Mini Facelifts: Newer, Safer Procedures

The Extended Facial Lipo-Lift should be used in people with wrinkled neck skin, sagging neck muscles, and patients in need of neck skin excision. This procedure can be performed on anyone who is a candidate for a traditional facelift, he said.

People who age primarily with volume loss and not ptosis of the skin supportive tissue may not be candidates for facelifts. Instead, Dr. Morganroth suggested volume replacement, which can be done with injections of ply-L-lactic acid (Sculptra) or microlipoinjections.

Combination Procedures

Both the Facial Lipo-Lift and the Extended Facial Lipo-Lift lend themselves to combination with other procedures, Dr. Morganroth said, all of which are conducted in one sitting under local anesthesia. These adjunctive procedures include upper and lower blepharoplasty, chin implants, laser resurfacing of the mouth and eyes, and chemical peels to the rest of the face.

The Tuliplift addresses three vectors of the face and neck: under the eye and cheek (horizontal vector); the jowl (combination of horizontal and vertical vectors); and the neck (vertical vector).

At the 2005 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, Dr. Morganroth presented a series of 43 patients who underwent the combination of Extended Facial Lipo-Lift plus the other procedures mentioned above and found that there were no serious complications, patients could return to unlimited social activities within 10 days, and the average number of post-operative pain medications was 10.8 pills, which represent less than 1.5 days’ worth of analgesics, he said.

Furthermore, three of these patients had undergone a prior facelift under general anesthesia. All three of these patients reported the highest rating of ‘much better’ when comparing local to general anesthesia facelifts in terms of post-operative discomfort and recovery, he said.

The Tuliplift

The Tuliplift is a mini facelift that can be tailored to the needs of the individual patient, explained David Rahimi, MD, who is a dermatologist and cosmetic surgeon in private practice at Forever Young in Los Angeles, Calif. I have been using the Tuliplift for over five years with excellent and lasting results, he added.

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Figure. Before (left) and after (right) pictures of a patient who had a Tuliplift performed by Dr. Rahimi.

One size does not fit all, he said. The Tuliplift can be customized for each person’s face. I can assess and tighten parts of the lift to achieve a better, more customized fit. Think of the procedure as involving three petals that are actually three lifting levers that can be customized, he explained.