Facelift Recovery Traps to Be Aware of:
- Wearing make-up too soon.
- Exposing yourself to nicotine during healing.
- Sleeping on your side.
- Wearing earings too soon.
- Not cleaning your incisions and/or keeping hair out of incisions.
- Doing too much during healing period.
- Not staying hydrated; getting constipated.
Facelift Recovery Timeline
The day of surgery:
The day after facelift surgery:
The first few days after facelift surgery:
One week after facelift surgery:
Two weeks after facelift surgery:
One month after facelift surgery:
Two to six months after facelift surgery:
Congratulations! You are on the road to looking amazing! Your first day after surgery will be groggy. You will feel anxious to be awake, and anxious to get home. Before you leave the surgery center, staff will be checking your dressing and should make sure you aren’t nauseous for the ride home.
Once you get home, your dressing may be annoying (usually like an ace bandage). This is to be expected. Please do not remove your dressing as it is in place to reduce bleeding and swelling, which can be the worst in the first 24 hours. Be sure to sleep on your back with your head elevated.
Incision appearance: Raw with sutures, may weep blood from the surgery.
You may have an appointment to see your surgeon the day after your surgery. Sometimes these appointments are merely to check your progress from your first night. You may have drains that are removed today or in a few days. Your surgeon may remove your dressing to change it for a fresh one at this time.
Incision appearance: Raw, with sutures, may still weep blood from the surgery.
You should have very specific instructions from your surgeon as to your day-to-day care. Care instructions likely includes cleaning of your incisions and gently washing your hair using ONLY Baby Shampoo. Trust us here, we have too many stories of patients that didn’t think their regular shampoo would burn. They learned the hard way. Also, do not use a hair dryer. Your incisions are still too numb to know if you are burning them with a hair dryer.
Keeping your incisions clean and free of forming scabs is likely your surgeon’s instruction. Using cotton swabs, warm water (not hot!) and/or peroxide are the usual recommendations for cleaning your incisions. After cleaning, most facelift surgeons recommend using Aquaphor® brand ointment to coat over your stitches to keep them moist and protected. We further recommend using Telfa® non-adherent pads over the incisions before applying your facelift bandage. If your incisions are bleeding significantly or if you experience a large area of swelling, contact your surgeon’s office immediately for directions.
Incision appearance: Beginning to heal with sutures. Incisions will be pink and sensitive. Common for facelift incisions to still weep a tiny amount of blood from the surgery.
Approximately one week after facelift surgery, your surgeon may begin removing some of your sutures. You will need to continue with your incision cleaning instructions until all the sutures are removed. Depending on your swelling progress, your surgeon may recommend you continue to sleep on your back with your head elevated and use the facelift bandage to address swelling and bruising.
At one week, you will discover the real affect gravity has on the human body as your facial bruising (and swelling) will be sliding down into your neck area. This is another motivator to be as compliant as possible as a facelift patient those first few days.
At one week, you may have discovered the beautiful freedom to get out of the house while protecting your eyes with sunglasses and the use of a scarf. Be careful of using hats that may snug too closely to your incisions around your ears.
Facelift surgeons cannot stress the importance of protecting your ears. Also, it's not unusual to experience some dried blood inside the ear canal that may have collected during surgery. Notify your surgeon if you experience any reduced hearing in your ears.
Incision appearance: Healing has progressed. No longer completely raw but should expect some raw areas. Incisions will be pink, sensitive, with continued numbness.
Your sutures will likely have all been removed by two weeks. However, do not let this fool you into thinking your incisions are completely healed inside and out. Your incisions are still sensitive and need to be handled with care while dressing for the day and getting back to normal. Still be cautious of the use of hair dryers, hot rollers, and curling irons.
You may be given the okay to begin wearing makeup. However, do not put any cosmetics on your incisions unless your surgeon has specifically told you otherwise. This is a top factor for incision infections: patients using makeup too soon.
One side of face may appear more swollen than the other. This is almost always attributed to sleeping on one side. Gravity will literally shift swelling and bruising.
Incision appearance: Pink with sensation slowly coming back.
Depending on how bad our swelling and bruising was the first week following your surgery, you may still be seeing the remaining remnants, but it will appear yellow. Swelling is still likely to be present somewhat and your incisions may still be numb. Your face will still feel taut. Your surgeon may or may not give you clearance to wear earrings at this time.
Incision appearance: Pink, numbness is expected, earlobes may still be sensitive. However, incisions will begin the deep healing process.
Your facelift experience is nearing your butterfly. Your incisions will be going through a healing cycle that all incisions require for healing. It is a process, not magic. Throughout this process, you should stay out of the sun, maintain a healthy diet, continue to stay far away from first and second-hand smoke, as well as continuing to follow your surgeon’s instructions. Suntanning incisions at any time during the process can and will cause your incisions to turn dark, causing them to not fade and hide as intended.
Numbness that lasts for more than 6 months following surgery is not unusual and is okay. If you still experience some numbness after six months, follow your surgeon’s direction.
Your incisions will have started out from sutures, to pink sensitive without sutures, to pale pink, to medium pink, to feeling a little stiff, then back to pale pink before they begin to fade away.
Specific Post-Operative Facelift Instructions
- Dressings
The bulky dressing placed at the end of surgery puts some pressure on the areas operated on and helps soak-up any external drainage of normally occurring serum and blood. If the dressing is too tight or causes pain, please call your surgeon's office. You may be instructed to cut part way or completely through the portion of the dressing under the chin. This will usually relieve the discomfort. The entire dressing will usually be removed the morning after surgery and replace it with a very light one, which you will remove the following day. The doctor may ask you to wear this lighter dressing for a few days to keep swelling from accumulating.
- Position
Keeping your head elevated as much as possible will help to reduce post-operative swelling. If you can, sleep on two or three pillows to keep your head about the level of your heart. Many facelift patients highly recommend using a travel neck pillow to cradle around your neck to not only support your neck while sleeping elevated, but to protect you from rolling over on your side.
- Drains
Many facelift procedures do not require drains, but if it is necessary a small drain may be placed under the skin and brought out through a small incision. These drains evacuate the fluid that accumulates after surgery and enable you to heal faster.
- Drain Care
The drains will be hidden by surgeon inside of your head dressing. You should not need to do anything with these drains. If they should fall out of the head dressing, gently put them back in, upward into an opening of the dressing. Be sure not to force the drain back in, or not to push the drain in directly around the ear area. If you prefer, you may use a safety pin to secure the drain to the head dressing so long as you do not puncture the drain or drain tubing. Your surgeon will remove these drains a day or two after your surgery. Removing them feels a little strange but is not painful. You may shower and shampoo your hair after your drains are removed, but only with Baby Shampoo
- Bleeding
Small amounts of oozing and bleeding after surgery is normal. The bulky dressing may be stained, and the size of the stain may enlarge after you go home – this is normal. If serious bleeding occurs, apply pressure and call your surgeon. Bleeding under the skin flaps that causes serious swelling and discomfort is common, but if it does occur, it requires attention and evaluation by your surgeon.
- Sutures
The sutures around your ears will be removed 4-6 days after surgery. If you have had an incision under your chin, those sutures will also be removed 4-6 days after surgery. Incisions around the eyes for a blepharoplasty are removed 3-4 days aft surgery. Most facelift surgeons request you keep these sutures clean with the provided peroxide and cotton swabs, and apply a thick coating of the Aquaphor healing ointment to keep them moist.
- Ice Packs
Cold or ice packs help to reduce swelling, bruising, and pain. Use frozen peas in the package or crushed ice and put the ice into a zip-lock bag. This should help, not hurt. If the ice feels too uncomfortable, don’t use it as often. Cotton rounds soaked in a bowl of ice water then placed around the eyes are very soothing and also help to reduce swelling. Be sure to discard used cotton rounds and replace with clean ones.
- Sunscreen and Make-up
It is imperative that your scars be protected from the sun for a good 6 months after surgery. Use a sunscreen with a skin-protection factor of at least 30 at all times. It should be applied before your make-up. You may begin applying makeup 2 days after your sutures are removed. On the long term, if fresh scars are exposed to the sun, they will tend to become darker and take longer to fade. Take extra care and precautions if the area operated on is slightly numb – you might not “feel” a sunburn developing!
- Skin care
All of the skin on the face and neck may feel dry and chapped after facial surgery of any kind. We recommend that you make frequent use of a good fragrance-free moisturizer. The Faceliftology® team prefers Eucerin Products sold at the local drug stores.
- Hair Care
After a facelift, most patients experience a temporary change in the texture and manageability of their hair. Your hair is reacting to the “shock” of surgery and will recover naturally within a few weeks. If you color or perm your hair, plan to have it done before surgery or wait until 6 weeks afterward for the best results. Your hair may be a little “lifeless” during that period of time.
- Shampoo
Twenty-four hours after surgery and once the drains have been removed, you may wash your hair but only with Baby Shampoo. You may prefer to have your hairdresser wash it for you. In either case, a hair dryer, if used at all, should be kept on the lowest heat setting, as your scalp may be partially numb. Also, be sure to not direct the hair dryer directly on your incisions.
- Activity
Obviously this is not the time to clean out the garage. Walking (not jogging or running!) is permitted as long as your incisions are protected from the sun. Do not lean over to pick up items, instead squat down without facing your face towards the ground to keep gravity from contributing to the swelling. No heavy lifting is permitted for three weeks following your facial surgery. Lite house-keeping is permitted. If you cook over a stove be sure to protect your face from the heat.
Most patients who have had facelifts feel reasonably normal with 3-4 days after surgery even though they are swollen. If you wish to do light office work, you may. Do not, however, do any heavy activities or aerobic exercise for at least 3 weeks after surgery. Strenuous activities can cause bleeding and swelling for a longer period than is necessary.
- Alcohol
Alcohol dilates the blood vessels and could increase post-operative bleeding. Please don’t drink if you are taking prescription pain pills, as the combination of pain pills and alcohol can be dangerous.
- Tobacco Use
Exposure to both first-hand and second-hand tobacco has been found to inhibit the body’s ability to heal following facial surgery procedures. Nicotine use causes constriction (narrowing) of small blood vessels in the skin that can have a direct negative effect on your surgery. In any operation that involves undermining of the skin, survival of the skin depends on blood flow through those small blood vessels. Reduction of that blood flow can cause reduced or slower healing, blistering of the skin, or in the worse cases, actual loss of tissue. Please stop using any nicotine products (smoking, vaping, smoking cessation products, etc.) at least 2 weeks prior to your scheduled surgery, and make arrangements to recuperate in a smoke-free, vaping-free environment.
- Numbness
When the skin is separated from the underlying tissues during surgery, small sensory nerves are cut. Varying degrees of numbness will be present after surgery and will improve gradually as the nerves reconnect to the skin. This process can take from 2 to 6 months to completely heal.
- Tightness
Frequently, there is a tight feeling in the neck after a face lift. During surgery, not only skin, but the underlying muscles are tightened to create a better and longer lasting result. Additionally, the swelling will move downward in the first week and the neck will feel even tighter. Do not be alarmed. You will not choke, and the sensation will decrease in a week or two.
- Healing of Sensory Nerves
As the nerves regenerate, itching, burning, tingling, and shooting sensations will occur. Ice, moisturizers, and gentle massage are helpful during this phase of the healing process.
- Firmness under the Skin
Some degree of firmness or lumpiness under the skin is normal after surgery and will resolve with time. Lite massage will speed resolution of this problem. Your facelift surgeon will direct you when and how to massage after your facelift surgery.
- Asymmetric Swelling
Do not be alarmed if one side of your face is slightly more swollen or numb than the other. This is common and usually disappears as all the swelling and bruising decreases. Often times, patients discover they may favor sleeping on one side more than the other which contributes to the asymmetric swelling.
- Eye Symptoms
Your eyelids may feel tight even if they have not been operated on, because of the swelling that occurs in the entire face. Your vision may also be blurred from the ointment that is placed in them for protection during surgery. Eye drops and ice packs will feel particularly soothing for the first few days following surgery.
- Wardrobe
Special wardrobe considerations need to be considered for your facelift recovery. Plan to wear button-up shirts and avoid pullover shirts for the first few weeks following your procedure. Pull-over shirts can become a hazard for the incisions around the ears, as some patients have experienced accidental earlobe snags from pull-over shirts.
