I am 6 weeks after face lift surgery. My smile is crooked. (photos)

Hello.  Thank you for your question.  It appears that you have sustained injury to one or more of the facial nerve branches, which is causing some weakness of the muscles of facial expression on your left side.  Injury to the branches of the facial nerve is certainly a risk of facelift surgery, but the incidence is very low.  The risk is increased somewhat in deep plane facelift, compared to more conservative approaches, but it has the potential to happen in any case.  Facial nerve injury from facelift will typically resolve completely over time in the vast majority of cases, but in rare cases it may be permanent.  Most facial nerve injuries following facelift will resolve in the first 6 - 12 months, but it may take up to 2 years to fully recover.  If there is any movement on the weak side, then that is promising that the weakness should resolve over time.  I would encourage you to follow up with your primary surgeon and express your concerns.  They will likely reassure you and recommend patience with the recovery process.  I wish you the best in your recovery and in achieving your aesthetic goals.

Thank you for your question and photograph.  Your description and photograph indicate that you have some level of nerve injury which will likely resolve as healing progresses.  Best of luck.

Hello, I am sorry to hear you are experiencing this after your surgery. Based on your photos, it looks like you are experiencing a nerve injury that should correct itself with time. Unfortunately, these kinds of situations do take time to heal. I would continue to check in with your board certified surgeon every week to make sure that progress is happening and to discuss if injections to the other side of your mouth might help with symmetry until the nerve injury heals. Best of luck!

Dear Madame KeitaMany thanks for posting your photographs and question. As my colleagues have said, it appears that you have a degree of nerve injury. Most of the time this is a temporary issue, but it may take several months to resolve.One good option is to discuss muscle relaxing injections for the other side (particularly below the mouth) with your surgeon. This may improve the symmetry until the other side comes back, and there is some evidence in the literature that it may even speed up the recovery of the other side.I hope all goes well, and that this has been helpful.

It is difficult to say without an in person examination, but it appears likely that you have a nerve injury which because it is partial, should recover completely but it can take several months. I would continue to follow closely with your surgeon.   Your problem is obviously upsetting, but the likelihood of full recovery is very high.

Madamekeita.  I appreciate your concern and I am sorry you are having this issue. However it appears that you have a  minor neurapraxia or slight nerve injury that should resolve with time. It could take as long as 3 to 6 months for complete recovery, but this is a known complication that can occur after facelift surgery. Stay in close contact with your plastic surgeon and try to stay patient and positive. Best of luck.

Numbness after surgery is less of a complication and more of an expectation and it is very common to have differing degrees of numbness on each side. The lower lip weakness can occur from time to time after facelift surgery and is usually from pulling and tugging on the nerve that controls those muscles. It is like the nerve is stunned and needs time to wake back-up. The great news is that it almost always does, the bad news is it can sometimes take a while. Six weeks post-op is still very early and you have a lot of healing ahead of you. I would rest assured that this is almost always temporary and usually goes back to normal over the course of a few months. Hope this helped, good luck!! 

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After a facelift, it is not uncommon to have some degree of weakness in the lower lip. This is especially the case when liposuction, fat transfer, or both are used. Unfortunately, the best results are often obtained when the jowls are liposuctioned and the pre-jowl sulcus is filled with fat. Both of these maneuvers are very important to obtaining a sculpted jawline. Unfortunately, branches of the facial nerve course above the muscle in this area, so it's sort of a "Catch 22" of facelift methods. I see some degree of weakness in this region in many facelift patients. Unless a knife or scissors were used to dissect this area, it's very likely to expect full return to function. It is unusual to see this last for longer than 3-4 months, so you may consider asking your PS for more information.

This should be evaluated thoroughly . Is there no movement at all at the corner of the mouth or just a weakness. In case it's the latter then full recovery is likely. It may take some time. If the weakness is complete it might be worth while to do nerve testing after 6-8 weeks. Best to allow all the swelling to subside first

Thank you for sharing photos. It appears that you may have a nerve injury, which can occur during any facial surgical procedure. These nerve injuries typically resolve completely, but can take several months before they do. You should definitely continue to follow up with your surgeon on a weekly basis to be sure that there is some improvement.