Dear Dr. McCollough: I'm not sure that I am ready for a "full" face-lift. I have heard about "mini" or "weekend" face-lifts and "thread-lifts". What are those?

Dear Reader: Don't be misled by "new" minimally-invasive procedures. Some of my colleagues are offering what is misleadingly called a "weekend" or "mini" lift. This procedure falls short of what many surgeons would label as a "facelift," and some of the doctors who offer them are not surgeons.

A true facelift addresses both the upper and lower face, neck, and jowl areas, includes liposuction of the jowls and neck, and direct suturing of sagging muscles. Only then is loose skin removed.

Some of the procedures referred to as "mini" lifts use a barbed suture threaded into the fat along the cheeks and jaws. It is not logical to think that one or two sutures placed blindly into the fat of the face can hold what usually takes ten sutures placed into the stronger tissues surrounding the muscles of the face and neck. More importantly, with a "thread" lift, no loose or sagging skin is removed.

A number of problems with thread lifting and other substitutes for traditional face lifting are surfacing. Threads pull through, break, or become infected, requiring additional surgery to remove them. Many of the threads can be seen and felt through the skin for months. So, the "weekend" face lift can often create weeks- or monthsof recovery from the complications. One such occurrence was revealed at a plastic surgery convention I recently attended. The surgeon admitted that he had to remove 16 infected threads from a patient who had a "weekend" threadlift. And, it took as long for him to perform the initial "threadlift" as it does for many of us to perform a real facelift. The age-old adage: "If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is," applies to facelifting as well.

Keep in mind that plastic surgery is real surgery and that problems can arise from many of the "quick-fix" procedures. Reports of problems with materials that are injected into the face and procedures that rely on strings and threads inserted into the face are becoming more and more common. So, before you consent to them, ask about the potential complications and longevity.

The aftercare of plastic surgery is often the key to a trouble-free recovery. Plastic surgery is not "drive-through surgery." I've never liked the idea of performing an operation on a patient, putting them in a car and sending them off without my knowing how to find them, if needed. It is, also, asking too much of an untrained friend or family member to care for a post-operative patient.

The success of any surgical procedure depends upon obtaining the correct information about the operation and/or product that is being advocated and the experience of surgeon/doctor who will be performing it.

The foregoing represents the professional opinions of the writer. If you would like to ask Dr. McCollough a question, email him at info@mccolloughinstitute. com.