A facelift is an invasive surgery, and your post-op care is very important. It’s normal to experience swelling and pain following your procedure, and post-op care can make a huge difference in your pain levels.
When you are emitted from your facial lift surgery in Los Angeles, you will be fitted with a tightly wrapped dressing that will not be removed until your follow-up appointment 24 hours later. You will be heavily sedated following your surgery, and you should have a trusted adult drive you home and stay with you.
Tearing can occur during the recovery process since your sutures and incisions have not fully healed. Pesky gravity will naturally pull on your skin, and this can put the sutures around your forehead, temples, and ears at risk of tearing.
In order to minimize tearing, you need to keep this dressing around your face until your follow-up. At your follow-up visit, your facial plastic surgeon in Los Angeles will assess your healing process and remove your gauze. Your doctor will also warn you that your pain experience will come to a head in the next two days or so, and you can circumvent this by taking your prescribed pain medication before you start feeling bad.
It’s also important to sleep propped up on a few pillows on your back. Sleeping on your side or on your stomach can cause irritation to your healing face. It’s also possible that the angle and pressure of your face on the pillow results in the tearing of your sutures.
While you may start feeling energetic as early as a week after your surgery, you should not resume your normal workout schedule. Overexerting yourself after surgery may result in excessive bleeding or swelling.
At the end of your second week of recovery, you can resume light activities like walking. It’s still recommended that you avoid sweating or straining yourself during exercise. You should avoid intense cardio like cycling classes or HIIT until your surgical site has healed further.
In total, our plastic surgeons recommend taking it easy to avoid tearing during your post-operative period. Most of all, you should:
- Not remove your gauze on your own
- Sleep on your back and propped up at an angle
- Avoid strenuous activities