Modern facelifts lead to much less scarring than traditional facelifts. The facelift incisions are smaller and hidden better, so the scars they leave become less noticeable more quickly. Furthermore, with modern post-facial plastic surgery care, the healing process is faster, so there is little scarring, to begin with.
What Happens During Facelift Surgery?
During surgery, a facial plastic surgeon will make strategic incisions in specially-chosen parts of the face, ears, hairline, and chin, that will prove easy to hide. Most of the incisions are done along the hairline and just in front of the ears.
While traditional facelifts have established a scar-related concern among patients, the modern approach minimizes the problem.
At New York Facial Plastic Surgery, we take extra special care to make sure that the scarring is minimal and heals faster.
How Long Does it Take For Facelift Scars to Heal?
As for a specific number, the scars should fade away in six months. Anything that isn’t gone will be a pink or white thin line that, because of its positioning, will be hard to notice. However, be aware that in some cases it can take up to two years to reach this stage.
As with any cosmetic surgery, incisions are a part of a facelift. But the resulting facelift scars fade over time until they are almost completely invisible. While a lot of this rests on the skill of the plastic surgeon–and we at New York Facial Plastic Surgery have the best board-certified plastic surgeons–much of it will also come down to treating the incision sites.
After the procedure, the surgeon will tell you what to do to speed up the healing process and make it more inconspicuous. Follow your surgeon’s recommendations to the letter to heal in the most optimal way post-surgery,
Some Things You Can Do to Minimize Scarring
Avoid Sun Exposure
UV rays are damaging, but especially damaging to healing skin. If your facelift scars can’t be covered by your hair or a hat, make sure to wear sunscreen of at least SPF 30.
Avoid Smoking and Alcohol
Both smoking and alcohol have a real impact on your recovery. They affect your body’s immune system to fight infection. Alcohol, in particular, will dehydrate you and slow down your facelift scar healing.
Be Careful With Excercise
You’ll be able to return to full activity fairly soon, but you should take it easy while you’re healing. So don’t lift heavy objects or work out vigorously. These actions can cause your healing incisions to reopen.
