20 Jul Everything You Need to Know About Facelifts
Has staring at yourself during all of those Zoom meetings made you realize your skin isn’t as taut as it used to be? At RefinedMD, Dr. Sudeep Roy offers facelifts and mini facelifts to help clients look and feel more youthful and attractive. While a lot of patients think they know what a facelift entails, in reality this is a customized cosmetic surgery that can and should be modified for every individual. If you’ve been wondering if a facelift is right for you, it’s a good idea to develop a solid foundation of what exactly this surgery entails.
The minilift, which is a limited-incision lower facelift surgery, as well as a necklift are performed under local anesthesia combined with minimal oral sedation. Some clients request ProNox Nitrous Oxide, also known as laughing gas. Both of these procedures are relatively minimally invasive and do not require a patient to “go under.” However, more involved procedures like a full lower facelift are performed at a private surgical center under IV sedation. General anesthesia is usually not required for either of these procedures.
Different Facelift Techniques
Every cosmetic surgeon has preferred techniques and approaches. Dr. Roy uses various incision lengths located behind and in front of the ear. The ears and hairline provide a great place to hide incisions in natural creases. Deeper facial layers (known as the SMAS layer) is elevated, trimmed, and tightened during a facelift. The SMAS is largely what results in facial sagging with aging. Once the SMAS has been addressed, excess skin is removed in just the right amount so that the edges lie together without skin tension. This allows for minimal scarring and natural results.
No matter what type of facelift a patient undergoes, incisions are designed to be hidden around the ear and hairline. In some situations and with certain lifts, incisions might be hidden under the chin. Any incision will technically lead to a scar, but Dr. Roy prides himself in meticulous incision placement and suturing techniques that are virtually undetectable post-healing. Dr. Roy’s approach lets patients wear their hair any way (including a pony-tail) without the incisions being visible.
Recovery from a Facelift
Using local and oral anaesthetics/analgesics ensures the surgery itself is performed with no pain for the patient. In fact, most patients are surprised at just how tolerable the discomfort is post-operation. The majority of patients transition to over the counter extra-strength Tylenol two days post-op, though stronger pain medication can be prescribed if requested.
For a lower facelift, sutures stay in place for 6 – 7 days post-operation. Limited-incision procedures, like a minilift, cause bruising that goes away on its own. More involved procedures that require “direct neck interventions,” such as a full facelift, can lead to bruising for up to 10 days. Most patients can resume their social activities 7 – 10 days after their surgery. This is called “social recovery” and there will continue to be improvement in incision appearance and swelling beyond this time period. Low impact activities can typically be resumed after two weeks, and high impact activities like running are allowed after three weeks.
Planning for Your Facelift
Light walking can be resumed one week after a facelift. Low impact workouts like the elliptical, spin, and weight lifting can be resumed after two weeks. You’ll need to wait three weeks for high impact activities.
How much time you need off work will vary patient to patient and job to job. However, most of Dr. Roy’s facelift patients can return to partial sedentary work after 2 – 3 days. If you seek discretion and don’t want co-workers to know you’ve had a facelift, it’s best to plan for 7 – 10 days off of work. Learn more about Dr. Roy’s facelift techniques or schedule your consultation by calling RefinedMD at (408) 688-2082.