Healing Time - Deep Plane Lift Vs. SMAS Lift?

The simple answer is yes the deep plane technique takes a lot longer to recover from most other facelift techniques including SMAS face lift techniques like the MACS lift and LiteLift. There is a good reason most facelift surgeons do not use the deep plane technique: long recovery, increased complication rate, and many other negative factors. It is however a great technique in the right hands but losing popularity because other facelift procedures also give great results with less risk and morbidity. The tingling and numbness can occur after many different types of face lifts, but prolonged swelling seems to be part of the recovery process in a deep plane technique that can last several weeks.

The recovery time deep plane facelift is considerably longer then for SMAS facelift.  The deep plane facelift had an initial enthusiasm associated with it, but over time it was revealed that the results were no better and because the recovery was longer it has been slowly decreasing in popularity. The SMAS facelift is by far the most common facelift done because the complication rate is low, the recovery is quick and the results are excellent if done correctly on an appropriate candidate.  Best wishes.

I will kindly advise you not to care about the time of recovery too much, as it will not make great difference, wether it takes you 3 or five weeks. As all the candidate do, you will forget all about the healing, and only the result will be an importance.As it is a great number of techniques called Deep plane facelift and SMAS, it is difficult to discuss recovery time. Generally speaking, the Deep plane facelift is a more invasive surgical procedure , with prolonged swelling and longer healing time accordingly.

A
large number of facelift variants are currently available for treating facial
aging. Each of these procedures is unique and has specific indications. Both
the deep plane facelift and SMAS facelifts have been used extensively for
facial rejuvenation. The deep plane facelift is a much more aggressive surgical
procedure than the SMAS facelift. For this reason, this procedure is associated
with prolonged swelling and longer recovery times.

Truw deep-plane faclifts (subperiosteal) have a significantly longer swelling time (often 2-3 months), compared to SMAS ones (2-3 weeks), but it depends exactly what is done. Regards Dr Charles Cope

There is significant healing time difference. The deep plane facelift is not done as often anymore. The recovery time is significantly longer. It is 2-3 times the recovery of the SMAS “Lift & Fill” type facelift which is about 10-14 days. The long-term result is no different in these two types of facelifts, in my experience.

The healing time for a smas facelift is brief at 1-2 weeks. A deep plane may be slightly longer due to more extensive dissection.

There are many "versions" of facelifting surgeries and most involve tightening of the SMAS (muscle layer of the face). Some are much more aggressive, or  may involve more dissection (scary word!!)

Also the tissues and anatomy of people greatly varies  due to heredity and aging, for example. How much swelling and discomfort varies, too. So it is very difficult to predict in an individual patient how long their swelling and healing will take. 

As a very general average, we have found that most of our facelift patients are able to return to many of their activities  (driving, work, some social activities, etc) at about 2 weeks from surgery, as long as the healing is "average".  

Hi Lizza,

The recovery and healing time would depend on the type of surgery, the extent of surgery, and how each procedure is done.

Deep plane Facelift is just a kind of SMAS lift. There are a variety of other types of Facelift procedures such as bi-planar lift, MACS lift, endoscopic and superiosteal Facelift.

The most important aspect of the face lift procedure is not the kind of Facelift that is being done. The most important criteria to consider is the final result that can be achieved. You plastic surgeon should discuss all available options after hearing your goals and desires that you would like to achieve with surgery.

We show pictures at a variety of stages of healing. Each procedure is custom-designed and individualized based on patient's anatomy and desired result.

Generally speaking, deep plane face lift creates more swelling and requires longer healing time. The good news is that there are very good alternative options that can give you good result without extended recovery time.

Hope this was helpful.

Dr. Sajjadian

Each surgeon's definition of a SMAS lift varies. The Deep plane is one version of a SMAS lift. This usually takes longer to heal from than a simple SMAS lift for my patients. However, the Deep Plane Facelift results also last longer. More extensive SMAS surgeries such as a bi-planer or extended SMAS have equal healing time and often results as a Deep Plane lift.