Most patients want to heal as quickly as possible after having a facelift from one of our amazing surgeons at Utah Facial Plastics. Whether you need to get back to work, have a special event or just want to show all your friends and family just how refreshed and refined you look, here are some tips to help you heal faster after surgery.
Taking Medications As Instructed
The medications that you receive from your surgeon prior to surgery are very important to get filled in advance. We also give all of our facelift patients arnica, which is a homeopathic supplement that helps minimize bruising and swelling. Many patients have also told us that eating pineapple before and after surgery helped them tremendously with recovery. Pineapple has bromeain, an ingredient that can speed up the healing process and also help reduce inflammation. An antiobiotic is given to facelift patients to help reduce the chances of infection as well as a steroid, to help with healing.
What To Avoid Before and After
Avoiding certain things before and after surgery will also help your body heal. Two weeks prior to surgery we recommend that you avoid any blood thinners, such as fish oil, Vitamin E, Ibuprofen, and any other medications that may thin your blood. Garlic is another natural blood thinner that you will want to try your best to avoid before surgery. If you are a smoker or nicotine user, you will need to stop about two weeks before surgery and two to three weeks after. Smoking/nicotine use is very important because it will slow down the healing time. Nicotine/smokers may also heal with more visible scars.
Moving After Surgery
After your facelift surgery you will be told to walk around to get your blood flowing. This will help you heal faster and also help prevent blood clots. You do not want to do any strenuous activities, such as bending, pulling, pushing or lifting until you are given the “okay” by your surgeon to resume regular activity.
Wound Care
Wound care is such an important step to speed up the healing process after any surgery. You will want to follow all of our wound care instructions very closely to ensure all of your wounds heal properly. Some essentials you will need for wound care is hydrogen peroxide, Q-tips, gauze and Bacitracin.
Scar Recovery
All of our facelift patients receive scar recovery gel by SkinMedica. The scar recovery gel can be started as soon as the sutures are out to help speed up the healing process. This gel can be applied twice a day for optimal results. We also give our patients sunscreen to apply for at least one year following surgery. Keeping your scars and face protected from the sun will help them continue to fade and not be visible to others.
For more information on facelift surgery, call (801) 776-2220 or contact us HERE.