Are there different types of facelift procedures?
One label, several different operations
Yes, the name "facelift" is used for more than one thing, and the label alone does not tell you what is done. Some of the names in circulation are techniques with their own published literature, such as deep plane and subperiosteal. Nonsurgical options borrow the word too. Ask each provider to define the term in plain steps.
Quoting the label "nonsurgical facelift"
Quote the label before you trust it. "Nonsurgical facelift" contains the word facelift and describes something that, by its own name, is not surgery. A plastic surgery society's article asking which facelift option has the best odds of meeting your desired look sets several options side by side. Read how it names each one, and ask whether the same word should be used for a surgical operation and for a treatment that is not surgery.
For the surgical names, look at the technical sources. A StatPearls entry on the deep plane facelift is written for clinicians, and a medical encyclopedia's facelift series on indications is written for general readers. Read them to see how each source describes the operation, and note what each does not claim. Neither one is a side-by-side comparison of techniques.
A last practical point is how a medical center words the operation for patients. An academic health system's facelift page is one such description. Compare its wording with the technique names above, and ask your surgeon about any term on it that was not offered to you.
Deep plane, subperiosteal and the other approach names to ask about
Ask at the consultation:
- Which facelift technique do you recommend for me, and what is it called in the medical literature?
- What does that technique do that the others do not?
- How many have you performed, and can I see photos with the time since surgery stated?
- When a nonsurgical option is offered, what would it not do compared with surgery?
Who picks the technique
Reading technique names well is not the same as medical advice. Your surgeon chooses a technique after examining you.