Dealing with swellings and hematomas after facelift

Hi Joan1!.....you said "Both surgeons I went to gave out info;-" swelling for 2-3 weeks, can go back to work in 2, with concealer on bruises"....and now post op "My ps says, due to excessive swelling on one side, it'll take 3 mths. for it to go down."

It makes me wonder about the honesty of some surgeons. So pre-op they're telling you 2 to 3 weeks, and now post-op they're saying some swelling will take 3 months to be back to normal....funny that!......I'd wish these doctors would make up their mind!...but I guess you're an exceptional case and a slow healer...actually the truth is, that you're just like everyone else and have to ride out the 3 months at least to be back to normal.

This really pisses me off!!.....you plan around your surgery allowing 2-3 weeks for recuperation and thinking you'll front up to work looking quite normal. This so far from the truth it's fantasy land.

All I can say is hang in there!...you'll go through the whole range of emotions, good and bad, up and down depending on the day....there is light at the end of the tunnel, but I'm afraid it won't be as quick as you'd like....it's time that you need.

As for me my swelling has gone down. I'm very happy with the results. I'm sure you'll be happy with the end result also.

So the bottom line is...apart from the nightmare of post-op and the total BS the surgeons say about recovery, it's the best thing I've done (I even get looks from younger womenin their 30's and I'm 50 next month).

So all the best Joan and hang in there!

Cheers
Jay

Hi Jay,
Can you remember approximately how long after your f/l you started the warm water and massage? My ps said start week 5. I'm 25 days post op now. Suppose I shouldnt start earlier incase I make things worse. If u did it earlier than 5 weeks, without problems, I'd be intersted to know. Taking bromelain/quercetain enzyme capsules for swelling but it's not doing anything.
Thanks.

Hi Joan and to anyone else that's reading this........I recall it was about week 4 post-op I started using heat to get the blood flowing into the swollen areas of my face. You say you're 25 days post op, so what are you waiting for...do it!

I know I don't have to convince you regarding the use of heat packs, but think of it logically, as prolonged use of cold packs or no cold packs at all will only make the swollen areas worse, you're slowing the blood flow to critical areas that need to be healed...good blood flow to these areas speeds up the healing process. Bearing in mind cold packs are absolutely essential straight after surgery for a couple of days to stop as much swelling as possible to begin with.

As far as heat packs are concerned, I found taking long hot showers more convenient. I would stand under a hot shower and let the water massage my face, occasional massaging the swollen areas. This would gradually loosen the swollen area once heat was applied....and I found this above all else helped. You need to do this regularly and over a period of weeks will help considerably.

Also keep in mind if you have significant nerve damage, be careful not to scold yourself. Have it hot but not so hot that it becomes uncomfortable. I use to have a hot shower 3 times daily concentrating on face.

And as far as any other medication used for recovery I had none. I guess what you're taking wouldn't hurt. I would also suggest taking around 3000 to 4000mg of vitamin C (helps the production of collagen and tissue repair), more if you can manage it (Vitamin C is non toxic)....and spread this dose over a day.

I'm 2 mths post fl. Swelling and 2 inch long fat pocket along the lower part of my right cheek bone haven't gone down at all! I can't massage because my face feels tender. I don't think I should disturb painful tissue. Can anyone else that has had a puffy lump or fat pockets tell me if they've smoothed out? My surgeon said it will move down and flatten from gravity in time, and swelling will take 3.5 mths. (Originally he said 3 mths. I'm thinking more like 6!) Below the fat pocket is a long indentation, and below that is swelling. On the other side my cheek is fat from swelling, but smooth and even. This is far too long to have to put up with being deformed..I hate this and am not socialising! I don't have hematomas. The way to find out if you do, is ultrasound. I had one and it cost me $98 even after claiming through Medicare in Australia. I'd say my lymphatics are damaged and blocked big time. I got cream and homeopathic drops for it, but doubt they'll do much. Will look into lymphatic odema drainage through Bowen technique, cause I can't massage.

I am a 53 yr. old who had a face lift, forehead lift, upper and lower eyes 28 days ago. at Bumrungrad in Thailand with an American board certified p.s. I am so thankful I have found this forum and wish I would have found it before...although perhaps I would not have gotten the face lift then. I found another website that showed recovery photos, but none that told me about the swelling that goes on this long. I was so concerned that I emailed my doctor close-ups yesterday regarding the swelling. He told me to use neosporin around the ears - perhaps infected? I'd say about 80% of the scabs have come off. I expected the scars to be red, so that isn't bothering me - but recovery has been hellatious. I haven't even tried my contact lens.

I plan on doing as Jay says and use the hot shower and perhaps hot washcloths on my face several times a day. Up until an hour or so ago, I've been using ice packs.

I find the best time for me is after my hot shower in the morning until about noon - after that I swell again, and throb and tingle (not in a good way!), having to go rest again for 4-5 hours. I have bought the arnica and the pineapple extract pills to help with the swelling, but they haven't helped. I am more swollen now than I was at 10 days. I have not been physically active.

I also have not been able to sleep due to the pain - so my ps told me to use sleeping pills again for the next week. The cuts on my eyelids are still very red, so I'll try putting Vitamin E on it, unless someone on this board tells me otherwise.....

As to the surgery - I found it extremely frustrating immediately afterwards that the nurses didn't understand my English request of BEGGING for ice chips (as my eyes were covered and I couldn't find the tepid water glass they left me, without spilling it all over the place). I wouldn't recommend anyone go thru this surgery in a foreign country without someone with them to help out that first night or two. This hospital was top rated, clean, professional and superior - yet I was in extreme pain and had to practically beg for continuous morphene that first night after surgery....maybe I'm a wimp about pain, but I found it ranking up there with the pain after my hysterectomy and cesarean! I guess I'm used to the American method of pain relief...I had hoped to just sleep thru the 2 days of face lift surgical recovery, and unfortunately I couldn't. Also frustrating is one nurse told me the Thai women are better at pain than a wimpy Western woman!

At 28 days, the ps told me to massage 3 times a day, I have a lump on my neck, about the size of a dime, that he wrote would dissipate in time....Yes, I regret doing this and cannot even imagine looking so much better that it was worth this pain and downtime especially. Any advice would be appreciated.....I am curious if Joan1 is recuperating yet?

Thanks to everyone who has posted on this board. I'm 54 yr old female who had upper eyelids and mid-face and neck lift on Dec. 15th. I was desperate this morning so started searching for 'how to deal with swelling after a facelift' and came across this lifesaver. I'm at day 23 and, like everyone, frustrated at the lack of upfront information about the length of healing time. I work so thought if I took off 15 days during the Christmas holiday, I'd be ready to go back to work on January 3rd. Wrong! Although I'm back at work, I can't concentrate because of the pain/lack of sleep/swelling, etc. etc.

I have the added 'feature' of having accidentally picked at a scab at day 11 (has anyone else done that?) and had blood everywhere! The PS met me at his office at 8 o'clock in the evening and had to stitch the hole in my head, as well as cauterize it. I am so mad at myself because I know better. I'm basically back at square one because when I went back for my 5 day checkup on the stitches, it was infected so now they are treating it as a secondary wound which means that they are basically just letting it heal on it's own. From what I've read, that can take a month or so.

To add some humor to this, at day seven my 95 year old father who lives with me ended up falling out of bed and I had to spend the next several days dealing with paramedics, doctors, nurses, nursing home personnel, ambulance drivers, hospice nurses and social workers and an attorney....all with tape and bruises all over my face. So much for my discreet little facelift! The stress of dealing with his situation didn't help my healing process, I'm sure! The good news is that he's in a good care home now and I can rest --- after my 11 hour days at work!

This has not been a very good month at all but I am truly happy to have found this board and to know that I'm not alone. And am glad to hear that Neosporin is okay for behind the ears because I couldn't take the pulling at my ears last night and put some on them! My husband said that I shouldn't have done that and the I should check with the PS first. Well sometimes, good old common sense prevails so thank you for that suggestion, as well as all the others here. My favorite time of the day now is when I come home and fill the bathtub with hot water and lie in it with my head submerged and a wet washcloth over my neck!!

Hi wanabncanada,

I'm 4 mths post op now. My left cheek is still quite a bit fatter than the right. At 3 mths. my surgeon said it was OK to have a temporary filler on the right. I had 2 mls., a bit above the lump and the rest below it, in the dent- $1,100!!!! The lump then was 3/8" shorter than originally. The cosmetic dr. (in Australia) asked if I'd had a fat implant in my left cheek. No I hadn't. Swelling can last up to 6 mths, so I'm still hoping it will go down more. Filler filled in the dent some what, but the lump is still obvious. I needed double the amount of filler to match the left side. Half my cheek areas in front of my ears are hard and numb still. I'm pretty sure I'll have a life long expense of needing filler in the right cheek. I'm depressed everyday about it. I have replaced some saggy aged skin with a deformity. I email photo updates to my surgeon in Thailand. He says swelling is still going down and the lump will move down with gravity. But I know I won't ever have symmetrical cheeks. I regret doing this big time.

Massage, warm washcloths, and high dose bromelain didn't help the left side and I don't know why my right side is caved in. Maybe the fat died.

Very interested to hear you went to Bumrungrad. My surgeon was Dr Teerasit, also American Board certified. Who was yours? Before going to Thailand, I met 2 women who'd he'd performed face lifts on with great results.

I was lucky to have my partner with me. The nurses couldn't understand me either. I said twice I felt sick to the nurse in my room, got no response, so asked my partner to grab the bin for me to throw up in. I was told to keep cold ice packs on my face, but my requests thru the buzzer you talk into, were ignored. After my 2nd packs they wouldn't even answer me when I spoke, they just hung up. No, I wouldn't recommend the hospital. I lodged a complaint form, as advised by my surgeon and received an official apology from the PR manager. I often couldn't understand the staff and they couldn't understand me.

My pain wasn't bad. The best thing for scars is AHA (alpha hydroxidy acid) lotion to exfoliate and speed skin renewal, and treinoin cream (Retin A) to rebuild collagen. Apply seperately, don't layer them. Much better than vitamin E. Behind one ear and a section of scalp scar got infected, so follow ups at home are important if going overseas. I also had to have a huge scab behind one ear scraped away to prevent bad scarring, but didn't know this until a cosmetic dr. looked at it and told me. (I put paragraphs in my post, but see from previewing it, they get removed!)Good luck to all.

Hi Joan1, I don't know how to write a private message to you, but I had the same doctor you did. On the whole I was pleased and think he did a nice job - however my swelling got worse today - pain level about 7 out of 10. I finally found another plastic surgeon here in the U.S. that would tell me what he thought for $100.00. He told me my swelling wasn't normal. He also thought it wasn't infection, but some sort of allergic reaction. He said if I was his patient, he would perscribe an infusion of steroids and take me off all creams etc. So, I hunted down an infusion clinic and was desperate enough to get the steroid infusion. I had tried the oral steroids the previous week from my general practitioner doctor, and it seemed to help alittle bit.

My pain level is awful - I just lay on the recliner from noon until evening everyday as I don't feel well enough to do anything. I guess, if we do as Dr. Teerasit wishes, we will just wait another few months.....4 months sounds plenty, He says he is on vacation until the 12th of January, so I'm hoping he will have other suggestions for handling the pain....Advil, Aleve and sleeping pills are getting old and the otc medications aren't helping at all. I am at 7 weeks 1 day post op.

Hi Wanabncanada, At 7 weeks I'm wondering what allergic reation could it be? Teerasit told me the sutures take 3-6 mths. to dissolve.That's the only foreign stuff still in our body. The research I've done so far lists reaction or allergy(they're different) to sutures as redness, hives, pain, swelling. Reaction varies according to amount used and especially the knot volume, which affects inflammation. Got info from Dr T re f/l types used;-deep sutures for SMAS and Platysma of neck 3-0 PDS, deep under the skin 3-0 or 4-0 vicryl. Both are absorbable.Around ear 5-0 prolene. 3-0 & 4-0 are the sizes. The higher the size, the more reaction and longer to dissove. I can feel one in front of one ear and recently one above lump under cheek bone with redness.Read that this could be my body pushing them to the surface to reject them. I'm going back to my local cosmetic surgeon next week with more questions and to get advice.

I had lower face and neck surgery Nov 30th and developed a nasty hemotoma under my chin. Part of it went away and my Dr. says it will absorb but its been 2 months and it seems to have come to a standstill. He has said nothing about removing it or any options I have for dealing with it. The rest of my surgery was okay although I still have more wrinkles than I had planned on. This hemotoma thing is worrying me to death. Any suggestions about how to treat it.

Hi again Joan, thanks for your research information. Dr. T emailed me that the sutures should be dissolved by 3 months. I am 10 weeks now, so have 2 more weeks of this (supposedly). I do feel a couple of "knots" that have come up behind my ears, which I try to treat regularly with warm compresses, for pain and try rubbing them alittle bit. He advised to take pain medications and anti-inflammatory, so I am taking 3-4 of these daily to deal with the burning, tight swelling around eyes and cheeks and blood throbbing in ears every evening, along with a sleeping pill.



Before this, I never needed medications - hysterectomy and breast reduction were a piece of cake compared to this. I haven't even mentioned the scar around the ear or forehead - as I am hoping within the next year that the redness fades . I was turned down to be seen by another plastic surgeon since I had the p.s. done overseas. I am hoping to contact Dr. T. and get a local name of someone in two weeks if the pain and swelling haven't gone down. Surely I need to try another process that will heal this.

Hi all, had a full face lift, eyes, brow, neck, WOW, was not prepared for all that took place even though I did research, had it don in Costa Rica, still here, its been a week and feeling and looking better, did have a hemotoma on side of neck, scary, but much better now, hope it continues to get better, this is a great site, has answered many of my questions, am still puffy, tight and skin feels hard, put this is all normal, I just hope we all can believe what they tell us that by 6 ms or so all is back to normal, course they do not tell you all this before hand and I do take blame for not researching better, but so far its ok, only a week since surgery, what I want to know and hear from you is after 6 ms how are you, all better or still not, please let us know

Hi CRica, You've certainly had the lot, and looking better in a week, lucky you!! I'm 6 1/2 mths. post f/l and upper eyes. The sides of my face and behind my ears are STILL numb and with that tight feeling also. Tingling and itching are signs that the nerves are growing back, but I only occasionally feel that.

HEMATOMAS, SOME HELP
Thanks Joan, its now day 12 after and feel pretty good, but my concern is the Hematoma, its still there, better but there, I extended my stay here 5 more days to see, hoping the hematoma will go away, how long can we wait, I see where "dpg" has had a hematoma for 2 months, what are our options, maybe have to operate and clean the area, oh gad, I hope not, otherwise I feel good, some numbness and soreness of course, told it will take 2-3 months, good luck to all and thanks so much for all your insight, at least we know we are not alone

CRica

WOW Joan and Jay, was all this worth it, 12 days post op, feeling better, just my hematoma is worring me, got the f/l in Costa Rica and still here waiting for the hematoma to go away, had to delay my return back to US, how long can I go without further treatmeant on the hematoma, what is the worst that can happen, I am going to Dr tomorrow and of course will ask him, but are they always honest, whishing you all the best and so greatful for this site