Cheek Swollen 2 Years After Facelift

Your best best is to consult with several top surgeons who have considerable experience in revisional facelift surgery.

Your problem at this point is complex and will require great experience and judgment.

The correct solution (if there is a good one) will likely jump out at you during on of your consultations.

Lifting the face is a revealing phenomenon.  The true bone structure that was apparent when young may have been hidden by laxity and drapes of skin.  Buccal (cheek) fat may be more excessive on one side, but the asymmetry was concealed by the laxity.  Subclinical hematoma may have stimulated scar tissue formation and be a contributing factor.  History is important and is considered, but what matters more than how you got here is where you are.  Something as simple as one sided buccal fat removal under local anesthesia with no external incision may be all or part of the cure.  Have a consult with a board certified plastic surgeon.

I am sorry to hear that it has take so long for the swelling to resolve.  You should see a surgeon who is an expert in facial surgery to recommend your best options.  Good luck.

It is very difficult to answer your question without seeing you in person and examining you - there are a number of possibilities here with different treatment options

Thanks for your question -

This sounds like there may be scar tissue from residual hematoma or fat necrosis.

The question is how best to restore balance to your face.  This may include fat grafting to one side or scar resection.  The key is to find a plastic surgeon familliar with facelift redos.  (Something we see a fair amount of in our San Francisco office.)

I hope this helps!

The symptoms you describe are not common, I would also recommend consulting with a facial plastic surgeon or plastic surgeon that has experience in revision facelift surgery.  It is very helpful to review before pictures as oftentimes a facial asymmetry is present before the procedure was performed.  Best of luck, and let us know if you have any additional questions.

Face lift and eyelid procedures unfortunately can some times lead to asymmetry.  Your story is a common one in that you likely had a blood or fluid collection on the right side and as it resolved, there was possibly increased scarring leading to the discrepency between the right and left side.  Revision facelift procedure can often help improve the asymmetry and impove outcome.

Two years after facelift, there is no true "swelling" left in the sense that this will go away. Rather, I would argue that this is your final outcome after surgery. If there are asymmetries, then these represent the result of surgery and your own structure combined. If you were face was symmetrical before the facelift, then this is a result of the surgery.

Balance and symmetry are desirable. In order to gain better symmetry, most likely one would add to the thinner side (i.e., fillers or fat grafting) as it will be very difficult to reduce the side that appears swollen. Rarely, facelift scars may be itchy but I am concerned that you have hypertrophic scarring which should be evaluated and treated by your plastic surgeon.

Cheek swelling 2 years after a facelift is not normal. You need to see an experienced facelift surgeon to have an examination and plan to correct the problem.

It is important to understand going into a surgery what to expect.  Unfortunately not all surgeons are very good and communicating these issues and some patients are not do good a probing for information from their doctor.  The fullness you are describing is likely were the deep tissues were cinched up by your surgery to tighten the deep planes.  Some surgeons are more likely to have this issue than others.  Generally this is a very difficult issue to improve with revisional surgery.  Regarding the scars these can be revised but first you should try physical treatments with silicone gel, 5-FU or kenalog.  Abnormal sensations 2 years out may never full resolve.