The American Society of Plastic Surgeons publishes a list of facelift risks. This page reads that list closely and asks what it leaves open for someone whose situation is not the textbook one.
The risks the society names
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons states that facelift risks, while rare, include the following:
- Anesthesia risks
- Bleeding
- Deep vein thrombosis, cardiac and pulmonary complications
- Facial nerve injury with weakness
- Fluid accumulation
- Infection
- Numbness or other changes in skin sensation
- Persistent pain
- Poor wound healing and skin loss
- Prolonged swelling
- Skin irregularities and discoloration
- Sutures that may spontaneously surface through the skin, become visible or produce irritation that require removal
- Temporary or permanent hair loss at the incisions
- Unfavorable scarring
- Unsatisfactory results, which may include asymmetry, unsatisfactory surgical scar location and unacceptable visible deformities at the ends of the incisions
That is a flat list. It names each risk and does not rank them or say which apply to you.
Where a flat list stops being enough
The list assumes the reader is a blank slate. Several entries are really other topics that reach into your own health. Anesthesia risks, infection and deep vein thrombosis each have their own page on this site, because each one connects to the rest of your health.
For a second description of the operation, MedlinePlus publishes an entry on facelift surgery. Reading two lists side by side shows which items every source repeats.
What the list leaves to a surgeon
The list names the possibilities. It does not say how your history changes the weight of any single entry. That judgment belongs to the surgeon, who can look at your conditions, your medicines and your plans together.
What to raise before you decide
Pick the entries that touch your own situation and ask about them by name. Ask how your surgeon would handle each one, and ask it before you commit to a date.
Stanford Health Care also publishes a page on facelift and facial surgery. Read it before you go, and write down any point where it differs from what you hear in person.