The "Mini" Factor
Mini is a prefix for useful tools of womanhood like bar, skirt and pad, as well as the name of Mickey's significant other. When followed by lift or tuck, mini is one of the true vagaries of cosmetic surgery, because it means different things to different surgeons and patients. Mini has come to refer to something bigger than liposuction of the neck and smaller than a facelift. What remains uncertain is what value mini procedures have. There are those who find comfort in the concept of lesser surgery. "I'm not having a facelift, it's just a mini-tuck. . ." There is less guilt over vanity, and it can't be construed as an admission of having reached "a certain age" because it's not the real thing. By virtue of those four little letters, the anxiety level of pre-facelift jitters is dramatically reduced. The flipside, however, is that not everyone is a candidate for a mini-lift, and in the end, the only thing you may have spared yourself is a long-lasting result. Even minis come with incisions, anesthesia, bruising, risks and are not free. Happiness in mini lifting and tucking is dependent on figuring out whether a modified procedure will give you enough change to make it worth your while.