1. The often quoted 2 week recovery time for a mini-lift and 6 weeks for a full facelift is pure fiction. What surgeons mean when they say “recovery” is that you will look OK in that time frame BUT there’s NO WAY you will feel anywhere near normal in 2-6 weeks. Full recovery time takes at least 1 full year, and, in many cases, longer.
2. Nerve damage is far more common than plastic surgeons let on. 7% of all facelift patients suffer temporary or permanent damage to the Greater Auricular Nerve during surgery. (Source: emedicine.medscape.com/article/843613-overview)
3. As I’ve been told by a couple of surgeons and ENTs post-surgery, numbness around the ears and cheeks rarely resolves 100%. Most people are lucky if they get back 80% of sensation in those areas. (Most ps will tell you that 99% of people will get back 100% of sensation—this seems to be an outright lie.)
4. If you do have nerve damage or other trouble after facelift, good luck trying to get any relief from the medical profession. Many doctors have very little sympathy or patience with people who “asked for trouble” by having unnecessary, elective surgery. (Nobody will come out & say that, of course, but their attitude will be abundantly clear.)
5. There are NO quick fixes if you do have trouble with extreme tightness, nerve damage or other uncomfortable sensations. The standard advice for these issues is to massage. Well, unfortunately, at least for me, professional neuromuscular massage for an extended period did zero, zip, nada in helping symptoms. I’ve also tried acupuncture, ultrasound and various medications all with limited to no benefit.
6. If you don’t have good health insurance or are on a limited budget, forget about elective surgery. I do have good insurance and I still spent thousands of dollars post-surgery on co-pays and non-covered treatments trying to find solutions (see point # 5)
7. Even if you don’t have serious nerve or other damage, you will almost always have tightness and strange, disturbing sensations around neck & face for a very long time.
8. After spending thousands of dollars and enduring many months of discomfort, there are no guarantees that you will like the final result. If you are lucky enough to have a conscientious ps, he will do minor revisions for free, if not, you’re on your own.
9. There’s a very good chance you will never feel completely normal again. Sensation around ears is very often permanently altered. (Again I found this out from various doctors post-surgery.) If you’re lucky, you’ll get used to the new sensations and they will become the “new normal”; if not, well, too bad, you’ll just have to live with it.
10. Having the best surgeon in the world won’t guarantee you’ll have a good outcome. Unpredictable results like unexplained chronic pain can happen from any surgery. I’m starting this forum in hopes that someone contemplating surgery will get the true picture of the seriousness of this irreversible decision.
Plastic surgeons have a vested interest in minimizing risks and recovery times. Yes, they’re doctors but they are also business people who want to sell you procedures. And before anyone accuses me of painting too negative a picture, let me say that MANY if not most, facelift patients are happy with both their results and recovery. It’s a crap shoot and you very well may be one of the lucky ones.