Types of facelifts: What kind of facelift are you actually being quoted?

Reading the label

What does the name of a facelift actually tell you?

A name like mini, SMAS or deep plane can describe the incision, the tissue layer, the areas treated or a whole bundle of procedures, so on its own it tells you little. To know what you’re getting, you need three things in writing: the areas treated, the work done under the skin, and every add-on.

Get a fourth set of details too: whether this is your first facelift or a revision, the anesthesia, the facility and who looks after you afterward. Recovery, risk and cost depend on the whole plan.

Reading the label

Which parts of your face and neck will it change?

Mark each area the plan is meant to change: cheeks, lower face, jawline, under the chin and neck. Then ask what will stay as it is, because a neck lift can tighten the neck and leave the cheeks alone, and a smaller lower-face lift can leave the neck as it was.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons describes a traditional facelift, a limited-incision facelift and a neck lift as different options, and notes that a small cut under the chin is sometimes added for more neck work. Surgeons combine face and neck steps in different ways, so fill in the map for your own plan.

Go deeperFacelift Neck lift

The names you’ll hear

What is a mini facelift?

A shorter-incision facelift that usually treats a smaller area, but there’s no single mini operation. A 2023 review of 20 studies and 4,451 patients found many different shorter-incision techniques, so the word alone doesn’t tell you the tissue work, the neck plan or the recovery.

You’ll also hear limited-incision, short-scar or a practice’s own brand name. Ask for the same details you’d want for any facelift: where the incisions go, what’s done under the skin and whether your neck is included.

Go deeperMini vs. neck lift vs. full facelift

The names you’ll hear

What is a SMAS facelift?

SMAS is the layer of tissue under your skin and fat, and a SMAS facelift can mean several different ways of tightening it. A 2023 review of 27 studies and 6,086 patients sorted the techniques into six families and couldn’t name a best one.

A surgeon might fold the layer and stitch it (plication), overlap it (imbrication), remove a strip (SMASectomy) or lift it as a flap. All of them work on that deeper layer, and the skin is lifted separately.

The names you’ll hear

What is a deep plane facelift?

In a deep plane facelift, the surgeon works beneath the SMAS layer and releases some of the ligaments that hold tissue in place, so skin and deeper tissue move together. How far a surgeon goes, which ligaments they release and whether the neck is included all vary.

You may also hear composite or extended deep plane. Surgeons use those names in different ways too, so ask what’s included beyond your surgeon’s own definition of deep plane.

The names you’ll hear

What’s a MACS lift, and how is a neck lift different?

A MACS lift pulls the lower face upward with loops of stitches through a shorter incision, and a 2021 review of 6 studies and 739 patients found it can do less for the neck. A neck lift works on the neck itself: fat under the chin, muscle bands and loose skin.

MACS stands for minimal access cranial suspension, and its studies are small and often include other procedures. Neither name tells you whether the other area is covered, so ask whether your neck is part of the plan or a separate operation.

The rest of the plan

What else is being done at the same time?

Fat transfer, eyelid surgery, brow lifts and laser resurfacing can be added, and each is a separate procedure with its own recovery, risks and price. When a before-and-after or a recovery story comes from a combined plan, you can’t credit all of it to the facelift.

One label, written out as a quote

The label“Deep plane lower face and neck lift”

1. 01Deep plane faceliftLower faceIts own recovery, risks and price
2. 02Neck liftNeckIts own recovery, risks and price
3. 03Fat transferUnder the eyes, named only in the captionIts own recovery, risks and price

Anything else done that day gets its own line too

Fat transfer adds volume, while the lift repositions tissue. If it’s in your plan, it should have its own line with the areas, the amount and the price. The same goes for revisions: if you’ve had a facelift before, say so, because earlier surgery changes the planning.

Go deeperEyelid surgery Brow lift Laser resurfacing

What the research says

Is a deep plane facelift better than SMAS?

No one has shown that deep plane looks more natural, lasts longer or is safer than SMAS. A 2025 review of 47 studies and 10,766 patients found only one study that compared the two directly, and both approaches had good results. A 2026 review found no clear longevity or midface advantage for deep plane.

You may see pooled satisfaction numbers quoted for each technique. One 2025 review found high satisfaction with both, but the two groups came from different studies, so the gap between them isn’t a head-to-head result. A 2026 study of 166 patients from one surgeon found no clear early difference in satisfaction, recovery or complications; with about three months of follow-up, it can’t settle the question either.

Go deeperFacelift before-and-after photos

What the research says

What are the risks, whatever the type?

Every facelift carries the same kinds of risk, including bleeding or a blood collection (hematoma), infection, nerve injury or numbness, poor wound healing, scarring, asymmetry, and risks from anesthesia and blood clots. How likely each one is depends on your whole plan and your health, so ask your surgeon for their own numbers.

Reviews report very different overall complication rates, even for the same technique, because they include different studies and count complications differently. Ask what a rate counts before you compare it.

Go deeperFacelift recovery

Before you book

How do you compare two facelift quotes?

Write both plans in the same fields: areas treated, incisions, the work under the skin in the surgeon’s words, every add-on, first or revision surgery, anesthesia and facility, what stays untreated, and what the price includes. Then you can see whether two quotes are for the same operation.

This guide can’t tell you which technique suits your face; that takes an exam. It can help you check that two surgeons are quoting the same work.

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