Question: I would like to get blepharoplasty and a mini facelift. Can I do them at the same time or should I do one before the other?

Answer: A blepharoplasty can easily be performed at the same time as a mini lift and, in fact, it is very common for me to perform eyelid surgery in conjunction with mini lift procedures.  The eyelid sutures are typically taken out in three to four days while the mini lift sutures are taken out in six or seven days.  Most patients look quite good after that first week and are ready to return to nonstrenuous activities.

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Question: Do you perform the mini facelift with local anesthesia or is the patient asleep?

Answer: Mini lifts are typically performed in the office setting using strictly local anesthetic though some patients do desire an oral sedative, such as Valium, just to make them more relaxed.  There is really no need ever to undergo general anesthesia for a mini lift unless the patient is having other procedures performed at the same time that would require the use of a general anesthetic.

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Question: I would much prefer a mini lift because it’s less expensive and less invasive, but can it improve sagging skin and jowls?

Answer: A mini lift is excellent at getting rid of jowling and does a very nice job of getting rid of laxity under the chin as well.  It has some limitation on how defined the neckline can appear, but that is really dependent on the patient’s anatomy as opposed to the actual lift itself.  That is why I think it is wise that patients seek out an experienced facial plastic surgeon for their mini lift since I am able to provide them with different options of more advanced facelifts that can provide amazing rejuvenation and better contour to the upper neck than a simple mini lift can provide.  They can still choose to have the mini lift, but at least they would understand the limitations of the lift compared to a more advanced technique.

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Question: I’m just 32 but I’m considering a facelift or maybe a midface lift as an alternative to cheek implants to get the look of higher cheekbones. Would this work?

Answer: A midface lift certainly will give you the illusion of higher cheekbones since we are lifting soft tissue of the cheek.  I would like to examine you to determine whether you are a really good candidate for a midface lift or if you would be better served by malar implants since if you have a very small amount of soft tissue, you would be a much better candidate for the implants than the lift.  Overall, I am a big fan of cheek implants since they are relatively easy to perform, recover from, and they are very consistent in their results as well as the fact that they are permanent in nature.

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Question: What areas of the face are addressed with a mini facelift?

Answer: A mini facelift mainly addresses the jowls and laxity under the chin and that is why many people will call this a form of a neck lift since it really does little to the cheek area.  Mini lifts can definitely improve marionette lines if they are long and overall they are extremely successful at rejuvenating the lower third of a face.  The upside of the mini lift is that it can be performed in an office setting using strictly local anesthetic and is much less expensive than a more advanced style of facelift technique; however, for many patients, especially those with more advanced signs of aging, they would be better served with the more advanced facelift techniques since they will ultimately get a better result that will last much longer. 

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