Facelift FAQs: Answering Your Top Queries

Most women or men considering facelift surgery at my Pasadena practice often ask multiple questions at their initial consultations. Questions about cost, recovery, and whether they are even good candidates for a facelift are pretty common. I will address several of these questions—which are also frequently asked on Google—in this blog post.

I encourage patients to research procedures online but to make sure the source of their information is reputable. Here is some information that I hope helps patients become well-informed about facelifts.

Q. When can I exercise after a facelift?

A. In the first 1 to 2 weeks after a facelift, physical activity should be limited to an activity level similar to that of walking a calm dog. Because my patients usually experience minimal postoperative pain, they take only extra-strength Tylenol for a few days to manage discomfort. Patients may safely drive within a week if they are physically and emotionally stable and have stopped taking stronger reflex-altering pain medication. As for exercise, that’s really something that’s best determined on a case-by-case basis; your surgeon will clear you for more strenuous activities when you’re ready.

Q. When should I consider a facelift?

A. Men and women who want facelifts or neck lifts may be motivated because the face they see in the mirror appears much older than they feel. Frequently, they believe that older appearance influences how other people—including friends, family, or co-workers—treat them. As a board-certified plastic surgeon, I’m trained to carefully analyze the condition of your skin and the underlying muscle to create a logical and effective operative strategy to make specific corrections and achieve consistent and reliable results. A facelift is a reasonable choice if you feel self-conscious about your appearance and you have goals that can be realistically accomplished.

Q. How much does a facelift cost?

A. Because facial plastic surgery is customized depending on a number of factors, it’s not possible to provide a cost without a thorough physical evaluation. The cost of a facelift is based primarily on the complexity of the procedure that’s needed to produce the desired results.

Q. What is a Silhouette InstaLift™?

A. At an International Plastic Surgery Meeting in Paris in 2017, I was invited to participate in the clinical usage of the newly designed Silhouette InstaLift™ Suture System because of my experience with threading suture techniques since 1995. The Silhouette InstaLift represents one of a number of “threading” techniques available to lift facial and neck tissues. It has evolved considerably in the past 20 years and now consists entirely of absorbable sutures designed with fixation points of cogs, knots, and barbs and patches.

The cogs face in opposite directions to hold and elevate tissue that’s just below the skin. The InstaLift is a less invasive technique for facial rejuvenation, but it’s not appropriate for all patients. The effectiveness of InstaLift and other threading techniques depend on the:

• thickness, firmness, and distribution of the fatty tissue
• degree of sagging of skin, fat, and muscle
• number of threads and their strategic placement

Ideal candidates should have a thick layer of subcutaneous fat. Patients with minimal fat or too much fat to be effectively suspended by sutures and whose skin sags too much are not good candidates for the procedure.

Q. How do you perform a Vampire Facelift®?

A. The Vampire Facelift is a catchy name, but it’s really not an optimal technique as red blood cells are not removed from platelet-rich plasma (PRP). I have consulted for the past 7 years for PRP device companies involved in a number of Institutional Review Board studies for the best skin rejuvenation treatments. As a plastic surgeon in Pasadena, CA, I’ve developed a strict protocol for combining microneedling with PRP for facial rejuvenation (which is a different technique than a Vampire Facelift). Microneedling creates channels in the skin through which the PRP is massaged.

We customize how deep the needles penetrate and the number of passes necessary to create the optimal results. We recommend repeating PRP treatments after 3 to 6 months.

If you’re considering a facelift, you can observe the types of results I create by browsing the gallery of before-and-after photos. You can contact our office using the online form to request a consultation or call us at (626) 268-4524 to schedule an appointment.