Exceeded Expectations - Salt Lake City, UT

I’m a 61 year old male who for 12 years watched my facial skin sag and fold, upper eye lids drooped down to rest on my eyelashes and they slumped out to block some peripheral vision At times, the jowly grave looking grump in the mirror scared me. People made comments like, “So, when are you retiring?; How many years ya got left?; You look tired.” The irony is I’m semi fanatical about exercise; regularly run 3 to 4 miles, swim a mile 3 days a week, lift weights and take my dog on long walks. I’m slim, physically healthy and feel great.

I figured, if people spend, say, $15,000 on remodeling a kitchen that’s only 20 years old, what’s wrong with spending $8,500 on getting a 60 year old face remodeled? So, I finally had time in the schedule and convinced myself to just do it.
Perhaps like me, most visiting people this site have not gone through a facelift and/or Blepharoplasty before. Here are a number of questions you might want to ask and experiences you may have:

Questions

1) Ask about where incisions will be.

I had quite a few incisions; high in my scalp area, above the ears, in front of the ears, and in the hairline behind and below my ears. I was pretty swollen, in my opinion, the more incisions made the more swelling and time for recovery.

2) Ask about use of Hydrogen Peroxide on absorbable stitches.

One of my earlobes required restitching 2 weeks after initial surgery. Absorbable stitches were used so I would not have to come back for removal. I continued to treat that area with Hydrogen Peroxide several times a day; however, in just 5 days the lobe separated again without any trauma. I since discovered on-line reports of research that showed Hydrogen Peroxide quickly degrades absorbable stiches. Regular stitches without any treament fixed my problem.



Experiences

1) Panic and freak-out: A few days after surgery there was a feeling of dread at what I’d done! Sides of head and ear areas were so swollen it looked like my eyes were surgically moved closer together. I had reoccurring anxiety for three weeks about having this done, but after awhile I thought, hey, this is going to look pretty good and the anxiety went away. Now, I’m pretty much delighted with the results.

2) Bar fight black eyes: Black and blue bruising from upper eyelid surgery Blepharoplasty moved down and sat under my eyes for weeks. This slowly faded and was pretty much gone at 5 weeks.

3) Buckles and bulges: For three to four weeks after surgery my left temple area had a raised ridge of skin that extended horizontally to the corner of my eye. It has settled down and was all but gone at 6 weeks and gone completely at 8 weeks. Raised scar tissue has also receded with only a few slight ridges in my scalp.

4) Swelling: I had quite a few incisions on the sides of my head and around ears which surely contributed to amount of overall swelling. At 8 weeks swelling is negligible.

5) Worry about people knowing and sniggering: I had a lot of concern that people would see me and know I’d had a facelift. I stayed inside and quiet for 2 weeks. When I started going out, I told people I had the droop taken out of my eye lids if they asked, but only three people even said anything even when under eyes were still badly bruised. One person commented that my face looked a little puffy.
Although I certainly see a huge positive difference, others just see me. As Dr. Bitner put it, “People will just see it’s you, but you’ll have a rejuvenated appearance”.

6) Numbness: At 6 weeks my left ear was still quiet numb and I was concerned because my right ear had quite a bit of sensation, but now, 2 weeks later, the feeling is returning.

Unless it's just some superficial surface skin tightening, do not believe any claims about an effortless "weekend face lift", or "back in the office on Monday" after your procedure. Recovery from a quality facelift which you will be happy with that corrects aged jowls, neck, eyes etc. is no cakewalk. While not overly painful, discomfort, swelling and tight stretched feelings persisted in my face and head for a good 3 to 4 weeks. At 10 weeks I'm feeling and looking great, but there is still numbness and slight swelling around my ears.