One Month After Face Lift - I Have Puffy, Loose Skin Around my Mouth - Should I Worry?

Swelling can take up to a year to subside after a facelift. During this time, you should wait before evaluating your results. Best of luck.

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.

1 month is still relatively early in healing process after your surgery.  There is still swelling and changes that will occur.  It is possible that you may need volume (fat or fillers) or laser resurfacing around the mouth.  Be patient and continue to follow up with your surgeon as directed.

Perioral aging is not corrected with just a facelift alone and that is why one needs to perform total facial rejuvenation which is a correction of the frown lines with the combination of deep fat facial compartment refilling with resurfacing and/or plumping of the lips usually with a hyaluronic acid filler. It is truly a multi-modal combination therapy to blend facial rejuvenation with the perioral rejuvenation. These are distinctly different operative procedures which should be done and explained to the patient that way.

  Your surgeon was certainly being honest with you.  However, I would have added that it is way yoo soon to know what the final results will be and that one side always seems to heal at a different rate than the other.  I would relax about this for now and give it six months to heal and then re-evaluate with your surgeon.

You are still very early in the process. I would certainly wait before making any judgments. The area around the mouth are not generally treated with facelift.  Speak with your surgeon and follow his/her direction, but for now wait  until things heal.

It is, of course, impossible to address this fully via this forum.  But I would tend to agree with your surgeon - the areas right around the mouth are typically improved less with a facelift than are the jowling and excess skin of the neck.  This has to do with the vector (direction) of pull that is accomplished, as well as the degree to which the skin stretches out again in active areas (ie, around the mouth).  That one side looks different from the other is fairly common, both before and after surgery.  Finally, though, one month is too early to draw any conclusions on the ultimate result.  Maintaining this discussion with your PS is the best course at this relatively early stage in your recovery.

I hope that this helps, and good luck,

Dr. E