I had a short scar facelift. I have abnormal swelling and pulling. Looks abnormal. Any suggestions? (photos)

It's hard to tell without seeing all angles but you do have some moderate swelling around your incisions. Rest assure that this is quite normal and should go down rather quickly. It is also normal to have a touch of the "blues" after surgery but crying every day will not help the healing process. Be patient and visit your surgeon to explain your feelings. The incision in a mini type facelift often has to go up in the ear to avoid bunching in this area. Hope this helps.

This amount of swelling is normal for 5 days.  You need to be patient and let yourself heal.  Some surgeons will call a surgery a short scar lift.  This is usually done on young people who do not have a lot of excessive neck skin.  the scar should go just up behind the back of the ear.  If it extends further up you probably had too much skin to remove so the scar had to be extended.  Some patients seem to be more comfortable with the term short scar or minilift.  But it is often not correctly describing the surgery.  

The photos show swelling which is within normal range at this point.  As your Surgeon will tell you, it is going to improve significantly over the next 1-3 weeks.  Perhaps you had an understanding that a "short scar" procedure means less downtime.  However, the length of the incision correlates poorly with swelling and recovery.  Secondly, the length of the incision should be proportional to the amount of skin that should be removed. If your Surgeon made the incision a little longer to remove excess skin, odds are that he/she did the right thing.

It does look like you have a little more swelling than usual but the amount of swelling can be quite variable in the first week and I certain wouldn't panic. There should be a gradual improvement over the next few days but things are likely to get better much more quickly in your second week. If there is any redness in the skin, or increasing pain, you should contact your surgeon and get yourself checked out. Stay calm and keep the faith!

You do appear to be very swollen which is not surprising at five days post-lift. With regard to the incision, It is unfortunate that you were not fully informed about the exact incision size and placement. At this point, time is definitely on your side as swelling will settle and initial pulling might improve. Your surgeon knows your surgery and their technique best so this might all be normal for their patients. If you're concerned, followup with your plastic surgeon and have them re-evaluate you and how you're healing. I hope this information is helpful for you.Stephen Weber MD, FACSDenver Facial Plastic Surgeon