facelift recovery

Hi Wanabncanada,
Months ago I asked Dr Teerasit what type of f/l I had and if it was a Deep Plane (I presume you've had the same as me). He said it's a plication of the SMAS, lifted up without separation from the deep muscle and sutured to the tissue under the cheek bone as popularised by Dr. Daniel Baker New York New York (world leader in face lift surgery). It was not a Deep Plane, where the SMAS is lifted from the deep tissue.
As for Celebrex, it's been taken off the market in Australia, and i thought worldwide. It has caused heart attacks and strokes. My father had a massive disabling stroke while on it and my uncle, who was also on it, had a mild one.
One of my ears now sticks out nearly 1/4" more than the other. If I wore earings (I don't anymore) they would hang differently. Another problem!
Less extensive facelifts, like the S lift, aren't as good and don't last as long. A local surgeon here said he doesn't do work high on the mid face like mine was, in order to avoid complications, like the smile being effected. I'm wondering if the US surgeon you saw, who refered to your lift as old school, is actually meaning it's just more extensive to what he would do. I may be wrong here, just a thought.
You're SO lucky you don't have to work with horrible pain and swelling!

Hi again Joan,
The doctor said I had a SMAS Plication deep to the muscle. Probably the same as you. The doctor here meant that people don't have that type anymore - they make small incisions instead of cutting across the upper forehead. He said the lower half of my face looked well done, but said that my eyebrows, at best, would look as they did before.

I am glad you told me of the Celebrex - perhaps Dr. Teerasit WANTS me to go away via heart attack, so he doesn't get my questioning emails? I didn't take the celebrex since hearing from you and the advil seems to be working the same - without all the health warnings associated with it.


Why didn't he say 6 to 12 months healing time? Perhaps it is because everyone is different, or perhaps he screws up occasionally, causing additional swelling? I don't know. Perhaps this type of face lift DOES last longer, because considering the healing time is one year - I would NEVER get it done again....so maybe that is why people who have this type of deep face lift don't ever get them again for that reason! haha

On those little bumps behind the ears, I am rubbing them occasionally in hopes they will go away. That should make my one ear sit the way the other one does. I hope to hear that you keep improving. Best Regards.

Hi I am in my 5th week post opt from face lift and neck lift. Pain behind my ears and neck is still unbelievable. Plastic surgeon said it will get better. I have been reading that some people have this feeling over a year. Also I have a couple of lumps on my right cheek the doctor gave me a few injections but they have not seem to work. Has anybody gone through this?
Thanks so much for any information

Debbie :(Code:

Hi Debbie,

I am so sorry you are in pain. I know you must be miserable to be reaching out and looking for any information to ease your pain. Unfortunately I can not tell you anything about lumps or injections. If you read all our posts, you can see there is alot of pain and disillusion out there! I am at 14 weeks right now and am amazed at the EXTREMELY slow healing process and pain. I rub the bumps behind my ears and had my husband look where I couldn't see. A couple of the times he looked, it was red and inflamed and really hurt. I put neosporin antibiotic ointment on my fingertip and rubbed the areas he told me that looked "infected". In a few days, those areas felt alot better. You didn't mention swelling - that is what has been my pain source on my face. I was under the idea that after a face lift, you look REFRESHED. I was willing to give it two or three months - but this is ridiculous. Well, the swelling gives me the appearance of bags under my eyes, which doesn't look very good! I tried steroid pills, around 5 weeks and that helped the swelling alittle bit and gave me relief around my ears. After that I tried a steroid injection and it didn't seem to help at all. I have quit looking at this whole procedure as a way of "refreshing and enhancing" my appearance - and am now just considering it on the same level as a car wreck hit my face! With all the deep surgery, I am learning to accept this might be a year's process. I have done the heat pads, the cold packs....and now I am back to using the cold packs at night so I can sleep on my side. The cold pack against my ear seems to offer me nighttime relief. I would never do this again, and if anyone is reading this who hasn't had a face lift yet - I strongly recommend you use someone with a good reputation and can show you photos. Do alot of research into the types of facelifts there are, (how deep etc. they go), and also have it done where you can get follow-up care. I had mine overseas and had to search for a plastic surgeon to look at me who was WILLING. And even though he was willing to give me his opinion, he wanted me to return to have more done after this one heals - NO WAY!!! :'(

I am a healthy 57 year old at post op day 3 of a mini facelift and neck lift. I used a really good plastic surgeon who has done other work on me. I was told during consultation that i would be back at work in a week. Well, there is no way that all this swelling will be gone in a week. Probably more like months. I am very upset as my son is getting married in two months. I thought that would give me plenty of time to be completely healed. Right now, my once dainty ears look like Mickey Mouse and my cheeks look like chipmunks. I have only 12 days off from work and I have read all of these posts and now I am seriously worried.

Hi Guest 57 year old healthy one! Perhaps since yours was a mini face lift it will be faster than what I am going thru. Mine was very deep, including a brow lift and eyes. I hope so - I cannot imagine that your swelling will be gone in a week! But perhaps in two months....I hope so, for the wedding plans. Good luck!

Try not to worry too much. I went back to work after 12 days and most of the swelling was gone but I had a HUGE bruise on my cheek and jaw. I ended up making up a story about being hit by a raquet while playing raquetball. Lame, but.......

I had a lower face lift and neck lift on 1 November. I still have some numbness and swelling but I have seen improvements. If they did lipo anywhere on your face, it will take a while to heal. You really should be looking pretty good by the wedding though.

Good luck. I was super worried, but once i found this website, I realized that what I was experiencing was the "norm".

Hi wanabncanada,
That was very funny you saying maybe Teerasit wants you to go away via a heart attack. So it's the forhead lift that is old school. One with only small incisions sounds like a key hole forehead lift. A p.surgeon's consultant in Australia told me they're not very successful. I wanted a forehead lift, but not across the top of the head, which makes the hairline higher. Teerasit showed me the type with an incision just inside the forehead hairline, that wouldn't raise my hairline (which is high anyway), but I would have to wear a fringe all the time. In hot humid summers I need my hair off my face so didn't want that. Where was/is the incision for your forehead lift you had? And it made no difference ?!!!

Hi Ladies..I wanted to update on my progress. I had a smas facelift, necklift with lipo and eyelid surgery in the beginning of October 2010. Unfortunately, it doesn't take two weeks to heal...far from it!

Cancelled a concert at five weeks (i looked like an alien and couldn't eat anything because of the pain from the lipo under the neck) and cancelled thanksgiving. I was torn about why i did this, cried, got mad..after all it was my face!

And then one day, it wasn't painful anymore and was bearable.. however I felt self conscience. I couldn't turn my head normally at Christmas, my eyes were still oversized and one drooped. I had jowls under my neck that were pretty noticeable up until the middle of February.

By the beginning of February, the jowls had gone down a lot, the eyes looked better and the drooping was going away. People that saw me in the December said..you look normal now..AND the most important thing is..I LOOK GREAT compared to my before picture. Very happy with the results! I still have slight jowls, tightness, numbness in one ear, numbness on the sides of my face..but the feelings are slowly (and I mean SLOWLY), coming back. I was told by my PS it takes up to 6 months for healing but totally ONE YEAR.

Learned a lot about myself through this process. You need to be gentle with yourself, go with the flow, not get mad at your surgeon and blame him. You need to wait and until your body heals itself. I wanted to believe in the two week healing too, but its not true at all. I just kept saying to myself..well the worst is behind me and let go. I read forums and that helped me as I didn't know anyone that had this procedure.

I am so happy with the results now after five months! So hang in there! It does get better with time.

Hi Joan and Pumpkin,
Joan - There was quite a bit of discussion initially with the p.s. about how my forehead lift would be done (in the scalp, amidst my hair or on my hairline). I knew from previous pre-skin-cancer bump removals on my face that my face would heal. I have been lucky that none of the dermotology work have left any scars and gave me the confidence to accept the cut across the forehead hair line. Now here is the good news: the scar across my forehead and down past my ears (which was red initially) has started to fade.(or, perhaps I am getting more used to it?? haha) Little hairs are starting to grow(at week 15) where the scar is on my forehead line! Although it is extremely hot and humid here in Houston - I rarely wear my hair pulled completely back, fringe always made my forehead look better anyway. That is interesting about the forehead lift being not as long lasting with the smaller incisions. Throughout this whole experience I have learned alot Pumpkin - two ways of looking at things, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, and swelling takes FOREVER to recede! Also, the little lines above my lips under my nose are being accentuated due to my swollen cheeks! If I push down on my swollen cheek, the lines above my upper lip go away! The plastic surgeon I went to here for reassurance and follow-up suggested botox - I am not going to consider that as botox makes me nervous and it is so temporary. What you have said about it also Joan, makes me wary of it also. Looking at this whole facelift experience as "car wreck healing" - makes one year alittle bit acceptable for healing. I know that at 15 weeks now, I can exercise finally on my elliptical, I can bend over, I can vacuum stairs and don't need frequent afternoon rests. I am still sore at the end of the day, look forward to an ice pack occasionally on the back of my ears, but it IS getting better.(on the upside of that, ice packs help with hot flashes also! haha) I wouldn't recommend a deep face lift like this to anyone who doesn't know they will be swollen and in pain for a very long time. Never again!!!! If anyone says I could use face work, I will tell them to accept me as I am, or cover their eyes! :-)

I had a facelift, necklift and lower lid bleph Jan 31.  I had some lines around my mouth but actually looked younger than my age.  I was advised against repeated filler sessions and told that the best solution was the whole magilla!  I figured at 60, I might as well do it.  I never expected the recovery to be so physically and emotionally traumatic!  It's almost three months later and I have a lot of discoloration under my eyes, high on my cheekbones.  I was very bruised, but they did not change color and fade like normal bruises, they turned into a brown sunburnish looking condition which I can barely cover with makeup.  Has anyone ever experienced such prolonged discoloration?  I had read that the bruising was the first symptom to go.  The facelift swelling comes and goes and I still have some lumpiness (which no one seems to have noticed).  I am not in real pain, but always aware of the wierd feelings in my face and neck.   Bottom line is, I don't feel like me anymore and I think I was prettier and softer looking before the procedure.  My energy is much lower too.   I'm trying so hard not to get really depressed but I have nighmares and panic attacks over this.  I'm very self conscious and I have a big vacation coming up.  I surely thought I'd be in pretty good shape by three months.   The posts I have read are helping me to be more optimistic and also more realistic in my attitude, especially the "car wreck" analogy.  This is so much more than I bargained for but I sure hope in the end I will be happy with the results.  Thanks people for your honesty and encouragement to one another.

This is a bit late, almost a year later.  But if any one would like to inform about your status now, I would greatly appreciate it.  I had a face and neck lift 5 weeks ago and had a complication: a hematoma on my left side.  The bruising is getting better, although I am still kind of green-yellowish.  But the swelling is what I am most concern about.  My face and neck are huge and with no definition whatsoever.  I had a nice bone structure, but now, I cannot even see my jawline.  Two nights ago, I removed two of the 5 pillows I use to sleep; that was a huge mistake, it was like taking 20 steps backwards in my recovery.  My ears are uneven, and y even have like a little lump by my temple.  the sides of my face are really hard, and it is just like one huge flat area between my cheeks and ears, no divivsion between the two if you know what I mean.  How long does it really take to be completely normal?  I have to go back to work soon, but wouldn't dare to go looking this.  Please let me know you are all looking beautiful, I'm afraid this man may have done something irreversible.

It has been eight months since I had a full face lift, forehead and eye lift.  I had heard that everything would be better at one month, two months, three months and then six months...Well, it is a FULL EIGHT MONTHS for me to have the swelling in my cheeks look normal.  Today, I was at a store and glanced up at a mirror and I still felt that I was swollen around the cheeks.  I still like using an ice pack behind my ears when I sleep on my side.  I still have bumps, lumps behind my ears, although you can't see them.  My hair covers up my forehead scar by about 75%.  I would say that wrinkle wise, I look somewhat better.  HOWEVER, the eye lift did not help, it is still droopy - however that is better than if the doctor overdid it and I ended up looking surprised, or worse unable to close my eyes.  It was NOT worth it, because gravity wil happen again.  I honestly think I looked more "real" before the lift and I will NEVER get anything done to my face again.  After all I've been through, the swelling was the worst.  The next bad thing was the evasiveness of the real actual recovery time involved.   

OMG, don't tell me that. wanabncanada, 8 months!!!  I even have a bruise under my left eye, and I did not do anything to my eyes.  he worked only on the lower area of my face and neck.  That I could cover with make-up, well maybe, but the swelling!!!  I look like Shrek.  I was hoping to hear that after 2 or 3 months on of these ladies, or gentlemen, looked like themselves but improved.  I'm 46, and now I look 10 years older.  Anyway, thank you for responding, I do hope you don't have to deal with this for much longer. Good Luck!

Ipaquian, you just gave e a great idea, I mean , the excuse you came up with: :being hit with a raquetball".  I've been laughing non stop.  I needed that, although it still hurts to laugh  XD  But I was trying to com up with something believable if 3 weeks from now, I 'm still looking like I look now. Thank you!