Your Facelift Consultation
- Patients will present for their evaluation where they will meet Dr. Franco and his staff
- Dr. Franco and his staff to determine the best treatment will do a medical history and physical exam.
- The treatment options will be discussed with you that can help you achieve you aesthetic goals
- The risks and benefits of the surgery will also be discussed during your consultation.
- Then you will have an opportunity to talk about scheduling and fees with the patient care coordinator that will assist you throughout the process.
About Facelift Surgery
- Your surgery may be scheduled in a hospital or surgery center.
- Your surgeon will determine the type of anesthesia administered for your surgery.
- Incisions are placed along the hairline and behind the ear. Your surgeon will explain exact placement of the incisions, that can very slightly from patient-to-patient.
- The loose skin is raised and removed while the underlying tissues are tightened.
- Fat is typically placed in strategic areas to soften the face giving it a youthful and natural appearance.
- Your surgeon may recommend you spend one night in the hospital.
Facelift Recovery
Facelifts are an incredible procedure as it can turn back the hands of time. One of the most common questions I get is how long the recovery is for a facelift.
The easiest way to answer this question is to go through the process, as there are different levels of recovery and what a person can do after the surgery. First, I typically do my facelifts under general anesthesia so patients will need to go home with someone that can care for them the first night. All of the patients come back to the office the day after their surgery so that I can remove the face wrap that they left the surgery center with after their facelift.
After the first day patient will have a simple band placed that will help support the neck and minimize the swelling. This band can be removed for showering. All patients can shower the day after their surgery after I have seen them in the office.
The first week after surgery patients will need to relax and avoid any strenuous activity. I want patients to walk several times per day, but they need to avoid heaving lifting and strenuous activity, as these activities will increase their risk of issue after their surgery. The first week patients tend to be swollen and bruised through out the face and neck area.
After the first week patients can use cover-up makeup if they still have some residual bruising. They will also still have some sutures hidden the hair and behind the ear. The sutures on the face itself are typically removed prior to the one-week mark.
Typically by two weeks all of the bruising has resolved and the majority of the swelling has subsided. Patients are still healing but are doing very well at this point.
Patients need to be about six weeks out from surgery before they return to their normal work out routines or any strenuous activity. However they still need to be careful with sun exposure.
I hope this give you a little outline about the typical recovery course for face and neck lift with fat transfer. Please consult your board certified plastic surgeon to help guide you through the process.
How is a Facelift Different from a Mini-Facelift?
This is a great question as there are so many terms currently for facelifts and mini lifts. There are many plastic surgeons or marketing groups that attempt to coin the name of specific facelifts. These endless amounts of terms for a facelift can be confusing to patients when they are trying to determine what procedure is best for them.
In general a mini-facelift does not include any fat transfer, neck muscle plication and limited to no SMAS plication/elevation. Though what exactly is done depends from surgeon to surgeon.
The important factors when deciding what is the best lift for you, is evaluating the facelift results and making sure that the lift is helping you achieve the results that you desire.
Many patients like the idea of a mini-lift as they perceive that this is going to lead to less recovery or incisions, but often that is not true. The big difference between a mini-lift and full face and neck lift tends to be the work that is done internally. This internal work is what make the facelift last and adds to the natural appearance of the facelift as the lift is not solely based on pulling the skin as tight as possible.
Secondly the majority of my patients that comes in for a facelift want to improve the overall appearance of their neck. A neck plication is crucial in most patients to make a dramatic appearance in their neck and have those results last over time.
I hope this helps answer some of your questions. Please consult with your board certified plastic surgeon about your facelift.
