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Is It Unwise to Chew Gum After Facelift Surgery?
I heard that chewing gum has some advantages, e.g. exercise against a double chin but is there a period where you advice your patients NOT to chew gum?
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15 Doctor Answers |
Asked by
GabrielleC.
in Kansas City
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Chewing gum after a facelift? Is it okay?
Testingcapturing the arm after a facelift is really not advised during the early recovery. But by the second month or so it's really not a problem. The sad fact that we cannot exercise our skin is evident in the failings of all of the various types of mechanical exercises and treatments advocated in the press. Exercising the underlying muscles of course can occur it doesn't seem to translate into improved facial form or aesthetics. Minimizing facial movement for the first few weeks...
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Facelift Recovery
Hello and thank you for the question.
In general, following a facelift, I suggest my patients refrain from gum chewing or anything that involves repetitive facial motions, for a period of no less than 3 weeks. This allows ample time for the face to heal.
Best of luck,
Glenn Vallecillos, M.D., F.A.C.S. , Diplomate, American Board of Plastic Surgery
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Chewing after facelift
I don't restrict chewing or food after surgery. Nature generally takes its course and foods that require chewing or gum are avoideded by the patients themselves
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Is It Unwise to Chew Gum After Facelift Surgery?
For the larger, more invasive Face Lift techniques, I would ask my Face Lift patients to avoid gum chewing and facial movements during the first few weeks however, with the less invasive Minimal Incision Face Lifts, this isn't an issue IMHO.
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Gum chewing after facelift not the best idea
The period right after facelift you should try to rest your face, and avoid excessive talking or chewing to let the swelling settle down and avoid bleeding. Gum is not a very good idea.
Best of luck, Peter Johnson, MD
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Chewing gum after facial surgery
I would avoid chewing gum for the first 1-2 weeks after surgery. During this time I like my patients to have their face be relatively "quiet" to allow it to heal the best.
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Chewing gum after facelift is NOT a good idea!
Chewing gum may be a pleasurable experience for some, but it is neither good nor advisable for healing facelift patients. As the skin flaps heal, gum chewing can cause a couple of (serious) problems.
One, repeated contracture of the facial (jaw) muscles could cause bleeding in incompletely-healed blood vessels, causing lumps and irregularities (minor bleeding) in your face, or hematoma requiring re-operation to evacuate the clots beneath the facial skin.
Two, gum may stimulate...
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Chewing Gum after Facelift Surgery
Compulsive gum chewing may not be a great idea after surgery, but it is hard to limit many aspects of life such as talking and food chewing. Kenneth Hughes, MD Los Angeles, CA
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Don't Chew Gum After Facelift
As gum chewing causes the excess movement of your facial muscles, I advise against chewing gum for a few weeks. Chewing one's food is natural and one must eat so chewing food is fine; gum chewing isn't a necessity and if one can avoid, they should so that the facelift heals optimally and with the results one has
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Allow your face to rest and heal
You should allow your face rest and heal post surgery. Therefore, I advise my patients to avoid excessive jaw movement (such as that caused by chewing gum) for the first several days.
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Chewing after a facelift procedure.
For the first few days, I advise my facelift patients to not engage in excessive chewing or foods. Too much movement may lead to seroma formation and require intervention. A few minutes of gum chewing, however, can satisfy your craving and not lead to significant problems.
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Is It Unwise to Chew Gum After Facelift Surgery?
In the first few weeks after surgery it would be a good idea to avoid excessive jaw movement such as caused by chewing gum - this could disrupt some of the deep sutures
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Chewing gum after a facelift
In general since we are tightening the facial structures it is best avoid stretching or taxing those structures as is the case with other types os surgical procedures around muscles and joints and areas of movement. Some period of immobilization or limited movement is very common. I recommend less chewing and opening the mouth very wide which most patients will do anyway because the face is tight and it will feel tight with these maneuvers.
As a side note exercising the...
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Gum chewing after facelift
No. I do not tell my patients to avoid gum after a facelift. I suppose your plastic surgeon may want to avoid tension on the wound but compaired to all other mimetic and masticatory function that you are constantly using, I don't think gum chewing makes much of a difference.
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I would avoid chewing gum after a facelift
Although I do not tell patients to avoid foods that require excessive mastication, the time spent chewing food is very little in the course of 24 hours; you can only eat so much food!
However, gum is another issue. Gum-chewers can often be chewing for a big part of the day, which can stretch the tissues and put tension on the internal sutures that are waiting for healing to come into play. I would say no the gum for about 6-8 weeks. It takes about 8-10 weeks for the healing to...
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