I always tell my patients that the ‘mini’ in mini facelift refers to incisions, dissection, recovery, effect and longevity. It isn’t a short cut to the results achieved with deep plane face and neck lift surgery, but the results, cost and longevity compare very favourably with the plethora of nonsurgical skin tightening devices out there. I have seen mini facelift patients still enjoying the benefits 3-5 years after surgery so it should be considered a temporising procedure before considering more definitive face and neck lifting.