4 Days Post Op After Short Scar Face Lift. Skin is Stretched to Tight Across Cheeks. Has a Pulled Rippled Look?

First and foremost, its best to remain patient. It is still early in to your recovery. The healing process in general can take up to one month for the majority of swelling to subside, incisions to close, sutures to come out, and for bruising to completely go away. #Recovery time from a #facelift varies from person to person, but patients can generally expect to be presentable within three weeks from surgery. Patients should expect swelling, bruising, and discoloration of the skin during this phase of recovery (swelling normally goes down after 48 hours; most bruising will go away within two weeks). The marks from a facelift can easily hidden with “camouflage” make-up which you can learn how to apply.The scars from a facelift mature within six to twelve months from the surgery date. It is during this time that the rejuvenating effects of the facelift will become apparent and the real result will be seen. If you have certain concerns about the procedures and #healing process, it is recommended to call your board-certified surgeon or their medical staff and discuss those #concerns.

You are correct in that you are still early in your recovery from your facelift.  As the healing takes place, your skin will loosen a bit and the tugging feeling will improve.  It can take several months for the healing to occur, so you just need to give it some more time before you will see the final result.  

After a week or two, the swelling will decrease, and a few things will happen. Your skin will look less stretched, your jaw will become more pronounced, and your tissues will soften. Some people have a prolonged recovery with irregular looking/feeling areas for several months, but most see a major improvement after the first few weeks.

Healing takes time and the bruising and swelling will be gone sooner than you think. You will be showing off your rejuvenated face in no time. Follow all of your Drs instructions and it will be a matter of time before everyone will be telling you how great you look. Congrats...

Dear Moennich,

thank you for your question.  You will be swollen this close to surgey and this add to the feeling of tightness.  As time progresses, the swelling will go away, and your skin will loosen a little. These will both prgress to less tightness.

Best Wishses,

Pablo Prichard, MD

Visible skin rippling is often present during the facelift post-op period.  This is normal.  Things will improve greatly and everything will start to soften and fall into place as the swelling resides.  Follow all your surgeon’s post-care instructions and you will be amazed what a few weeks time can do, because the best is yet to come.  I know it's unnerving but hang in there, and in no time you will love what you see. “Dr. D”

Your surgeon is most likely correct. Ripples and indentations are normal for several weeks after facelift, and these should resolve along with your swelling.

Things will definitely change in the coming weeks.  If you had deep wrinkles of the face care must be taken to avoid a windblown appearance.  Considering that your face lift was done in a standard method I would follow your plastic surgeons advice and give it some time.  

You just had surgery and should wait till swelling resolved. It is very hard to make comments without pictures. Please see your surgeon for follow up.

Moennich, it is very common in the early postop period to be concerned about tightness and all of the consequences of facelift surgery that you describe. As a rule of thumb in facelifting, it is better to have early "tightness" that always improves rather than early laxity which gets worse. At this point you cannot know if you got the "slight lift" you discussed with your surgeon or not. If your communication with your surgeon was good you probably have what you asked for. Now you need trust and patience. All surgeons expect to be asked these type questions and should be reassuring you at this point.