“Remove wrinkles, frown lines and sagging skin in only 1 hour!” The advertisements and claims of the 1-hour face lift seem to promise miracles and a change not just in the way you look, but the way your live your life and how others will respond to you. Is it too good to be true or have these surgeons found the fastest way to turn back time?

These super fast (some claim to take a mere 7 minutes to take 10 years off your face) face lifts do not use anesthesia or IV sedation during the procedures. This alone was good news to some takers who were fearful of “going under” and did not like the recovery time of tradition sedation. Instead these minimally invasive face lift procedures are generally performed under local anesthetic and use sutures, lasers, heat or electric currents to accomplish a patient’s desired results.

Candidates for these 1-hour lifts desire only to elevate and reposition sagging skin from the brow, face and neck. Those with heavy (fatty) or very thin faces are not suitable for most quick procedures.

One way doctors achieve these instant lifts is by using non-surgical “cogged” threads and sutures not unlike those used on cardiac, abdominal and traditional plastic surgeries to lift the skin beneath the surface where topical wrinkle reducers and firming creams can’t reach. The sutures are inserted into the underlying loose or wrinkled skin and muscle and threaded tight to help support the desired structure of your face and neck. These threads stay in your skin like internal sutures, but are removable and the procedure is reversible. The 1-hour face lifts generally cause no more than minimal bruising and selling, and the sutures used are normally accepted by the body and cause no side effects. Most patients report returning to normal activity and makeup wear in 1 – 2 days.

Thermage® has also become a popular treatment for men and women who want a non-invasive option for anti-aging. Plastic surgeons and dermatologists use this technique to reduce signs of sagging skin and wrinkles on the face and body by stimulating collagen growth with heat.

The Bio-Ultimate or microcurrent face lift is another non-surgical procedure that is cost efficient and produces immediate results. A microcurrent face lift uses gentle electric currents to stimulate a natural cellular reaction that improves the skin’s ability to produce collagen and elastin. Patients should expect subtle but brilliant results that vary from tighter muscles to reduced evidence of sun damage. Any side effects are generally gone within the first few days.  

If you desire more significant results but still don’t want to recover from incisions, consider a laser face lift in which doctors resurface and tighten the outer layers of the skin using laser technology. Patients report discoloration and sensitivity after laser face lifts, but most often these side effects are gone within te first few weeks preceding the treatment.

Patients say they see immediate and impressive results from these quick lift procedures and never have to worry about scarring. Doctors who perform these quick lifts say that patients can expect to receive 30 – 70% and up to 90% of the results they would have achieved using traditional invasive face lift procedures. The big difference between the non-invasive face lift and a traditional lift is that some of the quick lifts last 3 – 5 years and then need to be repeated. Many patients then elect to go on to the traditional face lift to avoid repeated procedures.

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