Neck Lift with Lipo - done twice - New York, NY

The procedure I had was a neck lift with lipo- a small incision under the chin, all fat removed from the neck area, then the muscle bands tightened, then the excess skin pulled back from behind the ears. There is a small incision of about a half an inch under my chin and incisions running from the bottom of my earlobe to my hairline, behind the ear. I am only on day recovery and back at work for the first time. My neck looked better to me as soon as the bandages came off for the first time (that was day 2). I have been icing and wearing the compression garment as much as possible. Today I had to go back to work so no compression or ice for the day- as soon as I get home the ice and compression garment will come out. The swelling is going down more every day. At this point, aside from the stitches that have not been taken out yet, I don't look much different than I did before the procedure, but I'm still swollen. I'm seeing what I hope is not crepey skin under the incision on my chin, I think this is just some temporary lumpiness due to swelling. There are no hard lumps under the skin which would indicate scarring. I have to wait and see what happens after another week or so. So far I'm pleased. The procedure was done in office with local anesthesia and valium, and it was relatively easy. Pain has not been terrible, just soreness around the incisions and a little soreness on the neck. Bruising was below the neck underneath the bandages. Bruises are almost gone. I will post more updates and pictures when I can.

My neck is still swollen. I don't think I have been wearing the compression garment enough, and I think I'm probably being too active. I'm not going to freak out about it yet, although the picture I took of my neck at 13 days looks pretty bad. According to my doctor:
"Things that can make the swelling worse, is being too active, working out, and not wearing the compression enough. Things that can cause more swelling, are foods that you eat which are high in sodium. This will cause water retention and for someone who just had surgery, you will see the swelling more in the operated area.
The main reason we don't have patients workout during the initial month after the procedure is more to keep any swelling that can accumulate while working out. As the weeks pass, the swelling naturally comes down, and working out no longer makes the area swell. Rest assured, this is temporary swelling, and the fat is not reaccumulating.
It can take up to 6 or more months for all of the swelling to go away completely. In the initial weeks to months, a majority of this swelling will dissipate, but the last 10-20% may linger for the remaining months. You will feel this as the firmness of the tissue under the chin. When all of the firmness is gone, then the swelling will be considered resolved.
As for the redness of the incision under the chin, we recommend using a silicone scar gel such as Kelocote. We don't recommend starting the scar gel, for at least 1 week after the stitches come out, so you could potentially start this week. I don't want you to massage anything yet. The skin is newly adhered to the underlying platysma muscle and fat. Massaging too early may cause some shearing forces which may weaken the bond between the skin and underlying tissues. This will also cause more swelling."

I am still recovering. I want to say that my doctor is very accessible, I have been sending him pictures and he asked to see me today to check the incision under the chin. He injected it with some saline solution to break up the clotted blood that was making it look darker than he thought it should. I've started using Kelocote on the incisions and they are healing seamlessly.
As far as the crepey skin issue goes, this is LESS visible when the area is more swollen (in the morning) and more obvious when the swelling subsides a bit. The doctor explained that while this would hopefully resolve itself, there were measures he would take to correct it if it didn't. I trust the doctor and know he takes pride in his work. I wish I had better pictures to post, but the ones I'm putting up today are of swelling that you should expect if you are considering a neck lift. Today is exactly 2 weeks since the procedure, so I am still in the early stages.