Facelift 8 weeks ago. Left side looks concerning. Very red. It's as if it's stretching the scar. (Photos)

Your incisional scars seem to have widened. While it might affect the final look of the scars and need a scar revision in time, it should not affect the overall results of your face lift. Christian Drehsen, M.D.

Plastic surgery scars require attention after surgery so that they remain cosmetically-appealing and barely noticeable. In our office, we use a protocol for scars that minimizes their activity in the 6-8 weeks after surgery. If you have late plastic surgery scars, you may also require laser and RF therapy to help reduce the longterm effects of the scarring. Keloids, hypertrophic scars, widened scars, red scars, and hyperpigmented scars all require scar modulation with topical creams followed by lasers and RF therapy. Topical skincare should be directed to a specific need, whether for pigmentation or hypertrophy and our office can guide you through the process to obtain the correct Plato’s Scar cream or Melarase cream for hypertrophy and discoloration. In terms of lasers, we would employ the vbeam laser for redness, Venus Viva RF, PRP microneedling, chemical peels, and Morpheus 8, fractional erbium, or fractional co2. All of these have their individual benefits. Most of all, we recommend you visit a solid plastic surgeon who understands surgical scar revision, laser therapy, and RF therapy for scars.

Best,
Dr. Karamanoukian
Realself100 Surgeon

Thank you for your pictures and questions. There is some reddening of the scars and this can be normal in early healing. Follow your surgeon's recommendations on scar management and this will improve with time. There is also some widening of the scar and this is likely due to tension on the incision. This will not improve with time and may even worsen. If you are still not pleased with the results of the scar at one year, you can discuss a scar revision.Hope this helps!