Like many Baby Boomer women, Gerry, age 59, had started to notice sagging in her jawline and neck and wanted to do something about it. “I was tired of wearing turtlenecks,” she says.

“In the last year, I've lost about 40 pounds,” Gerry explains. “I'm thrilled about that—but after my weight loss, my face drooped where it had been fat. That was really disheartening; I actually looked older than I did when I was heavy!

“I never thought I'd have plastic surgery,” Gerry admits. “But I felt really proud about having lost weight. I figured I worked hard to do that, so I owed myself.”

Gerry started looking for ways to help her face look younger. “I didn't want a full facelift,” she says, “but a mini-facelift seemed much more doable—shorter recovery time, less invasive. And I thought that my loose facial skin would be helped by a mini-facelift. I have good facial muscles.

“I went to see Dr. Parungao,” Gerry recalls. “He listened to me when I told him, ‘I don't want my eyes changed. I don't want to look like I'm constantly in the wind.’”

“Gerry had minimal neck laxity and the beginning of jowling,” Dr. Parungao explains, “so the mini-facelift was her best option. This procedure focuses on the bottom third of the face as well as the jowls and neck. Her surgery went well and took about an hour.”

“Dr. Parungao did the surgery under local anesthesia,” says Gerry. “It's like getting novocaine—you don't feel anything at all.”

Gerry had her mini-facelift just before Thanksgiving and is very pleased with the results. “It's been fantastic—unbelievable!” she says. “I'm amazed at how well the mini-facelift worked. “I don't look drastically different. I look a little younger. I look fresher.”

“My whole chin line is lovely,” says Gerry. “It’s smooth and I'm pleased with my neck. And now I don’t have to wear a turtleneck!

“It's funny,” Gerry recalls. “I've always worn my hair in a bun, and after my mini-facelift, I had it cut into a style that frames my face. My coworkers went insane—everybody loved my new look—but they thought I'd just changed my hair. And that's fine with me.”

Find out more about mini-facelifts.

If you have severe sagging, jowling and wrinkling on your face and neck, a full facelift is probably a better choice than a mini-facelift. The longer incision of a full facelift—which extends from higher along the temples than a mini-facelift incision and continues behind the ears along the hairline at the back of the neck—works deeper into the muscles than a mini-facelift.

This longer incision allows a much greater degree of lift, helping to eliminate a “turkey neck.”