Benefits of a mini facelift over a traditional facelift include:
- Shorter recovery period
- Less painful
- Less expensive
- Shorter incisions
- Lower risk of complications
Full facelifts target and manipulate deeper tissues and muscles in the midface, lower face, jawline, and neck for long-lasting results. Mini facelifts target superficial aging changes in a smaller region for less enduring results. When choosing which is best for you, we suggest discussing your goals and downtime preferences with a board-certified plastic surgeon and allowing them to analyze your concerns to recommend you in the right direction.
Best Candidates For A Mini Facelift
If you have only minor signs of aging in your lower face that are too advanced to treat with non-surgical methods, you may be an ideal candidate for a mini facelift. People who get the best mini facelift results are typically in their late 30s, 40s, or 50s and are just starting to notice droopy jowls and other signs of skin laxity in the lower face.
If you relate to any of the following, you may be a candidate for mini facelift:
- You have developed early signs of saggy jowls
- You have moderate volume loss in your face that is too advanced for fillers to address, but not severe enough for a full lift
- You want a more sculpted chin and jawline
- You want to reduce the appearance of excess skin and wrinkles around your lower face
- You still have decent skin elasticity despite some sagging
- You want a subtle rejuvenation for a more youthful appearance
- You are not ready for the downtime, cost, or pain involved with a full facelift
How Long Does A Mini Facelift Last?
Since a mini facelift involves the readjustment of aging skin and tissues in your face, you should be able to retain your results for 5 years or even longer if you maintain a good skin care regimen and wear sun protection.
Mini facelifts promote more dramatic, lasting improvements than non-surgical facial rejuvenation techniques but their results are less sustainable than a full facelift. A full facelift significantly lifts, smooths, and reshapes, leaving results that typically last over 10 years. The areas not addressed with a mini facelift may lose skin elasticity quicker than those improved upon during the less invasive facelift procedure but can be a great option for people between injectable and full facelift territory.
Can a mini facelift help you achieve your goals? Request a consultation with NJ and NY board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Gordon Kaplan, who specializes in facial rejuvenation.
