Avéli Cellulite Treatment

You will feel some tightness when the anesthetic wears off after your facelift surgery. A head wrap will be placed following the procedure and is left in place until the next morning. Pain will be minimal, but the constrictive nature of the head wrap may be uncomfortable to some patients. However, most of our patients find this very tolerable.

Swelling, bruising, and soreness are to be expected after a rhytidectomy, but post-operative instructions and recommended medications will be given to ease any discomfort. It’s common to also experience temporary swelling, lumpiness, and discoloration. Though somewhat visually disconcerting, most people feel it is a negligible inconvenience to pay for the physical and psychological improvement they experience after a facelift.

The head wrap system that Dr. Velargo uses also has integrated ice packs specifically designed to contour to your face. Frequent application of these cool compresses for the first 72 hours helps to speed the healing process along. Dr. Velargo gives every facelift patient several days worth of Ocumend pads (contain 50 x the concentration of Arnica Montana than over the counter preparations as well as Ledum palustre), which drastically reduces the amount of bruising as well as the length of bruising following your procedure.

With some make-up, your hair worn down, a neck scarf (which Dr. Velargo will provide you with), and thick-rimmed sunglasses, you should be able to go out in public within a few days with minimal attention drawn to yourself. Most patients take 2 weeks off from work after a rhytidectomy.

Lumps and bumps may be present in the initial phases of healing. These usually go away with time, but we can often speed the healing process with local injections of steroids.

Incisions should be cared for around 4 times per day by cleansing the incision lines with hydrogen peroxide and applying bacitracin ointment. For dark-haired individuals, Dr. Velargo recommends cleansing the incisions with witch hazel to avoid bleaching the hair with hydrogen peroxide.

All sutures and staples are removed at one week except a tiny blue stitch at the corner of each earlobe. This stitch is kept in place for a total of 2 weeks to prevent accidental pulling of the earlobe in the initial healing phase.

You must avoid turning the head or stretching the neck for 2 weeks. When you turn, move the shoulders and head as one unit or as though you had a stiff neck. This is important to prevent stretching the healing incisions and causing the scars to widen, as well as to prevent putting tension on the deep sutures beneath the skin, which could cause them to loosen. Because of this risk, we advise patients to not drive for 2 weeks following surgery.

In order to minimize swelling, you are advised to sleep with the head of your bed elevated or in a recliner for 2-4 weeks post-op. The most common cause of post-op pain is not from the surgery itself, but from improper posture while sleeping on your back. The hips, back, and head should be in a straight line whenever you are lying down.

Parts of the face, neck, ears, and scalp might still feel weak or numb after the facelift operation. This is to be expected and is usually temporary. It may take several weeks or, and on rare occasions, months for this to subside. The top of the head may itch or exhibit numbness for 6-12 months.

The facial skin may feel tight for a while, and you may feel that it interferes with normal facial expressions. This should disappear within a few weeks when swelling subsides.

There may be thinning of the hair in areas adjacent to the suture lines at the temple or forehead/scalp and behind the ear. This usually occurs because the trauma of surgery “shocks” the hair follicles. It can sometimes be avoided by closely adhering to the instructions about shampooing and cleaning the suture lines, and the hair generally re-grows over time. The incisions are designed in such a manner that the hair in the temporal area and post-auricular area should grow right through the scars. Should a problem arise, we will advise you on any additional treatments.

After all stitches and/or clips have been removed, the scars will appear deep pink in color. There will be varying amounts of swelling in and around the scars themselves. With the passage of time, the pink should become white, the firmness of the scar should soften, and they should become less noticeable. It takes approximately one year for these changes to occur and for scars to fully mature.

As a rule, 80% of swelling is gone in 2 weeks, and 90% of swelling is generally gone by 2 months. So, do not evaluate the results of your surgery too soon. While you will look younger right away, facelifts continue to show subtle refinement for a significant period of time.