Is Cheek Lift the Same Thing As Lower Facelift?

Thank you for your question. The differences between a cheek lift and lower facelift are often unclear to patients.The mid-face roughly correlates with the area between the lower eyelid and the corner of the mouth. A mid-face lift, sometimes referred to as a cheek lift, can help to restore fullness to the mid-face by vertically repositioning the soft tissue of the cheek to a higher, more youthful position on the cheek bone. At the same time, lower eyelid appearance is often improved as the repositioned cheek tissue is more favorably redraped over the lower orbital rim. Similarly, the nasolabial folds are somewhat effaced as the lower lying cheek tissues are lifted. In contrast, what is commonly referred to as a 'regular' facelift or lower facelift is used to rejuvenate the lower face. The greatest impact of a facelift is seen in the region of the jowels, marionette lines and neck. The traditional approach to this procedure is by way of facial incisions concealed around the ears. Depending on the surgeon's technique, some cheek lifting may be incorporated into the lower facelift. I hope that helps. Warm regards.

The cheek lift which is a surgical procedure has been out of favor and replaced by dermal fillers.  The fillers lift the cheeks and deemphasize the nasolabial folds. A lower face lift is a surgical procedure but can be delayed indefinitely if fillers are used in the jowl area and for the perimental lines.

The difficult part of this question is that different people use different terminology.  A cheek lift usually equates with a midface lift which is only appropriate for a small subpopulation of young people with early facial aging and is almost never employed in my practice.  A lower facelift is a neck lift +/- midface work.  In reality the neck lift requires near the complete facelift dissection anyway and does not save you recovery.  The danger in performing a lower face lift is taht it can create a strange transition between the upper mid and lower thirds of the face presenting an unnatural appearance.  for that reason it is the rare patient that gets a necklift or lower face lift in my practice.  I hope this helps!

All the best,

Rian A. Maercks MD