Do you stay in hospital overnight for a smas facelift?

Staying over night  will depend on your surgeon. Depending on how much surgery is included with your face lift will also make a difference. Face lift surgery for the most part is not painful, most patients feel tightness with the swelling, but minimal pain is controlled with pain medication, and is usually only needed for a couple of days. Hopefully your surgeon is Board Certified and you have confidence in him/her to determine if an over night stay is recommended for you.

Staying overnight after a facelift would be usual. The reasons are 2 fold; mainly for pain relief and also to monitor for and post operative bleeding. Although rare, there can be some bleeding under the skin after a facelift. If it happens, it'll usually be within 24hrs of your surgery, so staying in hospital is the safe thing to do. You typically won't need large amounts of pain killers, but I find that it is reassuring  and more comfortable for my patients to have a nurse look after them and tend to their needs overnight.

A traditional rhytidectomy, which includes repositioning and tightening of the SMAS, is surgery that will require 1-2 weeks of recovery time. I recommend that my patients either remain overnight in our private recovery suite with a dedicated nurse to change the dressings or go home with someone they trust to help with simple wound care.  I check all patients the next morning to make sure your healing is progressing well.
Some patients opt to go home directly after their procedure. In these cases, you need to pre-arrange for someone to pick you up and drive you home, plus help take care of you during those first 24 to 48 hours. I hope this helps.

Thank you for your question. Usually, Plastic surgeons will preform the procedure and a family member will take them home that day.  Recovery time will vary from person to person. To help with healing, you will be asked to keep your head elevated as much as possible. Also, you will be told to avoid Aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications as well as smoking because this may delay the healing process. Be aware that once your bandages and drains are removed, you may notice bruising, discoloration, and even some unevenness. This is normal and will resolve the coming weeks following your procedure. Usually, swelling will alleviate within 24-48 hours while bruising may take up to two weeks. Occasionally, you will notice numbness at the surgical site, this should resolve itself within several months. Within a week of surgery, you will have your stitches removed. If you are feeling concerned about how long the healing process may take, you may want to look into a MACS facelift. This modern procedure usually allows patients back in public within three weeks with possibly only minor bruising. Best of luck!Dhaval M. Patel Double Board Certified Plastic Surgeon Hoffman Estates Barrington Oakbrook Chicago 

Face lift is not a painful surgery, most of the patients feel comfortable going home after surgery, unless there are medical issues that need to be dealt in hospital.