The Medium (Mini) Facelift

The medium facelift is a smaller version of the classic (comprehensive) facelift. This lift utilizes incisions in front of and behind the ear and this lift is less aggressive than large lifts. This lift is for patients without severe aging changes. In reality, with the exception of the “weekend” lift, all other facelifts are similar as they have incisions in front of and behind the ear. With a minilift, we sometimes omit the incision under the chin for patients without neck banding.

The ideal candidates for the mini lift are patients with moderate signs of facial aging.

the patient at the left does not exhibit enough aging for the mini lift. The center patient is an excellent candidate. The patient at right needs a larger facelift

The medium type of lift and addresses more aging than the weekend facelift but is not as extensive as the comprehensive (large) facelift. The patient shown on the above left does not exhibit enough aging for the medium or “mini lift”. The patient in the center picture is an excellent candidate and the patient on the far right above needs a larger facelift.

Mini Lift

The medium facelift includes incisions in front of and behind the ears. By using this combination of incisions, the excess neck skin can be predictably and maximally tightened.

With the mini lift most of the incision is hidden in the natural hairline and the dotted lines are hidden inside of and behind the ear. At the right is a typical mini lift incision several months after surgery

The medium facelift incision is about 90% hidden. Most of the incision is hidden in the natural hairline and the dotted lines are hidden inside of and behind the ear. The picture on the right side shows a typical medium facelift incision several months after surgery. More examples of incision scars can be seen on the incision and scars page.

Recovery Time

The recovery for a medium facelift is about two weeks. Since all patients swell and bruise to a different degree the actual recovery is variable. Most patients are out of the house at 2 weeks with a little cover up such as sunglasses, turtle neck shirt and makeup. Some patients may recover faster, but as a rule the recovery is closer to two weeks for most patients. Some patients elect to have surgery on a Thursday or Friday. This way, they miss a weekend, a five day work week and another weekend. This provides a ten day recovery while only missing a five day work week and is adequate for many patients.

Minilift Results

Minilift to correct jowl and neck aging

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The patient shown underwent “minilift” (medium facelift) to correct jowl and neck aging. The lift also produced improvements in her jaw border, smile lines and cheeks.

Medium facelift

The patient below underwent medium facelift.