If a mini facelift is performed and you wear hearing aids inside the ears, will you be able to wear these and hear again?

Hello there.  What a great question.  The short answer is "YES", you can have a facelift and still be able to wear your hearing device.  In my experience, I would adjust my incision placement to be placed in front of the tragal cartilage (the "bump" of cartilage in front of the ear canal).  This incision placement typically heals just as well as an incision behind this cartilage.  By doing this, there will be minimal swelling in the ear canal and there will not be a raw new incision line.  That said, there may be a few days where you cannot wear them due to the fact that you would most likely be wearing a compression head wrap (to decrease swelling) for a day or so after the procedure.  Additionally, please be sure to clean your aids very well a few times a day since they can harbor bacteria that you would not want irritating your incisions.  Hope this has been helpful to you.  Best of luck!

Thank you for your question.You will absolutely be able to wear the hearing aids after surgery.  The incision is along the tragus of the ear, but it does not change anything with the inner ear. It may be uncomfortable and not fit as well in the first couple weeks after surgery due to swelling.  As the swelling goes down, they will fit like they did prior to surgery. Good luck.

This is an important consideration when undergoing a mini facelift.  There are a variety of ways the incisions can be places around the ear during a mini facelift.  If you wear hearing aids, it is important that the incision does not go inside of the ear canal.  The incision should be placed in a natural crease or wrinkle in front of the ear.  This will heal very well.I hope this helps.  

You should still be able to wear your aids after facelift surgery though it can take a few days for the swelling to settle. I recommend removing them during surgery as a small amount of blood or fluid on your hearing aids can destroy them. In most cases, the hearing aids can be replaced after about 72 hours. I hope this information is helpful for you.Stephen Weber MD, FACSDenver Facial Plastic Surgeon

You are correct in being concerned about this issue. Most of my patients with hearing aids need at least 3-5 days before being able to reinsert the aids and depending on the amount of your hearing loss that can be very annoying. Shortly, however, you can go back to full-time wearing but occasionally the mold may have to be modified. 

Kate,Excellent question. Other than the first day or so after surgery, you should have no problem wearing your hearing aid. Depending on the incision, you may even be able to wear them right after the operation. Alert your plastic surgeon about your situation, as alteration of incisions around your ears can be made to suit your situation. Good Luck!

You might have to make a little decision to plan your incision for the mini facelift. Most of the patients that I have done surgery that use a hearing aid prefer to be able to hide the incision line so they elect to stop wearing their hearing aids for 7-1 days to allow the healing of the area. If you definitely need the hearing aids to function, then the incision can be modified to be just in front of the tragus (cartilage in front of ear canal) inside a natural crease or wrinkle. This way the patient can wear the hearing aids without being concern with the incision line.Hope this helps,Dr. Gus Diaz

Thank you for that question. There should be no reason why you could not continue to wear your hearing aid devices after surgery. Your surgeon will likely have you wait until the incisions have fully healed to avoid infection or opening of the incision due to the device. Best wishes.

The mini face lift procedure should have no effect on your ability to wear hearing aids, especially if the incision is kept anterior to your tragus (outside of the ear canal.)  You must have them out during surgery and perhaps for a short period of time afterward, however.

 The first couple of days after surgery, you should avoid wearing your hearing aids in case a little bit of blood or ointment seeps from the incision line and enters the electronics of your hearing aid.After that, you can wear your hearing aids. It is possible, but unlikely, that you will need to have new molds made if there are subtle changes in the shape of the ear canal cartilage after surgery.