I recently had fully ablative CO2 and was wondering how long I have to wait to get a facelift?

I would wait til the redness is gone or almost gone. You don’t want to operate on a area that still has inflammation

Hello, and thank you for your question. Recovery time for a CO2 laser would be 2 weeks, but laser resurfacing will continue to change the skin for about 6 months. The procedure stimulates collagen production, thereby affecting skin quality over time. To be on the safe side, waiting for about 3 months should be enough time for your skin to heal and change (depending on the depth of resurfacing). But the best way to determine the appropriate timeline would be to schedule an in-person consultation with a reputable board-certified facial plastic surgeon. Your surgeon can properly assess your skin, determine the best time for your facelift procedure, and ensure the best possible results.

You can get a facelift once the skin is fully healed after the CO2 laser. That usually happens about two weeks after the treatment. The problem with getting the laser prior to the facelift is that the facelift will lift the jowl and pull up the neck skin (skin that was not lasered) above the jawline. This could expose a demarcation between the skin that was lasered and the skin that was not lasered. If this happens then the skin that was not lasered may need to be treated with the CO2 laser again to make it match the skin above. That's why we always would do a facelift PRIOR to doing a CO2 laser, not after....

Andrew Campbell, M.D.
Facial Rejuvenation Specialist
Quintessa

Hello @Philosophical991769, thank you for your question. When performing facelift intervention, it is ideal to take into account the physical characteristics of the skin. This is because the skin should already be in a completely healthy state at the time of the intervention. An estimated time frame is between one and three months based on the depth of the process and the skin of the patient. Best wishes! Alan Gonzalez MD, FACS.

Hello, There is no set time but I woukd recommend 3 weeks. This is to make sure your surface layer of skin and connective tissue is maturely healed. Pressure dressings applied after the face lift will then not cause any skin necrosis and cold and warm compresses can be applied without concern about skin sloughing
Conversely a CO2 laser can be done immediately AFTER a face lift and often is done when indicated.
Dr. Farole

Probably best to wait at least two months after your laser procedure to undergo lower face and neck lift procedure. Choose your surgeon wisely based on extensive experience producing natural results.