Procedure Description:

What Are the Different Phases of Deep Plane Facelift Recovery? Regina’s Six-Month Progress

Recovery after a deep plane facelift actually unfolds in three phases, not a straight line. In the first couple of weeks (let’s call this the immediate phase), most of the visible results show up. Stitches come out, bruising and swelling fade quickly and you start looking more like yourself. But you’ll probably feel not quit there yet.

Few patients realize that in the weeks after surgery (say, weeks 4 to 8), you start feeling increasingly like yourself with numbness subsiding, and tightness lessen by days. Regina, 54, was in this so-called intermediate phase after her deep plane facelift, neck lift, upper eyelid surgery, buccal fat removal and tip rhinoplasty. By this point she could resume most of her normal activities (though no sun or full weightlifting until 8 weeks). And by the end of this phase, her scars were nearly gone.

Then comes the long stretch of recovery. That’s where Regina now finds herself, six months after her surgery. She’s back in normal life without thinking she had anything done and used to her new look, and every week she feels more like herself. In planning her surgery, we included light therapy, hyperbaric oxygen and lymphatic drainage in order to speed up her second phase of recovery. For many of our patients, the full high-definition results of deep plane facelift will shine in month 10 or 12.