Are drains placed after a face and neck lift? And for how long?

Thanks for your question.  In my experience, which hundreds of facelifts, drains are rarely needed.  I use a natural tissue adhesive and coagulation promoter at the time of the operation as well as a properly fitting dressing.  In the cases where the patient has more bleeding than usual (usually due to their genetics or other health factors) I will place small drains for 24 hours.  This happens about once every 18-24 months in my practice, and is well tolerated by the patients.  Although this is rare, no surgeon performing a proper facelift should guarantee that you will not need one.  After all, the goal is to keep your safety and the best results at the forefront.  I hopes this helps.  All the best to you!

Drains are often  placed in facelift surgery to prevent accumlation of blood or fluid .  Drains are not painful and are often left in place for 1 to 3 days..  I use tissue glue routinely and with this procedure drains are often not needed. I hope this information helps. 

Hello Needalift now,The trend in facial cosmetic surgery is toward less extensive incisions and flaps, which may not require drains as more traditional techniques might.  Personally, I rarely find drains to be necessary with facelift procedures.   I would recommend an in person consultation with a facial plastic surgeon in your area to discuss your options and whether they typically use drains with their procedures.  I hope that is helpful!
All my best!  Dr. Elizabeth
AtlantaFaceAndBody.com
"This answer was solicited without seeing the person, and should not be construed as medical advice."

The answer varies with the surgeon.  I personally do my own variation of a deep plane facelift which I have published on (Mustoe TA, Rawlani V, Zimmerman H.  Modified deep plane rhytidectomy with lateral approach to the neck: An alternative to submental incision and dissection. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.  127:357-370. 2011), and have not used drains for more than 20 years.  However, most surgeons use drains. 

Many thanks for posting this question.It is hard to give you a definitive answer, as all facelifts are different, and surgical practices are different - there is no right or wrong.In my practice, I don't use drains for less extensive facelifts, but I do sometimes for more extensive face and neck lifts.The most important thing, however, is to ensure you have the right type of facelift performed for you (there is no "one size fits all") - whether drains are used or not should not be a decision-making issue in my view.I hope this helps - good luck

Assuming that you will be assessed by a Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon who has vast experience in managing the aging face-your concerns will be readily addressed on your first consultation.  For the first 15 years of my clinical practice, I felt there were certain advantages to giving my facelift patients a general anesthetic for their surgical procedure.  A methodical analysis of those facelifts revealed that 38% of those patients indeed had drains placed during the surgery to manage any small amounts of bleeding  and oozing that occurred during the surgical procedure.  For the last 15 years I have performed facelift surgery with the patients mildly sedated under local anesthesia, and the necessity of drains in the surgical site has diminished from 38% to 1% requiring drains.  The reason for this in my hands relates to the fact that patients undergoing facelift surgery under local anesthetic will generally bleed, ooze and swell less.  Is removing drains painful in itself-not really, as it is just another tool we use to accelerate the minimization of swelling and fluid collection following your surgery. Talk to your surgeon and they can discuss what would be best for you.

Hello and thank you for the questions.  Placing drains after a face or neck lift is highly dependent on your surgeon and her or his preference.  I typically do not place drains, but as has been mentioned, if there is significant oozing during surgery I might consider it.  The drain is typically left in for a day or two, and doesn't cause much discomfort when it is removed.  Talk to your surgeon to get more specific answers.  Good luck!Sincerely,Dr. Michelle Spring

Thank you for your question. Whether or not drains are placed after a face and neck lift, and how long they stay in, can vary from surgeon to surgeon. I do place drains for my face and neck lifts, which are removed the day after surgery. Be sure to follow the instructions that your surgeon gives you for post op care. You can ask during your consult if you should expect to have drains after your surgery, and for how long. Be sure to see a board certified plastic surgeon.

Some doctors use drains and some do not! It is dependent on your case and the doctor.
Where I trained, we used drains after a face or neck lift that were removed in the morning.
Many doctors, however, do not use drains for these operations. If the patient was “oozy” drains would be placed as an exception. 
I have found that drains don’t do much. They collect some minor fluid that isn’t a problem. Blood is thick and classically doesn’t come out drains well.
From reading the other doctor answers you can see it’s very dependent on the doctor!
Hope this helps!
Dr Chris Saunders 

Thank you for the question. Drains are placed sometimes with face and neck lift surgery to prevent collection of blood and tissue fluid under the skin surface. In my practice, I use these only on patients who have more bleeding or tissue oozing. This is probably only about 1 in 4 cases. Drain removal is typically quick and virtually painless. The drains exit the skin behind the ear and the drain sites heal without visible scarring in the great majority of cases. Best of luck!