What to Expect After Facelift Surgery?

As you age, skincare products become less effective, and your skin starts to lose its volume and firmness. Lines and wrinkles, sagging skin, and drooping jowls can affect your confidence, but you can reclaim it with a facelift. This procedure restores your youthful features, turning back the clock to reveal a more vibrant version of yourself. In the hands of the surgeons at Specialty Aesthetic Surgery, a facelift can be a transformative procedure that changes how you feel about yourself.

What is Facelift Surgery or Rhytidectomy?

As your skin loses collagen and facial volume diminishes, gravity takes over, pulling loose skin toward your lower face and creating lines, wrinkles, and jowls. Facelift surgery (rhytidectomy) is a comprehensive procedure that tightens the skin and underlying supportive structures to restore a smoother, rejuvenated appearance. A facelift can be customized to your needs or performed with other procedures for maximum results.

How is Facelift Surgery Performed?

Your facelift is performed under general anesthesia and may take one to five hours. Each rhytidectomy is a unique procedure, with several variations available. During the procedure, your surgeon makes incisions around the ears and hidden in the hairline, then uses them to lift and tighten the skin. They will also reposition fat tissue from where it has sagged to its more youthful position. The size of the incisions and the amount of tightening required depends on how much loose skin you have and your other concerns.

What to Expect After Facelift Surgery

Facelift Recovery

You can usually return home after your facelift surgery, although you will need someone to drive you. It will also be beneficial if someone can assist you for the next 24 hours. You can expect to spend that time resting, after which you will be able to move around and do light activities with no lifting. You can expect some soreness and swelling, and your surgeon will prescribe pain medication to keep you comfortable.

You will receive full aftercare instructions, including how to care for your incisions and avoid disturbing your sutures. Swelling improves significantly after the first few weeks, and most people can return to work around that time. Strenuous exercises and lifting can typically resume after about six weeks, although you should always follow your surgical team’s directions.

Facelift Results

You will start to see your facelift results as the swelling fades after the first week or two. Your facelift surgery results will continue to evolve and improve for up to a year as residual swelling gradually resolves. People may notice how much more energetic and refreshed you look, and you will find that your confidence increases.

While rhytidectomy provides a lifetime of looking more youthful, your results will change over time. Collagen loss and other factors continue, so your skin will develop some degree of laxity over time. The best ways to maintain your results include quality skincare products, diligent sun protection, and in-office treatments.

Am I a Good Candidate for Facelift Surgery?

Aging happens at a different pace and in different ways for each of us, so whether a facelift is right for you depends on many factors. Candidates should be in good health, have reasonable expectations, and be prepared to take the necessary time off to recover. Candidates have moderate to severe signs of aging, such as sagging skin, drooping jowls, or deep wrinkles, and want to look more rejuvenated and youthful.

If your concerns focus on your cheeks, mid-face, and the area under your eyes, you may be a good candidate for a mid-face lift. This procedure contours the cheeks and jawline while improving the appearance of the undereye area. Your surgeon will customize your facelift to address all your areas of concern.

Those with less severe signs of aging may benefit from a mini facelift, which corrects skin laxity and early signs of aging with smaller incisions and a shorter recovery time than a standard facelift, giving many people the results they desire with a less invasive procedure.

Can I Have Other Procedures With a Facelift?

You can combine many other facial procedures with your facelift to achieve your desired results. A neck lift is often performed with a facelift to correct issues like drooping jowls, loose neck skin, fat under the chin, and separated neck bands. In many ways, a neck lift completes the results of a facelift by extending them to the neck, chin, and jaw.

A brow lift may be performed to address issues with the upper part of the face, such as sagging forehead skin, wrinkles, and drooping brows. Fat transfer is an excellent way to correct hollowness in areas such as under the eyes and restore a soft, youthful look. Other options include an eyelid lift (blepharoplasty) or non-surgical options such as chemical peels for skin rejuvenation.

Take the Next Step – Request a Consultation

Want to learn more about facelifts? Schedule your consultation online or by calling Specialty Aesthetic Surgery at (212) 737-8700. We look forward to working with you!

Specialty Aesthetic Surgery serves the greater NYC metro area.

About Our Surgeons

Bruce Moskowitz is an experienced and board-certified oculoplastic surgeon. His practice encompasses all areas of oculoplastic cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. He has a well-known reputation for revision surgery, and a large portion of his practice comes from other colleagues to revise sub-optimal outcomes.

Grigoriy Mashkevich is an experienced and double-board certified facial plastic surgeon. He belongs to a highly select group of surgeons with a focused specialization in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery of the nose, face, and neck.

Dr. Anna Frants is a board-certified facial plastic surgeon who is experienced in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. Her areas of expertise include surgery of the face, neck, nose, eyelids, eyebrows, and ears.

*Individual results may vary