During Surgery

How long your face-lift takes, where it is done and whether or not you have a general anaesthetic or not will be determined by the extent of surgery you are having done. Face-lifts are usually done in an out patients clinic or hospital and may require an overnight stay.

Face-lifts are usually performed under a general anaesthetic, although some types of face-lift can be performed under local anaesthetic so you are sedated but awake during the surgery. One of the biggest risks of any surgery is going under general anaesthetic so discuss your options carefully with your surgeon.

During surgery the surgeon will make incisions, usually in the hairline, to enable him/her to remove excess fatty tissue and tighten the underlying facial muscles. The skin will then be pulled back and tightened to smooth out wrinkles before it is stitched and stapled back up. Exactly how the surgery is done and where the scarring will depend on the type of face-lift you are having.

A face-lift typically takes between 1 ½ – 2 hours but may take 3 or 4 hours if you are having a brow-lift or neck lift at the same time. If the two procedures are going to take a long time then your surgeon may decide to perform them on separate occasions.