Long Recoveries After Facelift?

Leslie, YAY! So glad you don't have the pesty thing next to your ear anymore. The picnic sounded so nice and who better to have one with than with your family. I really laughed at what you said about getting back in bed and watching the Lifetime movies...I've seen all of them over and over. I could rent out my most of my condo because my little dog and I stay in the bedroom about 80% of the time.:) I am looking better but still have bruising! I can't believe it just does not go away. Hope you have a good day tomorrow and stay tuned....:)

You,too ! Good to hear from you as always. I can't believe the bruising never seems to go away either. I'm back on arnica and bromelain just in case it helps a tiny bit. Didn't notice real improvement with them before, but dr says it won't hurt to take them. Keep me posted!!

Hi Leslie and Cassie. I'm popping in for a minute, I was away for the weekend so I couldn't get online. I don't know if that arnica worked for me or not really. It didnt do anything for my swelling. I have to say I don't know what's going on but my swelling has gotten worse again. I had a few days when I could see my jawline and feel it and it looked great and my eyes stopped being light sensitive but now my swelling under my jaw is worse than ever, and at night I wake up in such pain because it feels extremely tight and burning when I touch it. I have to clear my throat a lot and my ear feel plugged and it's like I can even hear fluid! My left eye is still swollen and now under it is., sometimes both eyes have swelling on my cheekbone under my eyes that looks like I was hit in the face...and they are back to being light sensitve and sometimes it's so bad I can't keep them open. I look really bad to say the least. I wish I had an appointment this month. :-( I wish I knew if others had this problem of reswelling. I mean it's 2 months now. How are you girls doing?

Hello Fixmyface, Leslie and Cassielin, I have been reading your comments, so I feel I kind of know you. I have had a macs face lift, upper eye lid correction, temporal lift, fat grafting on my cheeks - a lipposuction under the chin and my thigshs to provide the fat for my cheeks, a cut at the base of my nose and laser treatment on the area between nose and mouth. That happened on January 111th and since that time I have been recovering very slowly. I am 57 and this is my second face lift. The first one was a very small one - the lower part of my face only, so I recovered within 3 weeks This time is much worse as I have swelling, small hard lumps, bruises and ridges along my jaw line. Fixmyface you were asking about reappearance of swelling - I have experienced that ca. 10 days ago when I started on a light fitness programme. I was again more swollen for the following 3 days. I am fighting weight gain by walking briskly for 2 hours every day, but, oh my, it is hard staying on the same weight level. I am very worried about my looks, that is if my face will somehow be me, but younger. The swelling pulls my mouth corners down and I have difficulty having faith that it will turn out all right. Did you have the base of your nose cut, too? Do you have the bottom part of your cheeks swollen and therefore wider than normal and your mouth corners pulled to the side? Do you still have red marks on your cheeks under your eyes, as I do? Looking forward to hearing from you Eliza

Hi sweetheart. I'm 55 and I think for some of us as we get into our 50's we may heal a little slower. My facelift is a midline facelift and necklift. I am 33 days post-op and have all kinds of rope like ridges on my neck as well as small bumps and bruising. I also had a tummy tuck and developed a seroma so I am afraid to be very active. Initially I had a hematoma in my neck right above my voicebox. I think everything will turn out beautifully. It takes time, plain and simple. We worry, but when it's your face, and everyone sees it, it's hard not to. Keep the faith and let us know how you are doing! Blessings to you : ))

Hi Eliza, I concur with Leslie's comments above. I am 52 and am 19 days post-op from a lower face and necklift. I had drains in for 2 days and have ropey swellings from ear to throat. I never had a seroma or hematoma (thank goodness) and was told the swelling was inflammation from where the drains were. I also have a ridge on my chin from cautery. The skin under my chin is mottled and puckered. My surgeon said to massage daily and I have been, but with little improvement. This morning I felt like having a good cry! But I didn't and that's thanks in good part to sharing with the other women on this forum. Time will make a difference, I am hoping, and I intend to keep posting here with updates. I see my PS on March 14 for my 1 Month post-op visit. Hang in there! Jenanne

Hi Eeliza, so nice for you to come and join us! I didn't have a temporal lift, but then again, I'm not sure what that is lol. I didn't have any fat grafting, but I keep reading about people getting fat injected into wrinkles and marionette lines (I hate mine!) I didn't have anything done to my nose. Why did you get that procedure done? I'm not sure if I ever heard of that. Was the laser treatment between your nose and mouth to get rid of lines above your lip? Yes, I have a LOT of swelling again. It's pretty bad looking and discouraging. I did read in the Q & A section that with rigorous activity you will swell up a lot, but supposedly, it will not effect the final outcome. I know that's hard to believe, it is for me. I went for a brisk walk yesterday and again today. I jog here and there but it's icy. Honestly, I think I look freakish moreso now with the swelling. It's funny because my sister in law said I looked 38 one day but wow, now when I look in the mirror, I just look my age and I have awful wrinkles around my eyes again when I laugh or smile and I don't know if that's due to something weird going on with my face and swelling and that tight feeling? Oh gosh, the swelling near my mouth is awful. If it wasn't so prnounced on the left side, I'd think I had terrible jowls coming back. In the mornings, I can feel the heaviness of the fluid in my face by my mouth and it's like gel, you know what I mean, and it pulls downward on my mouth and looks very unsightly. so yes, the bottom of my cheeks is swollen and yes, it does pull the corners of my mouth down. Do you wake up feeling sore, your neck area? I do. It hurts, it burns, it's tight. It loosens up but then I have to deal with my mouth issue, the pulling downward and the heavy feeling. What do you mean red marks on your cheeks under your eyes? Are you talking about incision scars? I can see mine under my eye lashes, that's where my surgeon gave me the lower bleph.. The right eye is almost unnoticeable, but due to the swelling still in my left eye, I can see the incision scar. No one but me would know what it is. I found I can't wear my make up like I used to around my eyes either.. My upper lids were finally rising and looking nice, but now with the swelling they pull down at the outer corners again and it looks like crap. :-( Oh, woe, lol, In time hopefully, I will look good. We all will!!!

Hang in there Jenanne! Just when you least expect it, you'll see some great improvement. Thinking of you.

My neck bothers me all the time. It feels like someone is squeezing it. Wonder if it will always feel like this.

Hi Leslie, Jeanne and Fixmyface! It is so nice to get a reply - then you do not feel like you are the only one in the world with such problems. Fixmyface, a temporal lift is a lift of the side eye area that requires a cut in the sides of your head under your hair and a fold on each side that is supposed to smooth out eventually. So one of mine folds has done just that, but not the other one - I am waiting :O)) . Then fat was injected into the cheek bone area, because I had high cheek bones when I was young and what you call "apple cheeks". And the base of the nose was cut to lift the upper lip a little as I was beginning to form a horizontal line, a fold under the nose. Laser was to get rid of the vertical wrinkles running down towards the mouth, which I hated. The operation took around 4 hours - perhaps it was more than I could deal with at a time. I had nothing done to my neck, though, because it looked all right. I wonder if a neck lift is as serious as a face lift. Red marks under my eyes on the level of my cheek bones are internal bleeding marks visible through the skin. They turned from blue to dark red to lighter red - they are taking incredibly long to disappear. Haven't you had these? I did not have lower bleph, upper bleph, only. Do you also apply something called AURIGA AURIDERM XO cream on the bruises? And are you ladies American? I live in Belgium, but here I was not able to find discussion forums like this one. By the way when is it safe to wear eyeliner? - my eye lids are still red and the side area rather sensitive. There might be problems with removing the eyeliner and mascara. And the nurse told me I should buy a completely new mascara and discard the old one. Have you been asked to do the same thing?

Hello eeliza! Oh, regarding the temporal lift, I guess I had that. My surgeon said he went up higher than a typical facelift to lift the corners of my brows. I haven't noticed that it is working, but who knows. I commented to the surgeon assisting with my surgeon and (I'm assuming because he had a med student with him) he was flippant and said "You need a brow lift for your eyes". groan.....the NP said getting my eyes done is going to really make my eyes pop, but again, my healing is going very slow, so I can't tell. I had a neck lift, it was all inclusive with my facelift, and I had lipo to get rid of the double chin that just wouldn't go no matter how much weight I lost. You get a certain age and no amount of diet and exercising is going to fix some things. My swelling under my jaw and chin has returned and for a short bit of time, I was enjoying the look. When I had my upper and lower bleph, under my eyes was all red. I expected black eyes, but it was bright red, but it cleared up pretty fast, I thought. Yes, it seems they are lasting long for you. I wonder why? I've never heard of Auriga Auriderm XO cream. Lots of people here use Arnica Montana. I got some tablets and some cream, but in all honesty while some swear by it, I can't say it really helped me any, but that said, in my desparation, I took some tablets today lol. (for swelling) I'm American, yes. I think you should be able to wear some eyeliner. I use a pencil liner and sometimes powder shadow as a liner, but it depends on the amount of swelling for the day. s/ometimes the make up makes me look worse because of the swelling and so then less is better. There is discomfort putting on my eye makeup, specifically the pencil liner because of the lower bleph and the numbness there. It just feels weird...and hard, like a shell because of swelling. Perhaps because your eyes are still sensitve, and red be very careful. My eyes are light sensitive and some days really bad and so it can be a task. yes, that's probably a wise decision to get new mascara. I didn't think about that. I do have a new package, but I didn't open it and have been using the old. I had cornea issues, they looked like blisters on my eyes, but they've finally gone away. Good luck to you!

I am in America. I am sure Belgium is very beautiful. I wish i had done some laser, but honestly, I just didn't think of it at the time and I don't think I want to have anything else done for a long, long time since healing takes so much time. I would definitely buy new eye makeup to cut down on the risk of infection. I don't know if a neck lift is as serious as a facelift, but there can definitely be complications. Most of us are experiencing at least some. If you needed a neck lift your doctor would have said something I'm sure. Hope you feel better every day! Hang in there : ))

Hi everyone, I just now opened up our blog and want to say "Welcome, Eeliza". I love this forum because we are supportive to each other. Leslie, I think we all have some problems with our necks..it ain't pretty! I hope your neck feels better soon, that is an awful feeling. I still have slight bruising under one eye, on one cheek, and most of my neck which is horrible. Underneath my chin, the skin is drawn, wrinkled and bruised. Honestly, it looks screwed up. Everyday, I look in the mirror as if I will see a miracle happening to my face. So, far, nada. Tomorrow will be 6 weeks for me! I am 68 and I feel certain that it may take longer for a gal my age. I am very healthy except now I am getting fat and there are too many days when I just don't give a darn what I eat. Now I need a tummy tuck! I know one thing for sure and that is I will not have any more elective surgery done.. It is really "wait and see" I can only imagine how tough it will be for me to get in shape again at the gym. Probably sooner than it is taking me to heal.LOL Good night and stay tuned. I have to see if there an LMN movie that I haven't seen yet. Leslie, you know what I mean about seeing all of them. Good night everyone and we'll talk again soon!

That's right Cassielin. It's "tainted love Tuesday" on the lifetime movie network. Hugs! Leslie

There you are, Cassielin! I was just thinking about you and wondering where you were and hoping you were ok. I was just checking out other threads and women with their photos and feeling very sad. One woman who I think said was 63? and her picture she looks very, very young...and I look at myself and bah, humbug. So much for the days I did look good and had hope. ...and now I'm just putting on weight. I weighed myself just a bit ago and despite running, walking, jogging, another pound and I thought I was cutting back on calories too. Maybe I just have the winter blues... Night, Cassielin.

Oh, dear, FixMyFace, I am tired of being fat so I can understand how you feel when you put on a pound. I know that I have put on about 8 lbs. because I am eating pizza, cake, candy, everything that I should not eat. It's comforting. I won't get on my scale but I can see that I need new spandex pants! Now, that's depressing! LOL I wonder if those photos are true...were they posted by an individual or a surgeon's office. I'll check with all of you tomorrow. Night.

I can't find it listed tonight but I will eventually see it.:) Hugs, back. Night.

You know having the blues is normal, and lots of people have them after plastic surgery. It will get better. Be good to yourself and take any little improvement as a good sign of healing. Feel better. Hugs!

Hi cassie, yes, I hear you, sometimes I want to eat everything in sight and then some. It's like I'm insatiable right now,but I've been dilligent in getting out there and exercising/walking/jogging. I'm going to force myself to go for a walk and jog around the block and I live in the country and the blocks I walk around are 4 to 5 miles (one might be even longer) lol, so it's a walk alright. I wonder about some photographs. Ive looked at hundreds of before and afters they have here, but I'm always most interested in the people that post here and have shots at various stages of healing, you know? it gives me a better gauge for myself, but some wow, amazing and I think to myself, what gives with me? I had the best surgeon around and the rest all learned under him!! It wasn't like I was butt ugly to begin with but I did have nasty jowls and a uni-chin/neck thing going on that was gross due to weight gain and loss and aging and llike I mentioned somewhere, no matter what amount of exercising and dieting that grotesque thing was not going away without drastic measures (the face and neck lift!!) so I like my new chin and jawline now, even though I still have swelling but yaaay, I look pretty good tday...at least I think so, but watch someone say oh, you look beat today and I think I would cry lol. But anyway, back to the photos here, some women look amazing. This one woman I wondered if she had her lips done because her before picture she had very thin lips, then they looked super swollen and her last picture they look really nice...but wow, to me she doesn't look anything like her before picture, so yeah, makes you scratch your head in wonder. I personally don';t have the guts to post mine. They'd be here forever!!

Wow, so we have a big group of us now! I'm going to abbreviate to "Hi L, C, E, and F"! :) We all have our various problems: face/neck/eye issues, swelling/bruising/lumps/numbness. And then there's food and exercise and boredom and self-esteem. Yikes! :) I agree about wishing others would post the "bad" pics, then follow-up and post their "after" pic when they feel ready to declare themself basically satisfied. I'm not there yet, that's for sure. (Btw, I did post a very honest and ugly post-op pic with my RealSelf question about ropey swelling, just in case any of you missed that pretty thing!) Last night I went to bed thinking maybe I was turning a corner - I had more feeling in my face, ears, and neck, and thought maybe just maybe some of the lumps were diminishing some, but this morning I pretty much looked the same. I think overnight we retain fluid from being flat all night and not drinking. I really believe diet helps and work hard to keep my salt down. The evenings (with TV!) are the hardest. I'm allowing myself a fairly liberal amount of dark chocolate and a bit of M/W popcorn. Plus a beer or glass of wine before I eat. I think with as hard as it is to fight all these recovery blues, for me I REALLY need to try and keep my weight ok. I am basically thin but gain immediately in my stomach. I haven't yet exercised (post-op Day 20). I'm still sore and have trouble turning my head, and it's cold here in Chapel Hill, NC! But I think the next warm day I will go for a walk. Before surgery, I was at my gym 3-5x/wk, doing the ellipitical and light weights. I really miss it! I'm divorcing soon (after 21 years) and have been online dating, so the thought of trying to get back to that keeps me motivated to not gain weight (although I've been looking at the men recently on Match.com and it's pretty discouraging! lol!). I was dating a man before my surgery but ended things with him a couple of weeks before surgery as I felt I was more "into" him than he me, so I've had to nurse a bit of a broken heart as well. Isn't it fun being a girl? :) Take care, All, and hang in there!! Jenanne

Hi Jenanne. Ooh, I'll have to take a looksee at your picture. Where can we find it? I'm actually looking pretty good today, I think anyway. It's funny how that happens, out of the blue a good day comes along. I stopped icing my face at night. I read conflicting things, ice, no ice, heat, no heat...do nothing. but my face was hurting really bad and the swelling was awful, so I would sleep on a cold pack, then I read something about using heat to move the fluid because the cold inhibits the movment of fluid, my gosh, make up mymind!! I used warm clothes before and I thought I made a mess of my face, but this time, maybe it's okay to because it seems to be helping...so I retired the cold compresses. Anyway, I look better and younger again today and so I'm grateful. When I get out of work, I'm going for a long walk/jog. circulation helps heal too. You're from NC? I know people from NC. Two I grew up with, one lives in Sanford, and one in gosh, now I can't recall, I thought it had the word State in it. A dear online friend just moved to another town and now i can't recall where.. she used to live in Besmer? I think. Another girl I used to write to since I was 14 lives in Eden. Wow, all us divorced women. Are you divorcing your husband or he you or is it mutual? I divorced mine. It was scary, but very much needed and well overdue. but if I tried earlier it wouldn't have been good, but I filed in 2/11 and NYS finally became a no-fault divorce state...and I guess the timing was better too because he reconnected with his first love and so that made things work out for me better too. How's that online dating? lol Ah, no, broken hearts are no fun. But you will have to be beating the men away when your face is all healed and lovely.

Fixmyface: Glad you are feeling good today! I was told no icing b/c it interferes with the fat grafting taking hold (which I had done around mouth and on my neck). I massage (both regular and the drainage lymphatic massage) 2 to 3 times daily (a very long massage with my hot morning shower) and still apply the Arnica Recovery cream. My bruising is nearly gone (yay!). I am divorcing my husband although we are going through a "collaborative divorce" process which has been good so far. He was a very good husband and it was a hard decision, but I knew it was what I had to do for me. We have a fantastic 16 year old son and share custody. My ex (soon to be) bought a house in our neighborhood so that works out well. Divorce is hell, but sometimes the only way to grow. It's been a very tough 9 months! Oh, and you can find my ugly pics if you search "ropey firmness from neck to Adam's apple..."