Traditional face lifts have been performed on many patients for many years. These sometimes have a less than desirable effect as if the face is pulled back too far and results in a wind tunnel effect with the mouth drawn too tightly. The patient actually would appear more youthful, but not in a natural way. The mini face lift has gained an extreme amount of attention for many reasons. This procedure is for mid face and lower face only. In the lower face, it corrects the jowls and jaw line and uplifts them for a much more youthful appearance. In the mid face, it creates a more youthful and rested look around the nose, under the lower eyelids and the cheeks. Your final product will have results that make you look 5-15 years younger and well rested, but not like another person.

The mini face lift is a simple procedure that takes only 1/2 hour to 2 hours to perform, depending on the extent of your procedure. It is also called a weekend facelift because it has minimal recovery time and in cases may be performed on a Friday afternoon and the patient can return to work on Monday.

The mini face lift is a minimally invasive procedure and usually doesn't require anesthesia. A series of local anesthetic shots will be applied along the jaw line, hairline and near the ears. A very thin incision is made to prevent scarring, bruising and bleeding. The procedure may then be endoscopic or non-endoscopic depending on your needs as determined by your plastic surgeon in your original consultation.

The endoscopic procedures includes the insertion of tiny instruments through small incisions which can be used to remove extra fat cells or even place cheek implants. The removal of fat cells is done with a tiny liposuction tube. The underlying muscle is also moved to the correct positioning as determined by the physician. This procedure does not just tighten the skin on the exterior, but moves the muscle tissue beneath so that is has a much more youthful appearance and this also enables the procedure to last much longer than if only the skin was tightened.

Non-endoscopic treatment moves the muscle tissue and readjusts the muscle tissue. The results are seen immediately following the mini face lift procedure and usually continue to improve for up to 2 weeks as the tissue heals. If you have some swelling and bruising, you will apply ice packs to the areas. Most patients only take over the counter pain relievers because the pain is so minor, and some patients have no pain whatsoever. A follow-up visit is usually done the next day for your surgeon to check the incisions and do a general checkup of the procedure.

There are few limitations to your activity level for a few days. Of course, this depends on what type of work you do and also what you do for exercise and your normal daily activities in your spare time.

There are many different specific mini face lifts procedures that differ from each other in some ways. All are approved for men and women from the age of 30 to 65+. Many consumers want to start this procedure in their 30's and never lose their youthful look to begin with. They notice that no one ever realizes that they have ever had work done when it was started at an earlier age.

Some surgeons will require a patient to have mild sedation with their specific procedure, but not enough general anesthesia to actually put them all the way to sleep. This is much better that traditional face lifts that use general anesthesia because some patients may have lung or heart problems. The patients may have the mini face lift without concern of the medical complications of general anesthesia.

Some plastic surgeons perform a thread facelift which requires the least amount of downtime. This procedure involves insertion of a thread that has little barbs on it from behind each ear and then pulling them tight. You are fully awake and only require local anesthetic for the thread procedure and can even watch in a mirror while they do it.

And lastly, the cost of mini face lift is very reasonable compared to the original face lift. Just about anyone can afford it and most plastic surgeons offer a payment plan.

In these two videos you will have some additional information about the mini face lift. In the first video you can see Gregory S Keller, MD talking about mini face lifts and explaining what they are, why people want a mini face lift and a lot more. In the second video you can see the tuliplift, the tuliplift is a 30 min. mini face lift that gives very nice results. See the videos and also see a lot before and after mini face lift photos.