Recovery Period After Facelift and Double Chin Muscle Tightening

Hello,

I’m Yoo Young-ki, the chief director of Roy Plastic Surgery Clinic.

Today, I’d like to show how early swelling and bruising appear after performing a facelift, double chin muscle tightening, lower blepharoplasty, and endoscopic forehead lift on one patient at the same time.

Before surgery, many people naturally worry, “Will my face swell too much or bruise so badly that it affects my daily life?” One of the reasons many people hesitate about surgery is because they want to know when they can return to everyday life.

For those of you, I’d like to introduce photos from before surgery, on postoperative day 7, and on postoperative day 14, along with the changes that occurred.

First, this patient was a woman in her late 50s, and she was very stressed because of various wrinkles.

In particular, she said she wanted to address the vertical wrinkles on her double chin, smile lines, eye-area wrinkles, and even forehead wrinkles all at once.

Of course, it is not easy to completely erase every wrinkle at once, but to comprehensively improve the double chin, sagging cheeks, and deep forehead wrinkles that were the main causes of an aged appearance, we decided to perform four procedures together.

• Facelift

• Neck lift (triple muscle tightening for the double chin)

• Lower blepharoplasty

• Endoscopic forehead lift

Preoperative condition

This patient usually disliked having her photo taken.

The most stressful feature was the noticeable double chin in the side view, and from the front, the area around the mouth sagged heavily, so the marionette lines (wrinkles on both sides of the mouth) were very prominent, and she often heard that her expression looked sad.

Whenever she looked at herself in the mirror, she was also bothered by the vertically lined double chin wrinkles and the outward-angled wrinkles around the mouth.

On top of that, there were wrinkles around the eyes and forehead when she smiled or frowned.

There was a lot that bothered her.. ^^;;

After consultation and examination, these were the factors I considered.

Double chin: There was a significant accumulation of fat beneath the jawline, and the neck muscle (platysma) had become lax, creating several lines that looked like vertical wrinkles.

Overall facial sagging: The cheeks and the skin around the mouth had lost elasticity and drooped downward, creating a more aged appearance.

Forehead wrinkles & eye-area wrinkles: As the eyebrows sagged downward, she kept using her forehead muscles, which deepened the forehead wrinkles and worsened the eye-area wrinkles as well.

Because of this, I judged that simply removing the double chin or doing thread lifting alone would not lead to a fundamental improvement.

So we performed a facelift and neck lift (double chin triple muscle tightening), lower blepharoplasty to improve under-eye sagging and bulging fat, and an endoscopic forehead lift to raise the drooping eyebrows back to a more youthful position, all at the same time.

Immediately after surgery ~ Day 7: The start of swelling and bruising

(1) Immediately after surgery

In general, surgeries with a wide dissection area, such as facelifts or double chin muscle tightening, can show significant swelling and bruising right after surgery.

Because a fairly broad area around the face and neck is handled, the patient may swell to the point of describing it as, “My face is so swollen it feels like a balloon.”

Swelling: It is usually most severe from the day of surgery through day 2, and then gradually decreases after that.

Bruising: Although it varies from person to person, in this patient the bruising appeared mainly behind the ears and along the neck line, so it looked quite dark when seen in the mirror.

Pain: Rather than severe pain, she described a pulling, stiff feeling, which is a common symptom after surgery with a broad operative area.

(2) After suture removal on day 7

Sutures for the lower blepharoplasty are usually removed around day 7. By around day 7, the acute swelling has decreased to some extent, and bruising also moves into a stage where it fades from purple to yellow.

According to the patient, when she looked in the mirror during the first 2–3 days, her face was so frighteningly swollen that she got scared, but by day 7, she laughed and said she looked much more like a person again ^^;;;

The bruising was still present, but it had faded enough to be partially covered with makeup, and she could also feel that the double chin area had become firmer than before.

Day 14: The point at which it gradually looks more natural

After about two weeks, when going out in public, people are less likely to say that it looks like you recently had surgery.

The worst of the bruising and swelling has passed, and most patients say that once they apply makeup, it is barely noticeable.

Of course, at this stage there is still some swelling, so the side of the cheeks can look quite uneven.

In this patient’s photos, the neck and jawline appear much clearer, and the cheek area shows a much improved sagging appearance.

The forehead was also lifted endoscopically, so the forehead wrinkles, along with the eye-area wrinkles, have clearly decreased.

However, she said she still felt a slight stiffness when making large facial expressions, which is one part of the normal recovery process.

Effect of the double chin triple muscle tightening: When she looked in the mirror, she was very happy because, unlike before, the vertical wrinkles that used to run along the jawline were now completely smoothed out.

This is because the lax neck muscle (platysma) was directly tightened. It was not simply tied only in the center under the chin; rather, it was also pulled laterally and fixed down to the periosteum beneath the ears.

Facelift effect: The sagging cheeks and wrinkles around the mouth improved noticeably, but I explained that the final result would be seen after another 1–2 months once everything fully settled.

Next is a comparison of before surgery and two weeks after surgery. If she returns in a few months, I may upload comparison photos from that time as well.

Surprisingly, the swelling and bruising are going down quickly! That is what many patients say. The fact that it hurts less than expected is an added bonus.

In this patient’s case, several procedures were performed at once, so the dissection area was wide, and swelling and bruising were expected to be significant.

If this had been a surgical method used several years ago, the swelling likely would not have gone down this quickly.

I have continuously studied how to minimize swelling and how to maximize the effect.

As a result of that ongoing research, my current surgical method has made major progress in minimizing swelling.

Even in deep plane surgery, detailed techniques are important. The layer in which the dissection is performed is very important as well. How the SMAS layer is approached in the deep plane is also critical. Especially at the end of surgery, leaving no dead space is a very important factor in minimizing swelling, and I carefully consider how to pull and position the tissues so that no empty space remains. As I keep examining every detail, not only does the swelling improve, but I also feel much more confident about the surgical effect than ever before, and I look forward to the postoperative results as well.

This patient also recovered quickly, so by day 7 people around her were already saying she looked much younger, and by day 14 her close acquaintances were saying she looked truly more youthful and that her facial line had become beautiful, without even mentioning the swelling.

Of course, not everyone recovers in exactly the same way, but if an experienced specialist performs the surgery with care, and the patient follows the postoperative care instructions well, satisfying results can certainly be achieved.

I will continue sharing diverse and honest stories from each surgical case, so if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us anytime.

Thank you.

If you want to see a case of a revision surgery performed at our clinic after dissatisfaction following a facelift at another hospital, please check the link below :)

https://blog.naver.com/youngkeeyoumd/223726144805

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Roy Plastic Surgery Clinic (Exit 3 of Sinsa Station, Line 3) Main phone: 02-516-5525

Weekdays 10:00 ~ 19:00 Saturdays 10:00 ~ 16:00

Roy Plastic Surgery Clinic complies with the Medical Service Act. The photos in this post were taken under identical conditions, and are images taken with the patient’s prior consent. In addition, after plastic surgery or procedures, side effects such as bleeding, infection, and inflammation may occur depending on the individual, so caution is required.