I have just started researching facelifts (need one badly!) and i must say, these posts are scaring me big time...

thanks so much for all of the thorough and thoughtful comments. I am really sorry I have not responded to them until now, but so much has been happening in my life.. MsJolly and Fixmyface, your words helped me make the decision to go ahead with surgery. I had it on April 17th, and have not regretted it so far. the first 4 days post-op were terrible though.. my eyes were completely swollen shut and seemed to be glued together with mucus.. i wasn't planning on not being able to see and could not even go to the bathroom by myself.. on the fifth day, they began to go down and open up a little. it's been almost 3 weeks, and the bruising is pretty much gone, but there is still a lot of swelling, so i have an unnatural look. the wounds seem to be healing very well though.. how many weeks are you both now, and how is the healing going? i am finally back online so will respond right away.. Fixmyface, i would like to go to your thread, but don't know how to do that. Margie112, i am so sorry you are having such a hard time. are you doing any better? thanks for writing.

Just know what to expect and be prepared and you won't feel the way us panicked women do! The healing process is long and not always smooth. Just know that...

Sonjas, you will read lots of scary things here. I have my own thread about how scared I was after reading many negative posts. My need for work done on my face far outweighed my fears though and yes, things can go wrong, but if we feared everything in our lives, and never took a chance, we could miss out on much My quality of life due to things I had issues with regarding my face, far outweighed my fears and concerns, but that said I did my research and while yes, even with the best surgeon things can happen, you have to search within yourself if you can handle the process, which is daunting and at times you will feel depressed, you do have to deal with odd sensations, tightness, numbness, tingling, itching. Let's put it this way, if you have low threshold for pain or say a slight headache for you is insufferable, perhaps you might not want to undergo this. I know some people have had genuine, serious issues, and others I often wonder if they just can't deal with the odd sensations of it all. I'm not a fan of them, but I can deal with them and I know I made this choice so I'm not going to carry on about them. Some days are better than others, but I never, ever wished I didn't go through with it and I don't really think it's right for others to tell another don't do it because of their own bad experiences because for you it might be the best thing you ever did, it is for me. But yes, research, and think long and hard. I don't think in most cases it's the surgeon's fault, unless you go to a very unqualified person and perhaps lacks the experience. I remember mine telling me of all the things that could go wrong, but then added "But I've never had that happen to any of my patience, and then he added, and I'm not going to let you be the first either". I laughed and wondered how he could make such a statement, but I came out fine and better than fine. But again, I read the horror stories, and i was scared, but my need outweighed the fears. And you have to ask your own self how much of the discomfort and odd sensations you think you could endure. You have to be prepared for that. No one should have it done if they can't handle discomfort.

Sonjas, I just joined this forum after seeing your post about you commenting that the resent post were scaring you on your up coming surgery. Don’t be scared but be informed. I had a mid face lift, neck lift and upper eyelid lift 4 weeks ago. The surgery was done under local anesthesia with sedatives. I feel the surgery was the easy part. The recovery is a little harder. Everything I read prior to surgery and even in speaking to the PS, the recovery time was about 2 weeks. Yes, that is correct for returning to work but it is not the complete healing time. TV advertising has made the public think that this is a quick and easy fix. It doesn’t account for the procedure itself which is a invasive procedure on your face and neck and needs time to heal. I have read that it may take months for the muscles to heal and nerves to reconnect. I am on the mend but nowhere healed. My neck is still ropey and I still have bruising on the sides of my face and neck. I would have felt better if I would have known the true recovery time, it wouldn’t have changed my mind in having the procedure, but it would have given me peace of mind to know that the healing process is slow and I just need to relax and give my face and neck time to heal . I am not at the WOW stage of recovery but getting there. Hope this helps.

don't be scared, sonjas...i'm the biggest baby in the world and i'm feeling pretty good right now 2 days after surgery....

Goes with the territory, I'm afraid. I chose one of the best surgeons around (Ivy league trained, double board certified, 20 years experience doing facelifts, great reviews, etc.) And I've had a miserable time recovering. (I'm a very healthy non-smoker so I can't blame myself either) I'm at almost 9 months now and I still have some discomfort around my face every single day. I regret having had this stupid, unnecessary surgery every day. If my best friend asked me if she should have a facelift, I'd tell her NOT to do it. It's just not worth the risk.