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How long before complete facelift/necklift recovery?

By springup on 14 Jul 2011

I'm almost six months into recovery from facelift, necklift and lower bleph.  There are so many issues I never expected to experience.    I still have tightness around the neck and behind the ears and two swollen glands in my neck.  I wake up every day hoping to feel different but I'm aware of the discomfort all day.    My jowl line is higher than it was and I have a sort of ridge above my jaw that  sometimes seems to relax and drop but then raises up again as the tightness returns.    In low light I look worse than in sunlight .  I can see shadows and lines and hardness that actually make me look older than I did before.  I have dark stains on my cheekbones under my eyes which is taking a very long time to fade.  My scars are still visible at my hairline and I have a raised one on the corner of my eye.  My husband is not at all happy with my results, but no one else has seemed to notice a change, or maybe just haven't said anything because  I camouflage with makeup.   I was a very young looking 59.   All I initially wanted was some filler in my marionette lines, but I wound up getting all of this done.  Now I have scars, lumps, uneven skin tone and discomfort.   My confidence is not what it used to be and I also feel really foolish and guilty for having chosen to do this to myself.  I get so discouraged when I read about short recovery time and wonderful results after a few months.  Actually,  I seem to look a tiny bit better and more like me this month, but I still look  'strange" to myself and not what I had hoped for.  Realistically, when should everything loosen up, scars fade and see full results.  Has anyone else had a rough recovery? 

Comments (409)

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bfillmore 22 Jul 2011
This is such a good forum you've found to use. Too late to help you find a better surgeon in the first place, but, if you really use the site, you will probably find some good answers to your issues and even the names of Drs. in your area who might be able to help you make repairs.
By 6 months, you should be looking and feeling much better than you seem to be. It really did take me a full year to be 100%, but by six months, no one but me was aware of anything and I had only v. minor complaints myself.
Good luck; I'm sorry for your rotten experience.
springup 29 Jul 2011
I thank you for your reply and good wishes. I am going to have light laser on the scars and IPL treatments on the discoration after the summer, if the hollows near my chin are still evident I may use filler, but I hope that situation resolves itself. Right now the thought of more facial surgery freaks me out. I wish I had found this site before my surgery, but I did not research this extremely important decison. I think my surgeon was good, but I did not need to do everything he suggested and should have gotten second and third opinions. I am thin with very small bones and thin skin with low muscle mass and apparantly a slow healer. This is not a decison to make lightly!
Forlorn 7 Sep 2011
I am in day 10 of an upper eye bleph and neck smart lipo and it has been one heck of a time. I am up nites in pain. My neck is burning all the time and feels like it is burned inside. My eyes are tight and dry and vision is still blurry. I am hoping that recovery happens. This was supposed to be quick; the businesswoman's answer to her prayers. It has been a nitemare and I would not recommend this surgery to anyone at this point. I was pretty before and think I may have made one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I can't even look in the mirror after ten days. My skin is black purple and the ridges in my neck are grossly thick. Does this really get better or are these bad signs?
sashab 26 Jul 2011
I'm 59 and tomorrow I'll be a month out from my surgery. I had a deep facelift, lower eyelift, necklift and forehead lift. I did it all at once because I knew I'd never be able to afford having half done and then the other half done, I needed to do it all at once. My doctor gave me a "decent" price and I went for it.

I've been stunned at how hard the recovery is. I spent thee or four of the most miserable days of my life. Having the three drains out hurt like heck (the PA called it a "weird" feeling. Weird my ankle!) The undereye stitches were a nightmare coming out. The stitches in my head weren't too bad, they were metal.

I've had no success covering my bruises up enough to go out without them showing, I just look like I've covered up my bruises. After three weeks I gave up and started going out a bit.

I still have the dark stains on my cheekbones mentioned above. Of course, its only been a month for me and they are slowly getting better.

Its only today that I can see myself at all in my face. First I looked like a pumpkin with a completely round head, then I looked like an alien, now I'm stuck in elf. I'm pretty tiny, so I'm hoping "elf" passes soon or someone will stick me in their garden with their petunias.

I must not have read in the right places, because this recovery has been a long, hard slog and I'm just getting started. Don't do this unless you REALLY want to do it.
springup 29 Jul 2011
Sashab, I looked like I had been hit by a car immediately after surgery and I also found it near impossible to cover the bruises. The swelling also took a long time to recede. I must have spent a fortune on coverup makeup. I didn't go anywhere without sunglasses for quite a while. All of the really hideous stuff does pass with time and you will begin to feel more and more like yourself each month. When your healing is really kicking in, you will certainly feel like you look stranger than you actually do. The tight swollen feeling you will experience from time to time is not really evident to anyone else. I think having facial surgery is much more psychologically and emotionally traumatic than we are told and it has nothing to do with unrealistic expectations. At six months I am just getting over the panic and anxiety and I am now feeling a bit more optimistic. I wish you well in your recovery and as it seems that you are having a hard time as I did, please feel free to talk to me about your experiences as I am further along. I suggest getting a subscription to makemeheal.com's "facelift and necklift world", For a very small fee it has a wealth of information and truthful encouragement.
sashab 30 Jul 2011
Thanks, that's great information.
Forlorn 7 Sep 2011
I could not agree more. But we should all be told of the possible results...all the hype is that all will be well in 48 hours and you can go back to work. My foot..I may lose my job over this. I can't even see correctly yet to drive. I would like to hear from some that had all these issues and all finally worked out. I need some encouragement please!
bfillmore 27 Jul 2011
I agree. This is like childbirth.....you'd never do it if the women you talk with were truthful with you about the pain involved.

The first few days are miserable and scary. Stitch removal is painful and, for a while, you do look like you were hit by a truck.

I'm sorry to hear that this hasn't improved any since I had my major lift many years ago. I want another one, but it's like that second child.........
springup 29 Jul 2011
Did you find that massaging your face and neck helped everything loosen up a bit and fall into place?
sashab 30 Jul 2011
I'm pretty sure one is going to do me for life!
sashab 30 Jul 2011
spring up - I do find that massaging my face and neck help. It does seem to make a difference. I don't know if its coincidental with the healing, but since I started it, I don't feel as strapped down.
springup 30 Jul 2011
I bought an oil called Bio-Oil. I found it sort of by accident in the drug store. It feels great on the neck when you massage it in and smells nice. I massage morning and night and sometimes in-between. I feel like Kobe Beef! I do think it is helping a bit. I seem to have developed little dents and slight discoloration here and there around the edges of my cheeks. It could be from the stitches still disolving and the underlying tissue healing. I still just feel sort of beat up. My daughters say it's not as bad as I think. Speaking of daughters, after seeing my journey, I think I've pretty much turned them off on any facial surgery in the future! As I'm typing this, the tight band feeling is occurring under my chin and around my neck. Yuk.
springup 30 Jul 2011
Maybe one day they really will have a procedure that's less invasive with fast healing time, until then, I'm also through with surgery.
Forlorn 7 Sep 2011
I am ten days in and can't even feel my face except for pain. The doc said to message it but I can't even touch it it hurts so much. It feels like sparks are flying in my neck all the time.
sashab 31 Jul 2011
Springup - I've got the tight band feeling from the bottom of my ears to the top of my head today, lol! I've turned a few people off having this big a surgery, too, they don't ever want to go through the recovery from this.

Perhaps in a year we'll look back on this and be happy as heck we did it. I was hoping at 3 months most of this would be done, but I see you are at 6 months.

I do love the way my neck looks. I can tell my right eye is going to have a red vein cluster from the bruising and I doubt I'll feel like having laser on top of surgery, so I bought some dermablend concealer today and that will have to do.

Best of luck!
springup 2 Aug 2011
I'm so glad that you are happy with the results on your neck. This is a good sign because you know there is improvement. Don't get discouraged because you may heal faster than I did. Everyone is different. I can tell you have a good sense of humor. We really need that, so keep it up. Some days I feel like I look a bit better. I backslide on other days. I think the neck lift was not necessary, nor was the undereye bleph. I was never unhappy with either eyes or neck, just the lower face. I do hope to be happy I did so much at once by next year (because I'll stil be paying for it!).
Forlorn 7 Sep 2011
haha and to think we all paid for this torture! Lets hope it pays off in time for all. I am too early to tell at ten days in but I look like something out of a Frankenstein Football player movie..big fat banded black and purple neck with a black eye and swelling everywhere. One eye is way smaller than the other and I used to have pretty eyes for my age. My husband thinks I really made a blooper and feels terrible for me. I am trying to get thru this but it is affecting my career majorly as I am in front of people all the time.
sashab 2 Aug 2011
Springup - it is hideously expensive, isn't it? I had wanted to do this for 10 years and could never justify the cost. Then we hit all this corruption with the banks and Merrill Lynch and the immaturity with out congress and I decided to go ahead and spend some of my money before they could squander it. I've never done that before, I've always been frugal, but I decided, what the heck, if they can waste it, I'm going for it for once.

I did need it all. My eyes and my neck both needed work, my lower face wasn't too bad, we were opposites! I did it all because I'll never put that kind of money in my face again, it was a 60th birthday present to me and my husband said I didn't need it, but it was o.k. with him.

I looked at the site you suggested, its got lots of info and great products.

Another thing that surprises me is how much my face breaks out. My skin was so stretched, as it contracts, I think every pore gathers up sunscreen and breaks out. I can put almost nothing on my face.

I bet you'll be happy, I bet you'll be very happy. I do love my neck and my eyes look so much better. Someday soon I'll be able to tell that my glasses are on my head, once its not numb, and find them again, I'll probably have three pair there by then, ha! I'm convinced that by October, I won't look like an elf.

Thanks for your comments, they've been helpful and very kind.
springup 2 Aug 2011
You too! It's so good to have someone to talk to. I was talking to my daughters, but there's only so much they can take! I am also 60. I figured this was the time to do it and buy myself about ten years. I didn't realize one of those years may be taken up with healing. I was never really self conscious about my face before. Now I am always checking the mirror to see if I look wierd because I feel so strange. No one has run screaming or pointing and laughing but I do wonder if anyone can tell. Instead of pulling my face up to see what I would look like with a lift, I am now pulling it down to see what it will look like when it relaxes! (as I hope it eventually does) Funny you mention the glasses. I ALWAYS feel like there are glasses on my head and have to check to see if they really are. Also, if I get a pillow mark during the night I look like Al Capone all day because everything leaves a mark. Going for a very light laser on my side scar and chin scar in a few weeks. I will let you know how that works out. You definitely will not look like and elf by October. Good luck and hang in there!
sashab 4 Aug 2011
Springup, I'm self conscious, too. I was always conscious how I looked, but I was as happy as we ever get with how we look, too. I just wasn't ready to look as old as I felt I did quite yet. I wanted to "refresh" my look, but otherwise stay me. The first few times I went out, I felt as if everyone wanted to refer me to a battered womens shelter because of the black eyes. Now I have the puffy bags, slight black eyes, and stretched skin and I know that people who know me think I've been quite ill. I ran in to someone yesterday and she had a tough time looking at me.

I know that its getting better every day, but its a really hard slog up this healing hill. I think we just get tired of it and impatient. When you think how much trauma our poor faces and heads have gone through, we're probably doing great.

I have that pillow mark canyon, too. The first time I saw it I thought, oh, no, is this going to be permanent? And it did last a loooooong time that day

Be well.
springup 4 Aug 2011
You'll be happy to hear that your messages sound like you are still a young woman, perky and funny. You know, that is the problem. We still feel young and vivacious but started looking older and tired. When I first went into the plastic surgeon's office for fillers, I expected him to say "fine, that's all you need". Instead, he told me all about how the face ages and drops and loses volume and suggested "the works". I think my ego took a shot with this handsome young doctor basically telling me I need an overhaul instead of saying I look great for my age (hate that expression), then we haggled with the price with the finance lady and before I knew it, I was doing this. I do think he tightened my neck bit bit too much. On the up side, I am having a good day as far as mirror image and the whole tight rubber band neck thing. I have been exactly where you are now and can only say it gets much better.
sashab 12 Aug 2011
springup - I wonder if we're having trouble getting through because this site sends all the communications every time and its getting too long for our default settings on our personal e-mails? I did answer - if you don't get answers from me, perhaps that is why.

sashab
springup 13 Aug 2011
Perhaps. My posts have been pretty lengthy. I'm going to attempt to anawere your last e-mail now. I only had trouble that one day.
Forlorn 7 Sep 2011
I also am having a very difficult recovery. I am ten days past an upper eye bleph & neck smart lipo. I am so sore and stiff and my vision is still very blurry. I was told I would be able to return to work as good as new in 24 - 48 hours. I am on day 10 and there is minor improvement. My neck is all ropey and thick. It looks like a football player neck. My bruises are dark purple and black and not improving much. I am in so much pain I cry & I have a high tolerance for pain. My doctor says this is all normal and to wait. My job is hanging by a thread as I have no more time to take off. I look way worse than when this started. I am 60 and looked ok to begin with and just wanted a little improvement; nothing real fancy. And now, I am worse than when I started. I am hoping that his clears up and am worried it will take so long, my job will be gone and my face will look like this horror for a long time. I read that the ropiness in the neck rarely improves. That is scary as I have a lot.
springup 8 Sep 2011
Forlorn, I am so sorry you are having a rough time with your recovery. It is very early in your journey though, and after a rough few months you may find that you feel and look better than you thought you would so try to be positive. I had an extrememly rough recovery myself. Aside from the physical trauma, I suffered from extreme anxiety and depression over what I had elected to do to myself. I guess we had no idea what we were in for. I was always quite confident about my appearance and now I am always wondering if I look beat up or strange. Sometimes, to my relief, I pass a mirror and look just fine, but in certain light I know I am not as pretty as I was before the surgery. I still have a few months before that one year mark. My neck is a bit ropey, the glands still stick out sometimes but are getting a little better. The tight strangulation feeling still comes and goes. I must ask the doctor if he performed lipo under my chin and on my neck. Ridiculous as it sounds, I have no idea what the heck he did to me, but it sure feels like a lot. One thing is for sure, no one can return to work within 48 hours. You will need time to heal. Please try not to panic because it will make the recovery harder. Use this forum for support. We are all in this together and understand what you are going through. All the best to you.

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