Six Months After Full Face Lift and Eyes Surgery...

It is normal to experience tightness and numbness after a facelift.  After your skin is elevated your surgeon used sutures to tighten the muscles and may have put a "sling" in for a tighter and smoother appearance of the neck.  Excess skin was removed and sutured around the ear area.  It is natural with any healing process to have some itchiness for about a year, but it will get better.  Most swelling will be gone in about 6 months, but there may be some numbness for a year.  If you have any other concerns I would contact your surgeon.

It is fairly normal to
still feel some tightness, itchiness, and “puffiness” at six months after a
facelift. Each patient heals differently, and while some may be totally
symptom-free at 6 months, others may take a while longer to fully heal. If you
are worried, I would visit your surgeon for a follow-up visit, but the main
thing to do is just be patient. Most symptoms should resolve within another six
months if not earlier.

It’s not unusual for patients to complain of tightness,
itching and swelling following facelift procedures. These findings occur for a
variety of reasons including structural sutures, scar formation, nerve
regeneration, normal wound healing and the swelling that normally accompanies
surgical procedures.This response
varies from patient to patient and depends upon the surgical technique utilized
and the patients wound healing characteristics.Skin tightness
and tissue thickening following this procedure are usually related to swelling.
In some cases, tightness may be related to normal wound healing and the
formation of scar.Sometimes tightness
may even be related to structural sutures that are utilized to tighten facial
muscles.Wound
Healing following facelift procedures is often accompanied by itching as
well.This occurs when small cutaneous
nerves regenerate following transection during the facelift procedure.Tightness,
itching and swelling typically last for 3 to 6 months following facelift
surgery, but in some cases may last up to a year.It’s important to realize that they’re normal
findings that go away with the passage of time. In the short term, gentle
massage and range of motion exercises may be helpful.It’s also important to maintain good
communication with your plastic surgeon.Your surgeon should be able to answer your questions and alleviate your
anxiety.