Alternatives to quinolone antibiotic for post facelift prophylaxis?

Hi. The choice and duration of post facelift antibiotic therapy varies among surgeons. I personally use preoperative IV Ancef followed by a week of Keflex (oral form of the same antibiotics, broad spectrum). Some surgeons may not use any postoperative antibiotics at all since infection risks after facelift are quite low. I recommend asking for a different type of antibiotics or none if quinolone sounds like a risky proposition to you. There are so many kinds of antibiotics available.

Truthfully, antibiotics in the perioperative period are what we describe as a "belt and suspender" approach, in that you truly don't "need" them. Wound infections with facelift are statistically rare, but they can happen. Things that aren't antibiotic related that I recommend 1) Follow wound care instructions, 2) Keep your fingers, which have lots of bacteria, off the wounds, 3) Stay away from nursing homes and hospitals, which have higher rates of antibiotic resistant bacteria in a community setting, 4) Use a clean water source for bathing, not well water, 5) Rinse with Chlorhexidene the night before and morning of surgery. Wound infections (rare) can happen even if you are on antibiotics, so it's best to follow the guidelines above.

As long as you’re not allergic to any antibiotics, and you don’t have a history of harboring any difficult to treat bacteria, such as methicillin resistant staph aureus, most facelift surgeries are easily covered with a first generation cephalosporin. Usually it’s given intravenously at the start of anesthesia and then perhaps one or two doses afterwards. Infections are relatively rare after facelift. Discuss this in detail with your plastic surgeon. Best wishes.