Most scarring that occurs after a facelift is in inconspicuous areas like just in front of the ears, behind the ears and in the temporal or hairline behind the ears. Some physicians vary the incisions slightly. There are factors that definitely affect the visibility of the scar. First, if you typically heal poorly from scars or have a history of poor scarring or keloids, I would think twice about the procedure and opt for something less invasive. Secondly, if you want to be over pulled or over tightened that procedure significantly increases the risk of scarring due to tension on the wounds which can result in more visible scarring. I always recommend to my patients more conservative natural appearing facelifts that can always be tweaked later if additional lifting is needed to avoid this from occurring. Finally, even in the best of hands scars might become visible over time as the incisions can either become lighter or darker than the surrounding skin depending upon the effects of sun on the rest of the face. The last area to be concerned with is that sometimes hair loss can make the scars that were not initially visible more visible with time.