This is really an interesting question. Even though I always recommend people are upfront with their significant others, I have had a few patients that do not tell anyone and obviously pay for it with their own funds.This is a personal decision and will be up to you. For most patients, facial cosmetic surgeries can be done in the office under local anesthesia - mini facelift, mid face lift, neck lift, blepharoplasties etc. For example, bilateral upper & lower blepharoplasty, mid face lift, Short Scar facelift and neck lift usually takes me about 90 minutes in the office under local anesthesia. The goal is to have patients looking natural. If people do not go looking for incisions especially in the facelift, they're usually easier to cover. The difficult ones to keep from friends and family that know you and look at your face will be anything involving the lower eyes and mid facelift liftsurgery.I routinely tell people to take a few days to a week off work and to hide out but some people are very nervous especially celebrities and I usually tell them to hide out for two weeks. As with any scar on the human body, initially scars are red, hard and raised and it typically takes six months to a year for them to become a soft thin white line. Additionally with recovery, there're many things we do to expedite healing such as nerve blocks during surgery, oral supplements, skin care and scar therapy recommendations, lymphatic massage sessions that are included in our pricing.I strongly feel that it's very important to have an honest conversation with your surgeon about your particular situation, lifestyle, work environment and specifically which procedures you're having done so that you both have the most honest answer about your recovery and are realistic with expectations and results.I hope this helps and wish you all the best in your surgery and event. If it does, please take a moment to up vote this answer on the “respond” button on the top right.