Does a Facelift Result in Less Healthy Skin over Long Run?

Modern facelifts rely less on pulling really tight, and more on adjusting deep volume and replacing lost volume. Extreme tightness of the skin is avoided. Therefore the effect of repeated excessive stretching that was the guiding principle of the 80's that caused the skin to stretch so much does not happen.
That much we do know. Experienced facelift surgeons have seen thousands of post facelift patients in their practice. So these observations are "anecdotal", i.e. not scientific, but are reasonable and make good sense.
There are other reasons patients with well done facelifts look good, including their skin.
Patients with well done facelifts typically take very good care of themselves. They look far better than their colleagues who don't. This "package" includes an excellent skin care system, microdermabrasions, weight control, dietary restraint, no smoking, exercise, sun avoidance, treatments such as PhotoFacial lasers when appropriate, retinoids, etc.
It would not be uncommon for somebody who likes to look "just so" to have 3 facelifts in their lifetime, with various ancillary procedures.
The "full facelift" today may contain many procedures that were not even invented in the day when tightness and eradication of the nasolabial fold through tightening was the primary goal of plastic surgery.
So I suppose the answer depends on the type of facelift you are talking about, in my opinion.

A facelift is designed to lift the deeper tissues of the face and reposition it into a better position.  Skin will not change after a facelift and this includes patients with acne scars, fine wrinkles, sundamaged skin, thick skin, oily skin, and large pores.  Seek skin specific procedures in order to treat the skin.

A well done facelift will have no damaging effects on the skin. It is important to leave an appropriate amount of fat on the lifted skin to help protect the blood vessels that bring nourishment to the skin. However, the big abusers of skin quality are over done CO2 laser resurfacing and too much injectable steroids.
The skin of the face has an amazing capacity to heal itself, so your conception of what happens with surgical maneuvers is fortunately not correct.
When you are ready to seriously look into options for yourself, the key is to find a well qualified surgeon who you are confident in and trust will do what is best for you. Yes, surgeries can have side effects but these side effects seem to occur much less often in the right hands.