Facelift Patient Instructions

Before your surgery:
Please follow all the preoperative instructions outlined in the Preoperative Instruction Sheet. Avoid any aspirin-containing or aspirin-related products as well as herbal medications and nutritional supplements as outlined in the General Preoperative Instruction Sheet.

After your surgery:
1. You will have a large, padded dressing and tiny drains behind your ear that will be removed the day following the procedure. There will be no discomfort when the drains are removed. (If only a necklift/neck liposuction was performed, you will not have any drains to remove.)

2. After the larger dressing is removed, please wear the elastic neck bandage that will be supplied the day after the procedure to you for 24 hours a day for 7 days. You can  remove the light elastic neck bandage when you shower or to perform incision line care. To maximize your results, Dr. Lamperti recommends wearing your neck bandage at night only for the next 5 weeks following the procedure. The elastic bandage will help you minimize swelling and help you heal better. It is important that you do not put the elastic bandage on too tightly, just wrap it around your chin so that it conforms well but is not tightly applied.

3. If you have significant discomfort the night of the procedure, especially on one side of the face, or see that one side of the face is significantly more swollen, please contact Dr. Lamperti immediately. This may indicate that you have a blood clot (hematoma) that needs to be removed that night.

4. Please ice your neck and lower face with the ice packs as often as possible. Usually twenty minutes on and twenty minutes off until you go to sleep will help lessen your swelling.

5. It will feel somewhat tight to chew food the first few days after surgery. It is recommended to take only soft foods like ice cream, yogurt, and fluids until you feel this sensation go away.

6. It is important that you minimize excessive neck turning during your first week to permit the neck tissues to heal optimally. Therefore, driving can be dangerous because it may be hard for you to turn to see your blind spot.

7. For men, you cannot shave for two weeks. After two weeks, you must use an electric razor for an additional two weeks still taking care around the incision lines. Also, you will have some decreased sensation around your ears for several weeks to months if you had a facelift performed so please be careful not to cut yourself while shaving.

8. If you had a facelift, you may see some bunching or lumpiness around the sides of your ear and may even be looking slightly pulled. All of this will disappear by the end of your second week if it should occur.

9. The result in the neck and the lower face will look tight and raised the first week following the procedure. It will loosen a bit over the next few weeks to months. This is to be expected and is normal. Do not think that you are losing your result.

10. If you had a facelift, you will have a decrease in sensation around your ears for a few weeks to months. It is important that you do not apply anything hot like warm compresses or a curling iron near this area because you can easily burn yourself since you do not feel it. This is particularly critical the first few weeks following the procedure.

11. If you had a facelift, the sutures in front of your ears and under your chin and the skin staples in your hairline will be removed one week after your procedure. The sutures behind your ears will dissolve by themselves.

12. It is important for you to keep all your incisions cleaned and lubricated with ointment as described in detail in the Incision Care Instruction Sheet. This involves first cleaning the incisions with a q-tip with hydrogen peroxide diluted 50/50 with water followed by the application of plain vaseline ointment (petrolatum) with a q-tip.

13. DON’T TAKE ANY CHANCES! If you are concerned about anything you consider significant, please do not hesitate to contact us at (206) 505-1234.

You can print a pdf copy of these face lift instructions here.