Recovery Facelift
How long does it take to recover from a facelift?
A facelift and/or neck lift has a variable recovery period depending on several factors. First of all, it is important to avoid blood thinners and herbal medications. In addition, a strict regimen of icing postoperatively is vital. Finally, for facelift surgery, Dr. Shah advocates close blood pressure monitoring for patients with a history of hypertension or who have high blood pressure pre surgery. By controlling these elements, patients will have less swelling and bruising.
Dr. Shah's technique lends itself to less bruising and swelling as well. First of all, Dr. Shah dissects in an avascular embryolgic glide plane. This is important for several factors, including creating a natural look, but also lifts the facial tissue in a bloodless plane, limiting bruising and swelling. In addition, Dr. Shah has performed many facelifts. One of the benefits of this is that Dr. Shah can perform a procedure much more rapidly and effectively than a less experienced colleague. The average facelift procedure takes a surgeon between three and half to five hours. Dr. Shah takes anywhere between one hour to two hours depending on the severity of the neck. Most surgeons performing these longer lifts perform what is known as a Basic Lift, which is a simple SMAS imbrication or SMAS plication. Dr. Shah has used a variety of lifts and finds that CPMS, a variant of deep plane facelifting, provides the best aesthetic results for his patients. This lift consists of sliding deeper tissues posteriorly, addressing neck fat and platysmal laxity, and meticulous closure of the incision.
Most patients with a facelift from Dr. Shah feel comfortable to return to the public eye between 5 days to 12 days. There are some patients who require more significant time. The rate limiting steps are bruising along the neck and swelling along the face. If there is bruising along the neck, Dr. Shah works with a variety of makeup artists to help camoflauge and allow an early return to public.
