Facelift – Your Questions Answered

Chattanooga facial plastic surgeon, Dr. James Shire, begins a Q&A session on the common facial surgery procedure, facelift. Over the next couple weeks, Dr. Shire will answer common questions from patients about the procedure from 30 years of experience.

1. How long is the recovery time for facelift?

Dr. Shire: Recovery time can be variable for everyone, but in general most patients look and feel good enough to be able to go out and be seen within a week or so. However, it does take 28-36 days to completely heal. Therefore, we restrict your activities; no bending, lifting, straining or cardiovascular activity for about one month. Then most people are right back to their normal life.

2. How long does a facelift last?

Dr. Shire: I have a two-part answer for this common question. First the surgery does lasts forever. What the surgery does is not going away. However the clock keeps ticking, and therefore the aging process continues. We are turning the clock back, so as one ages, you always will look better than if you didn’t have the surgery in the first place. The aging process is truly individual and is determined by one’s genetics, lifestyle/habits (sunning, dieting/ weight changes, smoking, drinking, amount of sleep, etc.), health issues and emotional stress.

3. How is a facelift different than a mini-facelift or midface lift?

Dr. Shire: These terms are used differently by different doctors and are not the official name of any specific operation per se.  The term facelift can refer to any surgical procedure to improve the face, or it may refer to the lifting and repositioning of the lower face and neck area. The term “mini-facelift” is more of marketing tool too indicate that the operation is less involved, and is also used to refer to a skin only lift (pull). On the other hand some doctors refer to a mini- lift as a partial facelift as apposed to a “complete facelift” that would include the eyes and forehead. The mid-facelift refers to a procedure that only treats the upper cheek  (mid face) region.

Check back next week for more answers from Dr. Shire to your common Facelift questions!