I had a facelift 4 years ago, and all the scars became white and very noticeable. How can I get rid of them? (Photo)

You would need to be examined to determine if you might be a candidate for surgery again, but it may be possible to perform a revision of your facelift from 4 years ago to remove the noticeable white scars that you have.  

Plastic surgery scars require attention after surgery so that they remain cosmetically-appealing and barely noticeable. In our office, we use a protocol for scars that minimizes their activity in the 6-8 weeks after surgery. If you have late plastic surgery scars, you may also require laser and RF therapy to help reduce the longterm effects of the scarring. Keloids, hypertrophic scars, widened scars, red scars, and hyperpigmented scars all require scar modulation with topical creams followed by lasers and RF therapy. Topical skincare should be directed to a specific need, whether for pigmentation or hypertrophy and our office can guide you through the process to obtain the correct Plato’s Scar cream or Melarase cream for hypertrophy and discoloration. In terms of lasers, we would employ the vbeam laser for redness, Venus Viva RF, PRP microneedling, chemical peels, and Morpheus 8, fractional erbium, or fractional co2. All of these have their individual benefits. Most of all, we recommend you visit a solid plastic surgeon who understands surgical scar revision, laser therapy, and RF therapy for scars.

Best,
Dr. Karamanoukian
Realself100 Surgeon

Thanks for the question. In the scalp area 2 cm incisions are made symmetrically on both sides, mid-face tissues are freed. Reaching the cheek oil and moved up and out as young ages. The mid-face area rejuvenates, the gutters on the rim disappear. I wish you all the best.

The scars after your facelift or not acceptable. Facelift scars are generally much better than this and a properly executed scar revision should make things look much much better.

Facelift scars should be easy to conceal around the anatomy of the ear and hairline.  Poor scarring can result if too much tension is placed on the closure, history of smoking, or conditions that result in poor collagen formation like steroid use or a genetic condition.  I would not recommend simply excising and closing the scar since this does not reduce tension on the closure as much as possible.  Redoing the lift by reelavating the skin flaps and placing the tension on only key sutures, then allowing the skin around the ear to drape with no tension would be the best option.  Improving collagen formation with Vit C and Zinc and a good diet also helps during the healing phase with silicone gel around the scars.  Best wishes!

Unsightly scarring after a facelift procedure often results from excessive tension (pulling) of the skin during the facelift. The tension causes the scar tissue to stretch during healing leaving a widespread scar.When performing a facelift procedure that will minimize scarring and gain effective lifting, tension is placed on the deeper tissues which provides good lifting, but the skin is redraped and excess skin removed but only enough to afford a relatively loose closure, lessening the pulling on the scars that result in deformity. This excess skin tension can also cause distortion of other surface structures, pulling on them that can also be a tip-off that the patient has had a facelift. For example, the earlobe can be pulled down from excess and unnecesary skin tension, making the earlobe look abnormally long. It probably takes at least ten years in private practice to learn the many tricks necessary to perform a satisfactory facelift with good lifting but no tip-offs that a procedure has been performed. That's why it's very important to choose a plastic surgeon with extensive experience, when seeking care for facial plastic surgery.Should patients have extensive scarring, sufficient time should be allowed for healing and a careful examination of the scars and adjacent skin performed and a carefully crafted plan created to provide for the best result, which would involve possible repeat facelift, but with lifting in different directions as compared withe the previous facelift.

Some people depigment along incisions and this may not be related to infection. A scar revision is possible but the same outcome may develop. In some people I have a talented permanent make-up artist stipple the scar with irregular amounts of pigment and it blends better with the surrounding skin. Good luck.

You have visible scars that could probably be improved by a revision face and neck lift. You would not need skin removed but would need the excess skin produced by a revision procedure used to improve the scars and reduce the tension on the closure. I cannot see whether you have an incision in the scalp behind the ear but you would need to have the classic incision to get maximal lift of skin to improve this. You have some white scarring on your cheek adjacent to the main scar and you do not seem to have an incision that extends upper wards into the hairline. I am not sure what the white area on the cheek is and you would need to be examined and the pros and cons of surgery discussed. Not sure whether you have a contour issue on the cheek also. I would think that a revision face and neck lift would improve the majority of scars and improve the appearance. 

A revision or redo of your facelift can remove the white scar tissue, and place the incision inside the year behind the tragus for improvement however only if you have adequate skin that can be tightened.The white cheek scar was obviously an area of skin necrosis or cell death that healed by secondary intention which means that new skin had to grow.The scar on the side of your cheek would raise the question of the adequacy of the blood supply to your skin.  You'll need a direct in person consultation and examination to determine if you have adequate skin and blood supply to undertake a scar revision.  Please choose your plastic surgeon carefully and the Smart Beauty Guide is a good place to start.

The scars can by excised and the resultant defects closed without any any tension on the wound closure.