What is a Mini Facelift

Generally speaking a mini facelift, also called "weekend facelift" or "Minimal Invasive Facelift", is a relatively less invasive way of doing a facelift surgery, hence the healing time for patients is faster than a traditional full facelift. It is most suitable for patients who require only minimum corrections to their faces and it also cost much lesser than a traditional full facelift

Mini Facelift Effects?

A mini facelift is most suitable for someone whose face requires only minimum adjustments. If your face has a lot of wrinkles and the skin is loose and sagging, a mini facelift is exactly what you need to correct those problems. In short a mini facelift can only remove wrinkles and improve the conditions of your facial skin, it doesn't really change the shape of your face like what a full facelift can achieve.

Mini Facelift Procedure

Before the mini facelift surgery, the plastic surgeons will normally brief the patients on what is going to happen during the whole operation and also answer any questions that the patients might have regarding the mini facelift surgery. This is to get the patients mentally ready for the operation, because they are awake and alert throughout the mini facelift surgery with only local anesthetic and sedation.

The actual mini face lift surgery procedure is pretty simple and quick. It usually takes about 2 hours for the whole surgery procedure from start to finish. Plastic surgeons will remove a small portion of the skin from the temporal area and in front of the ear to the earlobe in order to pull the skin and the underlying muscle tissues backward. Sometimes the incision can extend behind the earlobe or slightly behind the ear. Please see picture below for a reference of the incision position of a mini facelift.

Mini Facelift Recovery Time

After a mini facelift surgery, patients' faces usually feel a bit swollen and numb. The recovery of a mini facelift is quicker than a traditional full facelift as the incisions are reduced to minimum. The risks are minimized and patients are able start work the following day as the incision are well hidden and less noticeable during the healing period.

How Long Does Mini Facelift Last

A mini facelift will usually last for about 5 to 10 years depends on individual's life styles. Smoking and alcohol addiction are some of the main factors that shorten the effect of a mini facelift.

Mini Facelift Side Effects

Like any other surgery, mini facelift has it's possible side effects and post surgery complications as well. Patients may experience numb and swelling on the face,

Mini facelift Cost

A mini facelift surgery usually cost much lesser than a full facelift. It used to cost between 5000 to 7000 dollars 10 to 15 years ago. However as more variations of the mini facelift are being invented over the years, the price has dropped to about 2000 to 3000 dollars as of the time of writing.

Mini Facelift Types

Mini facelift is a general name given to a facial plastic surgery that does only minimum invasion to your face during the surgery. There are various sub types using slightly different methods invented by plastic surgeons based on the idea of minimum invasion facelift.

1. The Quick Lift

The Quick Lift was invented based on the S-Lift which was a very popular facial plastic surgery 20 years ago. But S-Lift had a lot of imperfections which the Quick Lift had made significant improvements on. The Quick Lift creates very small "S" shaped incisions beginning along the sideburn, around the earlobe and up to the hairline, making it extremely hard to spot during the healing process.

The Quick Lift dose not only tighten the skin but also tighten the muscle structures below the skin to make the effect more lasting. It is also one of the cost efficient ways of doing a facelift.

2. The Tulip Facelift

Tulip Facelift is just a slight variation of the Quick Lift. It was actually named after the shape of the muscle groups on both sides of the face which looks like tulips of a flower. Each tulip actually controls different parts of the face, letting the surgeon have more controls over the final result. Please refer to the picture below for a visual reference.

The Tulip facelift does the same type of "S" shaped incisions which allows the cosmetic surgeons to deal with the lower face, the jowl and the upper neck areas, making the skin tighter and free from wrinkles.

3. Thread Facelift

Thread facelift is a method very different from the above two. It actually make use of threads to keep the facial skin elevated. And these threads, after being placed into the skin, actually dissolve naturally after 9 to 12 months. The threads basically reposition the skin at a lifted level and over time it slowly sets in that position as the tissue are healing.

Thread lift is performed with local anesthetics and it's a safe and fast method to get the result you want. What is slightly different is that thread lift only last for about 1 to 3 years depends on the number of threads placed under the skin. The photo below shows how and where the thread is being placed under the skin.