While discussing plastic surgery with a friend the other day, she said that a friend of hers had been told by her plastic surgeon that face lifts are horribly painful and require you to miss work for several weeks.
I’d never heard this.
So what’s the Straight Dope?
According to my mother (an RN) and the plastic surgeon she works with, a face lift is NOT painful because the nerves are cut, so your face is at least partially numb. The nerves regenerate (or reconnect, I don’t really know) over a period of time.
What could be painful is the drain they put in your neck to help with the excess fluids. The drain is removed after 5-7 days though, to reduce risk of infection.
This is only how this one particular surgeon does face-lifts, so it could be different with other surgeons.
Here is a link to her FAQ. I can’t link directly to the facelift FAQ, so you’ll have to go to Surgical Procedures/Facial Surgery where you can click on facelift.
This is the surgeon who did my recent (2.5 weeks) liposuction, so I trust her and her opinion.
According to my mother (an RN) and the plastic surgeon she works with, a face lift is NOT painful because the nerves are cut, so your face is at least partially numb. The nerves regenerate (or reconnect, I don’t really know) over a period of time.
What could be painful is the drain they put in your neck to help with the excess fluids. The drain is removed after 5-7 days though, to reduce risk of infection.
This is only how this one particular surgeon does face-lifts, so it could be different with other surgeons.
Here is a link to her FAQ. I can’t link directly to the facelift FAQ, so you’ll have to go to Surgical Procedures/Facial Surgery where you can click on facelift.
This is the surgeon who did my recent (2.5 weeks) liposuction and my Mom’s tummy tuck last October, so I trust her and her opinion.
I’m on a double posting kick!
So how did the lipo work for you, Sue? Wheredya have it done (on the body, I mean)? Did it hurt? Etc. Etc?
My best friend had her boobs done a year ago, said it didn’t hurt too bad. I’m stacked and I don’t really need plastic surgery on anything else but when I’m old and had access to it and needed it, I’d definitely get freshened up a bit.
Oh, I’m going to be a plastic surgery junkie. I know it. 
It seems to be going well. I can’t expect the final results for 4-6 months as it takes that long for all the swelling to go away. I like what I see though. Most of my bruising is gone and I feel well enough to resume exercising.
For the whole nitty gritty, look here.