Are facelift scars normal out side of the hairline and to have hair cut? Can anything be done to ensure the scars go away?

Thank you for your question. I will try to leave some quick points to help you improve your scars. Many people have redness/thickness of the scars after a facelift and in most cases, we can improve these dramatically. 1) Redness - This often goes away with time, however, ask your surgeon about IPL treatment, particularly behind the ears. These can be dramatic and can really reduce the redness back there.2) Wide Scars - Over time, this should improve, however in rare situations patients need a 'revision' of the scar. This involves cutting the scar and improve the appearance. 3) Thick/firm scars - Again, this often improves over time but one option is a steroid injection. I recommend patients consider this if the scar is thick after a few months. It can be dramatic.4) General Scar appearance - One safe method to improve scarring is to use Silicone gel/sheets. These can often be found in drug stores or pharmacies. All the best

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

Thanks for sending your photosYour scars are quite normal. We often treat the facelift scars with BBL(Broad Band Light) as soon as the sutures are out. This helps a lot with the redness. Fractionated laser treatments can help flatten the scars as well as using Silicone gels. These treatments often result in the scar looking better sooner. In the end your scars will heal nicely without treatment as well.It just takes a little longerGood luck!

Hello and thank you for your question and photos. Incisions from a facelift may be within or outside of the hair line. Incisions outside the hair line are not indicative of a poorly performed surgery. While your scars will be more prominent during the first few weeks of your recovery, they will fade over time, becoming less noticeable even at a conversational distance. It could take several months for scars to fade, however, and recovery time will vary from individual to individual. Schedule an appointment with your surgeon to discuss your scar concerns. Good luck!
 - Jacqueline T. Cheng

Than you for sharing your pictures and the best advice I can give you  at this point to  be patient they will improve with time be patient. Go back to your surgeon in 4 or 5 more weeks and you will have a better idea as to whether or not need a corrective procedure

Thank you for your question.  It would take time for your incisions to completely heal. Unfortunately, it is impossible to do a facelift without leaving some scars.  However, the scars can be so nicely hidden that most people would never notice that you had anything done.  Well-healed scars look like a thin line running along your hairline and in the creases around your ear.  Everyone heals differently, of course, but looking at your pictures I would expect your incisions to look quite good when the healing process is complete.  Regarding the incision being away from the hairline, it is most likely a temporary situation.  Sometimes after the facelift the hairline slightly recedes away from the incision. Normally it returns back after a few month.Hope this helps,Dr. Konstantin

Hello and thank you for your question.You are still early in the healing process. In time the scars will fade and become less noticeable. Check with your surgeon for his or her recommendations on options for scar therapy. Best of luck!

Scars after facelift can be visible due to redness, widening, positioning and alterations in hairlines.  In your case the scars are slightly red and have a few areas of thickening.  It is best to speak to your surgeon regarding scar management.  We usually recommend silicone scar creams which are available at most pharmacies in the band aid section.  The colour should fade over time although in some patients it takes 6-12 months.  
The anterior hairline scar is likely something that your surgeon would have discussed before the operation with you.  It avoids some loss of hair bearing skin in the temporal (sideburn) area at the cost of a scar that runs along the front of the hairline.   You also have a step off in the hairline behind the ear.  Many surgeons favour an incision here that runs into the hair rather than along the hairline but sometimes this leads to a visible step depending on the technique and amount of skin removed.  Incision planning is based on your preferred hairstyles and hair distribution as well as the anticipated amount of skin to be removed and our goal is the least visible scar with minimal hairline alteration. 
I would go back and get some advice on helping the scars fade and flatten during healing.  Once this happens they are generally well hidden and hard to spot from a conversational distance.

The location of the scar is very important as in some areas of the face it is much eaiser to hide them, in your case those scar were placed where they will be less noticeable. The redness on the scar is normal as it is part of the healing process, and usually the redness takes 3 to 4 months before the red color on the scar fades, you can apply gentle massage ove the scars to make them softer and use a silicone based gel over the scars to make the color to fade faster. To camouflage the scars it is also important to be away from the sunlight and cover them with a colored sun screes to cover them. 

You are still very early in the healing phase. The scare will continue to soften and change.  There are many things that can be done after 3-4 months.  Best of luck to you!