How soon can a person return to normal activity after a traditional Facelift?

A facelift is a major surgical procedure, so you must be prepared to give yourself adequate recovery time to achieve optimal results. You will wear a bandage for one week, which can be removed for showers and light errands. You need to avoid strenuous activity for 2 weeks, and avoid curling irons, steam baths, saunas, and hair dryers (unless on the “cool” setting) for 2 months.  Most people begin to look pretty good by 2 weeks but the results will continue to improve for the first 3-4 months as the swelling resolves.

As you can see from the answers already posted, questions about recovery timelines elicit vague responses. The reason is that a "traditional facelift" can mean different things to different plastic surgeons, and each surgeon provides recovery instructions based on the techniques used. It also depends on your level of comfort with answering questions about the procedure. That said, I tell my patients that it's usually OK to begin using makeup to camouflage bruising several days after the procedure. You can usually drive and return to work about 2 weeks after the surgery, as long as you are no longer taking prescription pain relief medication. If your normal routine includes strenuous activity, such as weightlifting, I caution my patients to wait 3 to 4 weeks before resuming it, and to slowly ease back into it.

Healing varies from patient to patient. Do not exercise for the first 3-4 weeks post surgery. It is very important to maintain elevation of your head. You are able to turn your head fully within a week. The downtime after a facelift is about 2 weeks and you can be back at work and resume normal daily activities. By 4-6 weeks, most of the



major swelling will be gone. I don’t allow my patients to drive a vehicle for 10-14 days especially if they had eye surgery concomitantly. It may take up to 6 months for you to consider your recovery to be complete.   



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