Swelling After Facial Procedures

Swelling After Facial Procedures.

Choosing to have plastic surgery is always a big step. More people are deciding to have this permanent form of cosmetic change due to the aging population and the amount of Hollywood stars that talk about their procedures. An especially popular form of plastic surgery for women and men over 40 are facial procedures. Here are a few things that you can expect when going in for yours.

Keep in mind that there are many different types of plastic surgeries for the face that can be performed. There are upper and lower lifts. There are also laser treatments, which are also known as laser skin resurfacing. The goal of all facial procedures is to correct issues on the face that can happen as a person ages. Sagging skin, wrinkles, jowls and deep cheek folds are all issues that traditional surgeries can correct, while laser procedures tend to target smaller skin imperfections such as small wrinkles.

A facial procedure is usually performed by a board certified plastic surgeon under general anesthesia. Cuts are made into the skin at the hairline, and the underlying tissue and muscle is pulled taut. This gives the skin a smoother, more youthful appearance. Sometimes, excess skin is also removed from the facial area. All of this work can be done on an outpatient basis. Patients are often up and moving around very soon.

If you have a full or partial surgery, you are going to have to deal with some discomfort afterwards. Swelling will be a part of this and you have to have reasonable expectations. You are not going to come out of surgery and immediately look great. The adjustment of muscles, fatty tissue and skin is going to get a reaction from the body. Swelling will be prominent immediately after the procedure as the body forces blood into the area to help with the healing. Frankly, your face will look like a balloon. After a few weeks, however, the swelling should seriously abate. This will let you get a better idea of the final look. That being said, some minor swelling can last as long as 10 months, so you have to be patient.

Having plastic surgery on your face requires significant surgical invasion into muscles, skin and fatty material. The body is going to act to heal itself by pushing blood into the area. This will result in swelling on a large scale. Don't panic when you see yourself for the first time after the surgery. The swelling will go down with time.

Ricardo de Silva is with PlasticSurgeonPractices.com - a directory of plastic surgeons. Visit us to read more plastic surgery articles.