In today's world of plastic surgery there are different degrees of facelifting. It also depends upon how you wear you hair. If you only need a facelift limited to incisions around the ear and the central neck compartment is not entered then you can be presentable in 2-3 days with your hair worn in such a way to cover your suture lines. With more complete facelifts in which the central neck compartment in entered and combined with a lateral approach, the bruising is more significant. I tell my patients to count on 7-10 days before they would attend a social gathering in which they don't mind people knowing. At this point though you will look better than before surgery. The complete recovery untill all the little minor contour irregularities are resolved and the incisions have faded will be more like 3 months.
Ed Buckingham
