Lifestyle Choices

Face Lift for who is appropriate

The best results are achieved when a face lift is done earlier rather than later. Although face lifts are usually not sought till the mid-50s or early 60s, a face lift carried out in the 40s may prevent some of the more distressing signs of facial ageing, such as hanging folds of skin around the neck, which develop later and which sometimes can’t be corrected well. Both men and women can have face lifts but the results are usually better in women.

Face lifts can be very helpful, psychologically, for those who, after being severely overweight, have lost several stones, leaving them with loose saggy skin on the face, as well as elsewhere.

The results of face lifts are not very satisfactory for those who have very full faces. People who have both full faces and short necks are likely to receive least benefit and a surgeon may well try to dissuade them from going ahead.

Face lifts are never appropriate for those with unrealistic expectations of what can be achieved. This is true, of course, for any cosmetic surgery operation, but it is through our faces, particularly, that we express ourselves to the world. A face lift will not provide us with a new better persona nor ensure that we find a new lover or a new job, nor will it save an ailing marriage. All it can do is make us look a little younger.

Face Lift, what needs to be done?

A full face lift takes three or four hours and is done under general anaesthetic. Exactly what you personally will need to have done depends on your particular face — for instance, you will not need fat removed from the neck if you have no excess there to start with.

The surgeon makes an incision above the ear on one side of your face, follows this down in front of the ear, round behind it and then across the hair-bearing area behind the ear, roughly at a right angle to it. (You do not need to have any of your hair shaved.) This frees the skin from the face and neck, which can be pulled back for the surgeon to remove any excess fat and to tighten the platysma muscle and trim it where necessary. The skin is then pulled back up and made taut by stitches in the area where the incision was made. As the area in front of the ear takes less of the strain than the area behind it, stitches can be finer here (and the scar less pronounced later). The same process is repeated for the other side of the face. A small drainage tube is inserted on either side of the face to remove any excess blood that collects after the operation is over.

If a lot of fat needs removing from the neck, a separate incision will be made under the chin to reach it.

Face Lift Pain and Recovery

You will need bandages around your face and neck for two days but you shouldn’t feel much pain because, at this stage, your face will be numb. If, unusually, you do feel a great deal of pain, you should mention this at once as it may signal a complication which needs immediate attention.

You should be told to avoid heavy chewing and not to talk, laugh or smile too much for a day or so after the operation. If you sit up as much as possible, rather than lie down, and avoid resting on one or other side of your face at night, the swellings will subside more quickly and evenly.

Do expect your face to swell and to show quite lurid bruising. When the bandages are taken off and the drains taken out, after two days, your face will look almost entirely smooth (and probably rather expressionless) because of the swelling. Don’t expect the smoothness to stay. When the swelling goes down, your skin will settle back into some of its original creases, although not as pronounced as previously, of course.

When the bandages are removed, you will be allowed, for the first time since the operation, to have your hair gently washed to remove the matted material that is still probably stuck to the hair around your ears. At this stage, you can also go home.

Women may want to wear a headscarf to hide stitches and both men and women can use light make-up to disguise the bruising, if desired. Stitches are removed within ten days, unless they are the dissolving kind, but you should wash your face delicately for the first two weeks. Puffiness and bruising will both virtually have disappeared after a fortnight.

Your face will probably feel a little stiff for up to six weeks and you will feel unexpectedly tired for the first few weeks. You should certainly allow yourself at least two weeks to relax and recover from your operation and not think of returning to work or resuming normal active daily activities before then. Any too active activity, particularly sports or swimming or jogging, undertaken too soon will not only tire you but jar your face and make it stay swollen longer. This applies to sex too.

You must not sunbathe for at least six weeks after a face lift operation. You may burn more easily and your skin may discolour in irregular patches. When you do sunbathe, if you do, make sure you use a good strong protective sunscreen.

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