jikOne-Hour Facelift Company Lifestyle Lift Abruptly Closes, Considering Bankruptcyde

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Here a Lifestyle Lift commercial claims to provide facelifts in just an hour.

Cosmetic surgery chain Lifestyle Lift promises clients it can remove wrinkles, frown lines and sagging skin in just a matter of an hour. But if you were planning to stop by one of the company’s centers on Monday you were likely met with locked doors and few answers.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the company, which claims to offer a “minor one-hour procedure with major results,” abruptly shut down a majority of its 40 surgery centers Monday and announced it would consider filing for bankruptcy.

Lifestyle Lift, often featured in informercial-like advertisements claiming to allow consumers to “look as young on the outside as you feel on the inside,” specializes in less-invasive facelift procedures that require only local anesthesia and short recovery periods.

In a letter sent to employees over the weekend, Dr. David Kent – the founder of the company – said he made the “decision to temporarily cease operations until further notice.”

“The future of the Company is uncertain and therefore it is currently developing both a wind down plan to close the business and a reorganization plan to accommodate a new investment,” the letter states.

A spokesperson for Michigan-based Lifestyle Lift tells the WSJ that the company is considering its options, one of which is filing for bankruptcy.

As of Monday, Lifestyle Lift is only providing some post-operation checkup procedures.

Lifestyle Lift came under scrutiny back in 2008, when it engaged in a he-said, she-said lawsuit battle with online review site RealSelf.

The company sued RealSelf claiming trademark infringement after consumers posted negative reviews about their experience with the less-invasive facelift procedures. RealSelf subsequently countersued asserting the surgery center posted fake reviews to lure in more business.

The back-and-forth led to an investigation by the New York Attorney General’s office. In 2009, then-attorney general Andrew Cuomo announced Lifestyle Lift would pay $300,000 and stop publishing fake reviews.

At the time, Cuomo called the company’s business practices, “cynical, manipulative and illegal.”

Lifestyle Lift Shuts Down Most of Its Business, Considers Bankruptcy [The Wall Street Journal]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist