You’ve probably been hearing about facelifts for years, and you may have an idea of what it entails. What you may not know, though, is that a facelift doesn’t have to mean surgery on your entire face. As we age, our skin begins to lose its elasticity, and starts to sag. Our facial muscles also loosen, so they’re unable to hold up the facial tissue as well as they used to. Every person is different, and for some, this may occur all over the face, while others experience it more in just one or two areas of the face. Genetics and lifestyle have a lot to do with this.

Also called a rhytidectomy, a facelift is pretty much what it sounds like—a surgical lifting of sagging facial tissue to restore your tighter, smoother, youthful appearance. Contrary to what you may believe (or what you may have seen in certain celebrity photos), a facelift should not be a procedure that makes you look like a completely different person, but a rejuvenation. That’s what we strive for in our clinic—an improved you.

• Your cheeks are sagging
• You have deep lines below your lower eyelids, nose and around the mouth
• You have loose skin and excess fat under the chin and jaw
• You have jowls
• You are physically healthy
• You have realistic expectations of the procedure
• You have the commitment to follow all postoperative advice

• Improved facial contours
• Tightened muscle tissue
• Firmer skin
• Youthful appearance
• Noticeably reduced facial wrinkles

Your genetics, your lifestyle choices, and the way you’ve cared for your skin over the years will determine how your skin ages, and how the effects of aging appear on your face. Depending on your specific situation, our surgeon will help you determine the best facelift type for you.

As the name suggests, this is a facelift performed on the entire face as a whole. It can correct numerous issues, including sagging jowls and cheeks, and also tightens the underlying facial muscles.

Incisions are usually made in the natural creases behind the ears to conceal them as much as possible. They may also be made along the hairline, or under the chin, depending on the amount of correction needed.

This procedure entails removing less skin than a full facelift, and does not include tightening the deeper facial tissue. A mini facelift is often sought by those who have undergone a full facelift, and want a “refreshment” to maintain those initial results. However, you can also opt for it if you just need a small amount of correction in the cheeks and jowls.

Sometimes called a cheek lift, a mid facelift focuses on the center region of the face, and spans from the corners of your eyes to the sides of your mouth. It corrects sagging tissue, particularly the nasolabial folds, the lines that run from the outsides of your nostrils to the corners of your mouth.

Although this is called a lower facelift, the incisions are usually made in the hairline and behind or in front of the ears. This is to pull the tissues in the lower face—the jowls and neck—upward, and restore a tighter, more youthful look along the jawline.