Facelift Recovery

The First Days After Your Surgery

After your facelift - The first few days of your recovery

After your facelift, the surgery facility staff will monitor you. When you have sufficiently recovered from your anesthesia, you will be discharged. Remember, you will need a ride home.

What to expect in the initial days after your facelift

For most facelift patients, there is usually some discomfort after surgery, but it is not significant. Your plastic surgeon will have prescribed a medicine to help you deal with the pain. When you pick up your pain medication at the pharmacy, be certain to read about side effects and adverse reactions. If, after taking your pain medication, you notice anything that would indicate an allergic reaction, call your doctor immediately. A different type of medicine can be prescribed.

You may be advised to keep your head elevated for a few days after surgery. This is to help keep the amount of swelling down.

You will probably find that it is more comfortable to minimize the amount of moving around that you do for the first few days.

A certain amount of numbness is normal as you heal. Feeling generally begins to return within a few weeks and the numbess is usually completely gone after several months.

Things to watch for after your facelift - Possible complications

There are some signs of potential complications that you should be alert to. If you notice any of these conditions, call your doctor immediately.

Sudden appearance of new swelling. You'll have some swelling, which is normal. What you're looking for is the sudden onset of swelling.
Severe or persistent pain.
Fever of 100 degrees or higher may be indicative of an infection.
Popped stitches.
Abnormal discharge from the incision site (milky or pus-like in appearance.)

Facelift post-operative follow-up care

Your plastic surgeon will probably want to see you several times in the first few weeks after surgery. Some of the appointments will be to remove drains (if used), sutures, stitches, or clips. Others will be to assess your progress and check on your healing. If you will need a ride to your appointments, make sure you have your driver's schedule handy when you set up the appointments with your doctor.

We will go into more detail on the facelift post-op routine and your recovery in subsequent pages, but first we want to share some tips on setting up a recovery area so that you can recuperate from your facelift in relative comfort.