Full Face/neck Lift - Wide Awake - Local Anesthesia

Today is exactly two weeks post-op. My neck still feels uncomfortably tight, especially when I turn my head or look up or down. It's really swollen and bruised as well. Perimeter of face and ears still swollen and numb as well. The incisions from the back of the ears into the hair/neckline are numb, too. The bruised areas along my jaw and down into my neck are still pretty bad, but it doesn't hurt. I'm back to my usual activities, except running. Cut the grass this morning, in fact. Other than still feeling really tight and generally numb, so far so good.

So the actual procedure and recovery. I've known for a while that I really needed a facelift to fix my major problem (lower face, jawline and neck) but the thought kind of scared the crap out of me. So, in Aug 2015 I had a lip lift, lip implants and a pre-jowl implant to at least improve the situation a little. That went really well and helped a lot, but my lower face and neck were still getting to me. I had a full face and neck lift on April 21, 2017, almost two weeks ago. The morning of surgery I started antibiotics and a 7 day Medrol pack. I was given Arnica and pain meds (Nucynta) for post-op swelling and pain. I had the actual procedure done under local anesthesia. I did take 5 mg of valium about 30 minutes prior.

I was changed into a gown and went to the OR about 8:30 a.m. The first 5 minutes were pretty awful. My surgeon injected lidocaine in my temples, in my head behind my ears, in front of my ears, under the jaw and chin and in the neck and it hurt like hell. But after that first 5 minutes everything went numb and stayed that way for about 12 hours. He made an incision under my chin and messed around under there for a while. He then made an incision starting in my right temple, down the front of my ear, continuing around and up the back of my ear and then a few inches into the hairline. He repeated that on the left. He then peeled the skin back to expose the SMAS layer, lifted it, sutured it, redraped the skin and then sutured that. When he was finished, he wrapped my head (no drains, yay!) like a mummy. I was finished around noon. My ride was waiting (my daughter; she's a sweetheart) and off we went. I had absolutely no pain, nausea or drowsiness.

When I got home I took my meds (antibiotic, Medrol, Arnica). I don't like pain meds, so I didn't take any, which was fine until it wasn't. The local started to wear off late in the afternoon and the first thing I felt was *extreme* tightness in my neck from ear to ear. It felt like someone was strangling me. Very unpleasant, but expected. Took some extra strength Tylenol, thinking everything was cool. Then the pain kicked in. A lot of pain, mostly around the incisions and perimeter of my cheeks. It hurt really bad, so I caved and took a Nucynta, but it was too late. I really should have started taking them every 6 hours as soon as I got home to head off the pain before it arrived full force. The bottle said I could take 1-2 every 4-6 hours, so I took another about an hour after the first, along with more Tylenol. I waited 4 hours, then took 2 more. The pain finally started to subside after that, and I was able to get some sleep.

The next day (Saturday) I met my surgeon at his office at 10:00 a.m. He removed the wrapping on my head, which was a serious relief. He checked all my incisions, which looked fine. He put me in a lighter face-bra thingy, which I was to wear 24/7 until my next appt the following Friday. I was allowed to take it off to shower and to clean my incisions. I had two, so I wore one while the other was washed and allowed to dry. I cleaned my incisions 3 times a day. I did have to take Nucynta a couple of times on day 2, but was fine with Tylenol after that.

Days 2, 3 and 4 I swelled up like a balloon and the perimeter of my face was hard as a rock. My neck was really tight and uncomfortable but I was able to turn my head from side to side without much of a problem. It hurt to chew, so I mostly just drank protein shakes, ate soup, yoghurt, applesauce, scrambled eggs. I had very little bruising until about day 6, when my neck turned glorious colors. I had no bruising on my face at any time.

Day 7 I got up, showered, did my hair and make-up. I was careful not to put any make-up near my incisions. I drove to the surgeon's office and he removed all my stitches. My ears and the area about 2 inches around them were still numb, so the stitch removal did not hurt at all. He was impressed that all my suture lines were spotlessly clean. I continue to clean them about 3 times a day, followed by a thin layer of Aquafor.

After he took the stitches out, I went to work for a few hours to tackle a deadline I had to meet. My hair completely hides my ears, so that was not a problem. My neck was black and blue and no amount of make-up was going to hide that, so I didn't bother to try. I got a few questions from co-workers about the neck bruising and I told them I'd just had my wisdom teeth cut out. I then got lots of stories about wisdom teeth removal and the awful swelling and bruising and pain they had. Lol. I haven't been back to my office since then because I normally work from home and only go to my office a couple days a month.

I'm day 12 now and have been "back to normal" for the most part. I still have a lot of swelling and my outer face is rock hard and numb from the tops of my ears down into the posterior neck region. The numbness is slowly fading, but my ears still feel really strange. I look pretty normal at this point, except for the bruising that is still pretty visible on my neck. I may be able to hide it (I have to go to the office for a couple of hours tomorrow), so hopefully I can conceal them with make-up and hide behind my hair. We shall see.

So that's where I'm at today. With the exception of the first 24 hours, recovery has been much easier than I anticipated. I had the surgery on a Friday, took it easy on Saturday and Sunday, but was able to work (from home) starting on Monday (day 4). If I didn't work from home, I probably would have taken 2 weeks off in order to hide. I was physically fine by day 7, but I still looked pretty odd. I'll try to remember to take pics once a week or so and upload them to track my progress.

If anyone is anywhere near Charleston, SC, I highly, highly recommend my surgeon, Dr. Marcelo Hochman. He only does head, neck and face surgery, and has done for many years. His staff is fantastic and very responsive to any needs or questions you have. His fees are also very reasonable.

So, that's my review of a high SMAS full face and necklift, done under local anesthesia. I know it will take many, many months for everything to settle down and I'll be able to see the end result. So far, I am very, very pleased.

I'm on day 12. My sutures were removed on day 7, which did not hurt at all, thank heavens. I went to work for a few hours afterwards, so I do have make-up on in my day 7 pictures. A lot of my swelling has gone, but I still have pretty dramatic bruises on my neck. All in all, so far, so good.