Why has my face and neck felt tight since my facelift?

There seems to be a lot of questions on this website about tightness even years after facelift. I really have not seen this in my own patients and wonder what might be going on. Do you have any foreign material in your face as part of your previous facelift?

Tightness after a facelift is normal. In most face lifts some type of suture is usually used to pull back a tighten the deep tissues. They can be permanent or dissolving. What ever suture is used the one universal fact is that all tissue under tension will stretch over time. I would advise you to first talk to your surgeon. If they are ok with it I would recommend that you stretch out your neck by twisting side to side. This should help...  Good luck.

This is a very good
question.Facial rejuvenation
today has undergone a substantial improvement in how we treat the aging
face.In essence, I want to
restore the “inverted cone of youth”. A face lift involves two factors, (1) Volumetric restoration of the face
due to loss of facial fat and (2) re-elevation of the malor fat pad to its
normal position along the cheek bone.By doing so, you eliminate the process of facial jowling. A surgeon must
also know and consider the vector of the skin.The vector is vertical and when the skin is pulled
horizontally towards the ear, tightness of the skin and the “windswept”
appearance of the face are created. This is permanent and not natural.By following the two tenants listed
above, relaxation of the facial elements following a face lift will occur
within a three month period.The
patient will look rejuvenated and refreshed, but not different.Prolonged problems with a facelift
indicate poor planning pre-operatively or poor execution of the lift.All scars on a facelift should be
camouflaged so that no one can see that a plastic surgeon has touched you.