Early Swelling Changes After Facelift (Day 3, 1 Week, 2 Weeks)

Hello,

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

Today, I’d like to talk about the “facelift swelling” that is one of the biggest concerns for people who are planning to have a facelift, neck lift, and double chin muscle tightening all at once.

Because the surgical area is so extensive, many people worry that the swelling will last a long time or interfere with daily life.

However, if you look closely at the changes by day, you can see that recovery may happen faster than expected.

The patient I’m introducing this time is a woman in her mid-50s, and because her marionette lines had become especially pronounced, she underwent a facelift, neck lift, triple double chin muscle tightening, endoscopic forehead lift,

and upper and lower eyelid surgery all at once.

It was a very large operation, but if you look at how much facelift swelling occurred,

when I checked the actual photos, days 2 to 3 were the worst,

and by day 7 and day 12, I could see that the swelling had gone down dramatically.

The reason I chose to show this case is this.

Usually, after I perform a facelift, I don’t often see bruising on the face,

but

this patient had some bruising around the mouth, and there was almost no bruising on the left side of the neck,

while the right side of the neck had quite a bit of bruising,

so I chose this case to make it easier to understand what severe bruising can look like.

First, here are the preoperative photos.

Because the patient did not want her eyes shown, I’ll cover the swelling related to the endoscopic forehead lift, upper eyelid surgery, and lower eyelid surgery in another post,

and in this post, I’ll focus on the swelling changes after the facelift and neck lift, including double chin tightening!

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Day 3 after surgery: “the period when facelift swelling is at its worst”

• Condition:

Usually, days 2 to 3 are when the face is most swollen.

The cheeks and neck area can swell a lot, and bruising may appear dark.

• Daily life:

At this stage, plenty of rest is best. Short, repeated cold compresses are helpful,

but if you keep them on for too long, circulation may decrease and become uncomfortable,

and because sensation is reduced, you should be careful about the risk of frostbite.

In fact, the patient was surprised when she looked in the mirror on day 3, but she said the pain was not as severe as expected, and it was mostly a pulling sensation. Many people with significant facelift swelling also report stiffness more than pain.

Also! I once saw a case where a patient had read on YouTube that it was good to walk a lot at this stage, so they walked around excessively, a tiny blood vessel burst, and they came in with a hematoma. A light procedure such as under-eye fat repositioning is fine, but after surgeries like a facelift, for at least the first 5 days, absolute rest and bed rest are best.

Day 7 after surgery: The point when acute swelling starts to go down

• Condition:

By day 7, acute swelling is reduced significantly.

Bruising around the face and neck often starts to fade from purplish to yellowish,

and removal of the under-chin sutures for double chin lifting is usually done around this time.

• Daily life:

After the stitches are removed, makeup can cover the bruising to some extent, so patients often say that simple social gatherings and office work are possible without difficulty.

This patient also looked at her day 7 photos and said the facelift swelling had gone down much more, and the neck line and jawline were starting to show gradually.

Day 12 after surgery: “The stage of becoming more natural”

• Condition:

After about 2 weeks, when looking from the front, the face settles enough that it is not very noticeable.

The marionette lines and the area around the jawline become more defined, and even if there is still a slight feeling of tightness, daily life is said to be largely unaffected.

And the bruising on the right side, which was still severe on day 7, can be seen almost disappearing in just 5 days.

• Daily life:

Light exercise and social activities are mostly fine. However, please still be careful with vigorous movements or keeping your head bent down for long periods.

Looking at the patient’s day 12 photos, I could see that the facelift swelling had gone down a lot, the facial features looked natural, and the line down to the neck was clean and smooth.

Comparison between before surgery and 12 days after surgery

Swelling management & precautions

1. Cold compresses / warm compresses:

It is best to use cold compresses until day 5,

and after that, warm compresses are helpful for promoting blood circulation.

However, after a facelift, numbness can occur,

which means you may not feel heat properly and could end up applying a warm compress that is too hot and getting burned,

so please be careful.

2. No smoking / no alcohol:

Avoid them for at least 4 weeks to help wounds heal faster.

3. Sleeping position:

Sleeping with your head elevated helps reduce facelift swelling.

4. Avoid strenuous exercise:

If you do intense exercise too soon, bruising and swelling may last longer, so please be careful.

In short, if you are hesitating to get a facelift because you are worried about swelling,

it is reasonable to think that day 3 is when the swelling is worst,

that it decreases significantly around day 7,

and that after 12 days you can return to daily life without much difficulty.

There may be slight differences depending on each person’s constitution and the extent of surgery, but swelling that lasts excessively long is uncommon.

This patient also worried before surgery about whether she would be able to manage daily life after such a major operation, but in reality, by around 2 weeks, she was able to handle most things without problems.

If you understand and prepare for the changes in swelling, I believe you can decide on surgery with much more peace of mind.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us anytime.

Thank you.

If you’d like to see other reviews, please refer to the post below.

https://blog.naver.com/youngkeeyoumd/223723195005

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Roy Plastic Surgery Clinic (3rd floor, Sinsa Station on Line 3)

Main phone: 02-516-5525

Weekdays 10:00 ~ 19:00

Saturday 10:00 ~ 16:00

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