How long does it take to recover from a facelift?

6 weeks: While everyone recovers differently and scars can take up to 18 months to mature, most people will recover from facelift (where swelling and bruising subsides) in about 6 weeks or so.

Depends on type: For a mini facelift ( weekend lift, lifestyle lift) the recovery is 3-5 days. For a deep facelift the recovery is 2-3 weeks. At present, most people opt for mini facelift with natural look an quick recovery.

About 2 weeks: Most bruising and swelling gone by then.

4-7 Days Average: With use of facelifts assisted by lipocontouring of jowl and neck areas, coupled with use of you own concentrated platelets permit more limited open surgery, and more rapid repair of the surgical insult. Less swelling, bruising, discomfort levels results in much shorter recuperation than in years past. Standard and limited lifts fit in this category. More extensive cases increase recuperation.

1 week back to work: 3-7 days will get most people back to work, depending on your tolerance for swelling and bruising. Bruising may take 2 weeks to resolve, but is easily covered by makeup at a week, if not before. At 1 week, although the benefits of surgery are obvious, there is still some healing which will continue for a few weeks afterwards. Pain should not be a major concern after a routine facelift.

About 1 Week: Most will notice a 2-3 day period of swelling and possible bruising. This is usually gone to the point where most observers would not see the "obvious" signs of having had surgery. Pain is mild and usually patients can take plain tylenol (acetaminophen) by the 2nd or 3rd day. Many md's will recommend that you wear a "wrap" garment for several days after the procedure. Most of my patients are back to work at 1 wk.

Facellift recovery: Facelifts alone heal quite quickly. It is more teh associated procedures such as eyelid lift (blepahorplasty), fat injections, laser peels, etc that actually prolong the recover or make it more obvious. Most sutures, if used, are removed by 7-10 days. Activity may be limited for 3 weeks.

Improves over time: The first two weeks things feel tight and swollen. By 3 weeks 75% of swelling is gone and by 3 moths 85-90% tends to resolve. You look the best at 6-12months after.

Age dependent: The recovery period depends on the extent of surgery and the age of the patient. Younger patients (<50 ) having a maintenance type facelift usually recover nicely within 10 to 14 days. More complicated facelift operations that include fat injections, implants, eyelid surgery or brow lift will take longer (2-3 weeks) to heal, especially in older patients. It may take 4-6 weeks to feel yourself.

Variable: Most patients return to normal activity within 2 weeks, but swelling and bruising can remain for 4 weeks.

One week +: The initial recovery period is one week. At that time sutures are removed, swelling will have started to go down and the skin will be far along toward healing after laser skin resurfacing. By two weeks nearly everyone should feel comfortable being out and about though some will need to camouflage areas with bruising or new pink-red skin. Give yourself 2 - 4 wks t0 recover before important events.

1-2 weeks: In a 34 year old, recovery from a facelift should only be 1-2 weeks. If you select additional procedures such as laser resurfacing, it may take a little longer.

Facelift recovery: It can take at least a week to be sociable as the bruising and swelling subside. Residual swelling cam take a few more weeks after that. The experience is variable between patients

Facelift recovery: I tell my patients that there are three phases: the first can last 2-4 weeks where the incisions are visible and swelling can be hard to deal with - second phase can be from 4 - 12 weeks where the incisions fade and the swelling subsides and then 6 - 12 months after surgery where the final result should be more obvious. It all depends on multiple variables.

Worth it!: Depends on the type of lift and your age. Mini lifts such as limited dissection procedures can have most patients back to work within two weeks. More extensive procedures involving SMAS dissection with neck work take 2-4 weeks before going back to work. All procedures have healing times for structures skin deep which take 6-8 months for full healing. Our patients feel the recovery worth it!!

About: one week to return to work about 2 for all swelling and bruises to dissappear and 4-6 weeks for moderate exercising.

Days to weeks: It depends on the facelift technique, and how well you heal recover. Typically nearly all patients feel pretty good by 1 week although they have some neck/face tightness and possibly bruising as well as swelling still. Sutures are in for 1-2 weeks, and by 2-3 weeks patients feel pretty good and ready to return to normal activity.

Three to six weeks: first week you will be swollen and may be bruised. Second week the swelling will start to go down and most patient return to a non strenuous job. By six weeks you are back to full exercising. Numbness will take months to improve. If you have aphysical job, take three weeks off.

10-14 days: The usual recovery period for a patient is 10-14 days. It also depends on the pain threshold of that patient. Patients that have a high pain tolerance will be able to recover and do their normal activities faster than a person with low pain tolerance. Be realistic with your pain tolerance and you will decrease your frustration. Hope this helps.