I went seeking a neck lift. I had been heavy as a young man and unfortunately developed one of those necks that started at my chin and ended at my chest. Losing weight just made it more jiggly. There was no way my neck line was coming back on it's own. Liposuction would have removed the fat but left me with a great deal of excess skin. I inquired about a direct incision cervioplasty but was told I was too young for that, that the scar up the middle of the neck would be too obvious. I decided on a lower facelift/necklift combination with liposuction and tightening of the neck muscles. Along with a lower blephroplasty to get rid of the fat bags under they eyes.
I had a lower facelift and lower blephroplasty on Tuesday the 14th. I am still swollen around the eyes and cheeks, though the eyes show much improvement. My neck is numb and the area around the stitches is sore. My eyes are watering like you can not believe, making it next to impossible to focus and thus type, read or watch TV. My cheeks look like a chipmunk getting ready for the winter! This is a wait and see game.
Monday I had the stitches around my eyes and in front of my ears removed. The doctor is quite pleased. I think I look funny, but I am still swollen.
Wednesday: Well, it has been a week and one day. My eyes are almost back to normal. There is still a little bruising on the edge of my left eye. The bags are gone. The skin where the bags used to be looks a little yellow, but hopefully that will go away. My eyes don’t look young but look better. Way better.
My beard now goes all the way up to my ears. I used to have a one inch strip of skin between my ears and my sideburns but that is gone. The doctor said she had to remove a lot of fat and subsequently a lot of skin to get my neck smooth so that explains that. Eventually I will have laser hair removal to bring the strip back. My cheeks also look higher, although there is still facial swelling. One thing I do not have is any pulled skin. None of that Barry Manilow/Burt Reynolds pulled tight look (my fear). In fact I am wondering how much my face will fall once the swelling is completely gone.
As for swelling I have a dent in my right cheek and above my left cheek from the wrappings. Hopefully that will go away as the swelling subsides.
My neck was pretty black and blue but that is fading. She had to go all the way down to the clavical to get all the fat out. There is a “roll” in my neck underneath where the wrappings were. Doctor said that will subside in time.
There are still stitches in the back of my head and quite a bit of swelling as well. I go back to the surgeon on Monday the 27th.
So far I am amazed. But anxious for the swelling to go away. One thing is the doctor assured me that my double chin can never come back, she got all the fat out.
Please weigh in with any advise or questions.
Last edited by WasFatNoMore; 02-24-2012 at 11:11 AM.
1) It has been 1 week and 2 days post-op. I can still feel the swelling in my cheeks and neck. How long did that take to go away?
2) Behind my ears where all the skin was tucked in there are two big knotts on each side. How long for that swelling to go down?
3) The swelling on my left side is worse than the right and has made my hearing muffled. Did you experience that?
My eyes are almost back to normal. Except for a little crusting by the incision on my right eye and a little bruising on my left (by that crease) my eyes are fantastic. They do not look done. They look like they did when I was 40. Very happy.
My neck is still tight and numb but the surgeon said that would take a while to go away. When I woke up this morning there was some blood on my head wrap. Somehow I pulled a stitch out of my right ear, I found the stitch. Seems ok. My eyes still water more than normal.
That is about it for now. Will update again. Hope this helps someone considering the process.
Last edited by WasFatNoMore; 02-23-2012 at 03:42 PM.
Well, it is Saturday and I am still swollen. Getting a little concerned.
1) The left side is still more swollen than the right. My left ear still feels stuffed up. There is a ledge above my left cheek.
2) The right side of my cheek along the jaw has a deep dent in it.
3) My neck has a swollen ring around the middle, like a flesh necklace.
4) There are still big swellings benind both ears.
I am going back to the surgeon on Monday to have the rest of the stitches removed from behind my ears. I wish there was something I could do to reduce the swelling.
Hey there..swelling was close to 2-1/2 weeks. As far as the knots behind each ear(mine were in the temple area) I had to massage them but I ended up having surgery on one and it was a minor minor surgery..doctor did it in his office.
If you can please try to sleep on your back with head and shoulders raised. If you have a recliner and are comfortable sleeping in it then do so. I did the first couple of days.
Good Luck on Monday..I'm sure your doctor will put any fears to rest
It is Monday and I am back from the surgeon's. She is very pleased with the way I look. She thinks I am healing terrific. Point by point:
1) She took out the ramainder of the stitches behind my ears except for one on each side. Behind each ear there is a spot that is still a little raw and not completely healed. She left the stitches in there to prevent the skin from pulling since that is where all the tension is. She said this is common and to just clean the area with peroxide and put anti-biotic cream on it. No infection (my fear).
2) The swelling above my left cheek and the dent by my right side jaw she said will go away. They are both due to the swelling. She suggested gently massaging the areas to facilitate reducing the swelling. Under the cheeks it feels like there is padding.
3) The swelling behind my ears will take a few more weeks to go away.
4) My eyes look terrific. A little sore at each corner where the stitches were but otherwise terrific.
5) My range of motion is slowly coming back. I can turn my head!
6) My neck is tight and a little numb but it is progressing exactly the way the doctor said it would. The feeling is coming back and the "necklace" swelling is going away.
7) On a funny note I noticed that my beard is closer to my eyes. She really did raise my cheeks!
8) Told her about the stuffed up feeling in my left ear. She looked and could not see any blood or fluid in the ear canal. Probably a result of the swelling. Sugested taking an decongestant.
I am going crazy at home and can not wait to get back to work but I think I was right to take three weeks off. Not that this is painful, she said I could stop taking the Aleve, whcih I was only taking to reduce swelling, but to avoid looking like I had work done since there is still a little swelling and bruising on the neck.
Like I said to the Doctor, when I look in the mirror I see me again. Not some fake "youthful" look but just me! It is great to have a jaw line again!
She also showed me how much fat she removed from my neck, almost the equivilent of 2 fluid cups. And about 6 inches of excess skin! Wow!
I'm so glad your appointment went so well..to look in the mirror and see yourself looking rested and not have folds of skin in the neck area is enough to make you smile.
I am pleased so far. When she showed me a container that represented the amount of fat removed from my neck I was astounded. And the amount of skin taken off.
To look like me and not looked stretched is terrific. I didn't want to recapture lost youth, that is impossible, I just wanted the double chin gone. I think this will turn out better than I hoped.
Last edited by WasFatNoMore; 02-27-2012 at 04:57 PM.
Thanks for directing me to your thread. It's so interesting and helpful to read about others' experiences! I, too, am 54. Lost my husband last year and felt much aged by the process. Like you, not looking to recapture youth, however, just to look better. I think if I had just done the lower facelift and maybe laser resurfacing I would have been feeling better much more quickly. Although I still feel a little tightness on neck, the bottom part of face seemed to recover pretty rapidly. Within 10 days, my chin/jawline/neck looked amazing. I'm still kind of astonished by what can be accomplished. Just wish I could wave a magic wand and get the feeling back in the other parts of face where the numbness is still annoying, but I think when I look back in a few months I will be happy that I did everything at once and got it over with! Best of luck with your continued recovery and healing
Not to sound like a broken record but everyone heals at a different rate. My doctor told me that men generally swell more than women and are more likely to develop hematomas. I had to stay over night for that reason, and am glad I did. However my doctor was surprised at how little bruising I had and how little my swelling was. I beat the odds so to speak.
Now I still have two big knotts behind my ears. My cheeks feels like they have padding underneath. My neck is tight and still numb. But all is getting gradually better. I can turn my head more and open my mouth pretty wide compared to two weeks ago. I think when all is said and done I will be glad I did this.
Went back to work today. A couple people thought I lost a little weight. So far so good on that score.
My neck looks pretty good. Still feels tight. The feeling is slowly coming back. A little sore where the liposuction incision is.
My cheeks are getting softer as the swelling slowly goes away. They felt like they had padding underneath. I still have a raised ridge on my upper left cheek.
The swelling behind my left ear has gone down quite a bit but is still there. There is prominent swellling behind my right ear. The incision behind my right ear is still weeping. The left not so much.
My right eye is healing nicely. A little tender. Looks good. My left eye is still sore. The incision is still red and my right eye is still watering a lot.
That is all for now.
Last edited by WasFatNoMore; 03-05-2012 at 07:24 PM.
Saw the Doctor for a follow-up on the 23rd of April.
My eyes look great. No bags at all. In fact the skin looks totally natural, as if I was 54 with no bags. Not pulled tight.
The swelling behind each ear continues to go down. It feels as if there is a little pouch behind each ear lobe. The doctor said that will go away as the scars soften. I am thinking it will also lessen as the swelling goes down and the area behind the ears becomes flatter.
My neck and the area in front of each ear is still numb but improving. Still feels funny to shave. The scar under my chin isn't visible from straight ahead. The scars in front of each ear are not at all visible. I made my side burns really short and you can not see anything. I have to shave right up to my ear because of the skin that was removed. The lower cheeks look great. Once again no pulling.
Now the part that got me to go through this whole thing: the big fat double chin. Looks tons better. But this is also where I am the most disappointed. The two neck cords are back. What is worse is the one on the left side is more prominent than the one on the right (more droopy). I thought I would have a smooth neck when all was said and done. In fact the surgeon warned me that my neck would feel tight for quite a while after the surgery. It doesn't feel tight. I might not be as upset if the cords were even on each side but the fact remains it was the neck that bothered me, I could have lived with the droopy cheeks and eye bags. The doctor offered to do a brow lift and upper bleph but I said no I wasn't interested in looking young again, just wanted the fat neck gone.
I know I had a lot of fat in my neck and know that a lot of skin was removed but this is bothersome. I thought there would be no neck cords. She said she could tighten those up with an office procedure if it really bothered me. I go back in late June for another follow up. I am hoping that things even up more by then although I think I am as tight as I will ever be at this point. Do not get me wrong, I look tons better, it is just that it was the neck that bothered me the most, the thing I really wanted perfect.
Last edited by WasFatNoMore; 05-03-2012 at 06:13 PM.
