What is the difference between a mini facelift versus a full facelift?

More and more patients are requesting partial facelift procedures to avoid the rather large amount of surgery and extensive recovery involved in having a facelift. The reality is that most patients do not need to have a full facelift which includes the elevation of the mid face, the lower face, the removal of fat as well as the tightening of neck skin, and sometimes extending up to the eyebrow region. Especially for younger patients, mini facelifts or mid facelifts or neck facelifts can be excellent and very effective alternatives and are becoming more and more the mainstay of my facial rejuvenation practice. Most of these procedures can be performed in the right patient under pure local anesthesia with some mild oral sedation if the patient so desires. They typically take an hour and a half to two hours and involve working in smaller parts of the face for focused distribution such as, for example, in the male patient who is only concerned about turkey gobbler or the excess skin of the neck, smaller neck work could be performed. Meanwhile, in the woman who feels that her mid face appears to be more hollow and older appearing, a direct mid facelift could be performed. To speak of these as mini or partial facelifts does not mean the results are not as long lasting and deep tissue elevation is performed similarly as in full facelifts.