Mini Facelift: Facelifts are Growing More Popular with Younger People

Not all facelifts are alike and very considerably from patient to patient and surgeon to surgeon. Some popular facelift options are "mini", endoscopic midface, lower, standard, high SMAS, and deep plane. Each of these options has advantages and disadvantages in terms of result and recovery.

A short scar or "mini" facelift is often misunderstood to mean no recovery. This is certainly untrue. Also, the definition of a "mini" facelift will vary from surgeon to surgeon. However, most would agree that a "mini" facelift would focus on early gravitational aging in the face and neck: cheeks, nasolabial folds, marionette lines, jowls, and neck contour. Most would also agree that a mini facelift would have limited or shorter incisions around the ear and no submental or neck incision. The amount of dissection or undermining would be limited and the SMAS layer (submuscular aponeurotic system) would be addressed with a simple technique such as plication or lateral SMASectomy with plication. Dr. Burns will frequently augment the mini facelift with fat transfer (or natural hyaluronic fillers) to both "lift and fill" the face. A lift an fill approach will both improve droopiness of the skin and soft tissue while replacing and repositioning facing volume to give a natural and refreshed result.

The national trend is that more and more younger patients are seeking facelifts. In 2019, about 6,000 facelifts were done in the US on patients younger than 54 which represented about 34% of all facelifts. This trend seems to be driven by a decrease in recovery time in younger patients who require less extensive surgery and a desire to achieve exceptional reliable and reproducible results. Many younger patients seek a facelift because less invasive alternatives won't deliver the results of a facelift. A facelift done at a younger age will appear more natural because the change is less drastic than in older patients. Also, there is a desire to look young during the very productive years between 40 and 60.

*Mini Facelift by Dr. John Burns (results may vary)