Mini Faceliftin Seoul: SMAS Lift for Cheek and Jaw

Facial aging in the lower face happens in layers. The skin thins, the fat pads of the cheek slide down, and the SMAS that holds them loosens, so the line from cheek to chin turns from a clean curve into small jowls. A mini lift addresses that middle stage, when the change shows mainly along the jaw and lower cheek and the neck still holds its shape.

The amount of lift is limited by design. A shorter incision gives the surgeon less room to reposition tissue, so heavy jowls, a deep fold under the chin or bands in the neck are the territory of a full SMAS facelift or a neck lift. Fine lines, dull texture and dark spots sit on the surface of the skin, which no facelift changes, and are handled with skin treatments.

The SMAS (superficial musculoaponeurotic system) is a sheet of fibrous tissue and muscle that runs from the neck up into the cheek. Lifting skin alone stretches it and the result loosens quickly; lifting the SMAS moves the deeper support, and the skin is then redraped over it with little tension. In a mini facelift, that work is limited to the lower face. Techniques for handling the SMAS vary between surgeons, and a meta-analysis of SMAS facelift methods found that rates of temporary nerve injury, hematoma and other complications differed between techniques while permanent nerve injury did not (Jacono, 2019).

In general, a mini facelift uses an incision that follows the front of the ear, shorter than the line a full facelift needs. A small early series of 35 patients described this route, folding the SMAS through an extended incision in front of the ear, and reported it as suited to younger patients (Duminy, 1997). The facial nerve branches run beneath the SMAS at a fairly consistent depth even though their surface path varies from person to person, so knowing the safe plane is what protects them (Stuzin, 2020).

This is surgery, which is different from devices sold as “SMAS lifting”. Focused ultrasound treatments heat the same layer from outside the skin, with no incision and no repositioning of tissue.

The bill for a mini facelift at this clinic has two parts. The surgery fee covers the operation itself, and IV sedation is a separate line that the clinic adds to every surgery it performs. Both cards below are listed before tax, and 10% VAT is added at payment.

Prescribed medication is taken twice a day after surgery, and you may want to combine the lift with another procedure. Ask for those items to appear as named lines in your written quote, so the total you budget for matches what you pay at the desk.

A smaller incision does not make this a minor operation. Swelling that grows quickly on one side, severe or increasing pain, fever, or weakness when you smile or raise your brows need a call to the clinic at once.

• Hematoma, a collection of blood under the skin that may need draining.
• Facial nerve injury, which can weaken movement of the mouth or brow; it may recover over months or, in some cases, be lasting.
• Numbness of the skin around the ear and cheek for weeks or months.
• Skin necrosis at the edge of the flap, more likely in smokers.
• Widened or raised scars, and hair loss near the incision if it extends toward the temple.
• Asymmetry or an early return of laxity that leads to revision surgery.
• Infection or a fluid collection (seroma).

In a review of 4,451 patients who had limited-incision facelifts, the overall complication rate was 3.2%, with hematoma in 2% and temporary nerve injury in 0.2%, and the evidence came mostly from lower-quality studies (Amador, 2023). Published rates from other surgeons describe groups of patients and do not predict a single result.