What is the Difference Between a Lifestyle Lift and a Mini Lift?

There are three assumptions you can safely make in Facial Plastic Surgery:

1) The more advanced the aging changes are, the more extensive your procedure needs to be.

2) Not all surgeons are equal. As I was told in my training, " There is no such thing as a minor procedure; there are however, minor surgeons".

3) Always see a Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon or Board Certified Plastic Surgeon when considering a facelift, and get a second opinion.

Lifestyle Lift is a very heavily marketed procedure, and has multiple offices throughout the country. The procedure is performed by local surgeons at a Lifestyle Lift facility, under local anesthesia. A significant message of the Lifestyle Lift marketing is that they offer a procedure that can be performed in about an hour, with minimal downtime, quick healing, and significant results.

How Long Will It Last?

A one hour procedure may be appropriate in some patients, but is certainly not appropriate for most of the patients I see in SW Florida. Longevity of results for patients typical in my practice with a 1 hour procedure? Probably 12 months or less. Why? Facelift is truly a three step procedure which constitutes work on one side of the face, the contralateral side, and elevation and contouring of the neck. If you do not address each of these elements properly in the form of carefully placed incisions, skin elevation, SMAS elevation and tightening, trimming of skin with appropriate tension, meticulous wound closure (by the surgeon), contouring of the neck, and platysmaplasty, the result is less likely to hold up for a significant period of time. A more extensive procedure will require a variable period of downtime; some patients heal more quickly than others for a variety of reasons. It should be stated that some patients with even the least extensive of procedures (injectables) will experience significant bruising.

Just as in every profession and job in this country, some individuals are more gifted, more capable, and obtain better results than others. Not surprisingly, this is certainly true in Surgery. An advertised procedure is merely an advertisement; an individual surgeons's work is an individual surgeon's work regardless of how effective his/her marketing is.

In making your decision to undergo Facial Plastic Surgery, remember that is it likely you will be spending a significant amount of money, regardless of who it is you see. Ultimately, you will want to feel comfortable with the result that you have, the amount of money you have spent to get it, and the experience that you have had. It is better for a surgeon or company to underpromise and over-deliver than the opposite. Analyze the marketing carefully, listen to word of mouth, read websites such as this, and go with your comfort level.

As a former surgeon at the Ontario CA center, I can only speak from my experience.  My procedure was carefully modified according to the patient's particular anatomy.  It would often require extensive neck procedures as well as individualized lifting of the face.  A mini lift implies that little was done.  The "lifestyle lift" performed by me was definitely more than a "little" being done and was individualized according to the patient's needs.

Hi and thanks for your question. I can comment on the Lifestyle Lift Orange County, CA location and my practice and technique while there. Lifestyle Lift was one of the first plastic surgery practices to market lower facelifts under local anesthesia and oral sedation. The concept became so popular that many private practices now have similar marketed names for their facelifts under local anesthesia. The success of each clinic was highly dependent on the surgeon. The best surgeons at Lifestyle Lift were highly experienced, performing thousands of facial rejuvenation procedures during their careers there, such as myself. Each best surgeon performed their individual lower facelifts tailored to each individual patients' needs just as any surgeon would in their private practices. There was no proprietary technique, and it was not a mini lift in my hands.  That said, if a patient needed a mini lift with shorter incisions it could easily be performed under local anesthesia.  More commonly, I performed a complete neck lift with liposuction and platysmaplasty and a full lower SMASectomy facelift. Other surgeons in various locations perform what is best suited for their patients so the operation will differ with another surgeon.  With the ultimate closing of Lifestyle Lift, there remain the best former Lifestyle Lift surgeons out there who are experts in facial rejuvenating procedures under local anesthesia. Fortunately, many of these surgeons are now in private practice. If you are seeking to rejuvenate your face and neck, please carefully research online in your area to find a surgeon who has successfully performed thousands of local anesthesia face and neck lifts.

There are many ways of doing a "mini" lift and the "lifestyle lift", as described, is only one of them. The main difference is that the term "lifestyle lift" are marketed very heavily compared to the term "mini lift".

Lifestyle Lift is a corporate brand that pays physicians to perform a variety of procedures on the face and neck. There is no single 'Lifesyle Lift,' rather it is a continum of procedures based on patient needs and desires.

A minilift usually addresses changes to the cheek and to a minor extent the neck. Lifestyle Lift corporation has a procedure on their menu that addresses the same issues and their surgical procedure is essentially the same as the minilift procedure.

A large portion of the fee goes to the LifeStyle Lift corporate entity. There is no anesthesia fee however, because there is no anesthesia provider nor anesthesia provided, except pills and multiple numbing shots to the area(s) to be operated upon.

For some a surgical procedure from Lifestyle Lift may be the right decision. However, for others the peace of mind having a customized surgical procedure using safe, comfortable anesthesia in an accredited facility at roughly the same cost is a better choice.


You should be able to make the correct decision after your consultations.


Sincerely,
Dr. Kaniff

There are so many different names for various facelifts. Most of them share more similarities than differences.  Marketing is used to try to make one facelift sound more appealing than another, whether it is touted to be faster, easier to recover, more natural, you name it.  Then all share the same fundamental steps, namely, incisions around the ears and the muscle and skin tightened.  Best advice I can give you?  Make your choice based on the specific surgeon and concentrate on their reputation, skill, credentials and experience

Lifestyle lift and mini lift do not refer to specific procedures, so unfortunately there is not much information in the name. Typically, both a lifestyle lift and a mini lift refer to a facelift that has been modified to have less scars, less surgery and quicker healing time. Naturally, this is sometimes done at the expense of a better and longer lasting surgical result. 

The LifeStyle Lift is a proprietary trademarked and heavily branded type of mini lift. They literally spend tens of millions of dollars annually to market their brand. It is a mini-lift under my reasoning that it is focused on the lower face, does not need general anesthesia, and has abbreviated incisions in comparison to a traditional facelift. But then again there are lots of mini-lifts that offer similar claims.

The mini-lifts may be tough to choose from because of all the brand names such as LifeStyle Lift, S-Lift, Quick Lift, LiteLift, MACS and others. However, if you have a large amount of redundant skin and fat or turkey waddle deformity, you may benefit more by liposuction and a traditional facelift which does better with lower neck skin redundancy.
Probably most important is the skill and experience of the surgeon. Always check out his/her before and after photos and ask to see long term results and most of all that he is trained and a  Board Certified Plastic Surgeon  or Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon with extensive experience over many years.

A lifestyle lift is not a specific procedure.  It is a marketing gimmick that is meant to funnel patients to specific "lifestyle lift surgeon."  The marketing is usually aimed at patients seeking a cheaper and faster recovery through operations under local anesthesia.  It is very difficult to get any long lasting natural results through any short procedure.  In fact a skin only operation to tighten the skin can result in a very unnatural appearance long term which is impossible to fix even with a traditional facelift.  It gives a "pulled" look to the face which most people do not like.  A mini facelift is typically a smaller operation than a traditional operation which involves an incision in front of the ear and minimal additional dissection.  It is meant for people with very mild deep facial aging who want a mild result.

The Lifestyle Lift is an operation that changes depending upon the surgeon doing it. However, it promises a lot of things that may not always be delivered. The LSL is usually a form of a mini facelift. The main difference you may see in techniques is what is done to firm up the tissue underneath the skin in your cheeks. You should be sure to do a LOT of research before going in for a Lifestyle Lift. Notice there is only a 51% approval rating here in RealSelf.

I host a radio show every Saturday called, 'New Reflections". We did a two part episode about the Lifestyle Lift. I would recommend that you (and anyone else considering a LSL) listen to the two part show. All the information you will hear is true, and mostly shocking. You can listen to part one of the show using the link below. My recommendation is to listen carefully to the show before you think about moving forward with a LSL. In my opinion you will do better with a board certified plastic surgeon in his/her own private practice.

I hope this info helps!

Lifestyle Lift is a business model franchised to physicians.  It is unclear to most Board Certified Plastic Surgeons what the procedure actually entails as the company probably has financial reasons to not make their procedure easily known.  There are few, if any surgeons certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery who do this procedure.  The Lifestyle procedure is heavily marketed to the public, but you should know that the attorney general of New York State sued the Lifestyle Lift for fraudulent advertising and won.  A mini facelift usually involves shorter incisions around the ear, a more moderate lift and shorter recovery than a full face lift.  Whatever you do, make sure the surgeon operating on your face is Board Certified to do this surgery.  Ask the physician if he or she has privileges to do the same surgery in a hospital operating room, this is the easiest way to determine that he or she has the proper training.  Don't be tempted by slick advertising.  Remember if it seems to good to be true, it probably is.