Facelift Recovery Stories From My Austin Practice
At five weeks after a facelift, most of the patients I see in Austin are back to their normal routines. They’re out in public and back at work. And yet they’re still healing in ways that are easy to forget.
Sandy sat down with us at five weeks post-op to talk about her recovery. Here’s what she shared, along with what I usually see at this stage.
Sandy’s Story
Sandy is 70, and I performed her deep plane facelift and lip lift here in Austin. At five weeks, she sat down with Wendee from our team to talk about how it’s going. Wendee calls her one of her favorite patients, and I have to agree.
Before surgery, photos were the hardest part for her. Every time she took a picture of herself, she was embarrassed by what she saw. In her words, “my face is sliding off my head.” She had been thinking about getting on a dating app, but she kept putting it off because she didn’t like how she looked.
She also told us she walked into her consultation thinking she would never go through with it. By the time she left, she had made up her mind. Her daughters were caught completely off guard, because she hadn’t even been talking about it. She was kind enough to credit our team for that. She said Wendee was so friendly and encouraging, and once she met me, “it was all over.”
The Hard Part of Her Recovery
Sandy was very honest that the first couple of days were rough. She doesn’t do well with anesthesia, and the nausea for the first 48 hours was a real setback for her. She said that was when she regretted the surgery. I appreciate that she shared that, because it’s a real part of recovery for some patients, and it passes.
She also wished she had known more about what’s normal along the way. The bumps she could feel behind her ears worried her, and she wasn’t sure if they were supposed to be there. They are. That firmness along the incisions is part of healing and softens over time. Her advice really comes down to this: you need reassurance at every stage. That’s why she offered to be a phone call away for another patient who was going through recovery at the same time.
Looking back, she said the recovery was “really what she said it would be.” She felt better about her face at two weeks and kept improving toward the one-month mark. She did go out in public at two weeks, even though she didn’t feel she looked her best yet.
Where She Is Now
At five weeks, Sandy feels like she took at least 10 years off. Then she laughed and said maybe 20, since she doesn’t remember what she looked like at 60. The best part of the interview was hearing about her trip to the mall, where a man flirted with her for the first time in years. She called our office to tell us about it. “That’s the first time in years that anybody’s even looked at me twice,” she said.
Her daughters are amazed. They used to notice her wrinkles, and now they tell her she looks awesome. Her 8-year-old granddaughter told her she looks a lot better than she did before, and then asked if she could look behind her ears.
Sandy is waiting to tell her friends, who all live in Houston, what she had done. She wants to see if they notice on their own first. And she’s finally ready for that dating app. As she put it, if someone doesn’t want to date her, “that’s fine, it’s their loss.”
What’s Typical at Five Weeks
Most of the Swelling Is Gone
By five weeks, the visible swelling has usually come down a lot. Some subtle swelling, often along the jawline, under the chin, or behind the ears, can take a few more months to settle. It’s often more noticeable in the morning.
Some Tightness and Numbness Remain
It’s common to still feel tightness in the neck and numbness around the ears and cheeks. Sensation keeps returning gradually. Tingling or itching can be a sign that nerves are waking up.
Incisions Are Still Maturing
Incisions are usually closed and healing well by now, but they’re often still pink. They’ll keep fading over the next several months. I usually have patients continue to use silicone gel and sunscreen until the incisions have completely healed. While the incisions are still pink, it is pretty manageable to wear a tinted sunscreen or concealer on them so that they aren’t noticable.
Activity
Most patients are back to normal daily activity and light exercise by now. You may still feel fatigued, but short walks help a lot with this. My post on exercise after a facelift has more detail.
Results Keep Improving After Five Weeks
Five weeks isn’t the final result. The tissues continue to soften and settle for months. Patients are often surprised that they like their result even more at three, six, and twelve months than they did at one month.
That’s one reason I ask patients to be patient with photos early on. Comparing day-to-day can be frustrating. Comparing month-to-month is much more encouraging.
How to Protect Your Result Long Term
What you do after recovery affects how long your facelift lasts. A 2026 study on deep plane facelift longevity reviewed patients who came back for a revision lift years later, and found that patients who were younger at their first facelift tended to go longer before a second one.
I recommend that all of my Austin facelift patients maintain their skin in our office with treatments including BBL, Halo laser resurfacing, and Morpheus8 to continue building collagen and elastin.
Other daily habits that help most are the ones you’d expect: sun protection, good skincare, a stable weight, and not smoking. My post on how to maintain facelift results goes into more detail.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it normal to still have swelling 5 weeks after a facelift?
Yes. Most visible swelling is gone, but subtle swelling can last a few months, especially along the jaw and neck.
When will my facelift look final?
Many results look settled around three to six months, and continue to refine up to a year. Healing varies.
Why does my face still feel numb?
The skin nerves need time to recover after being lifted. Feeling usually returns gradually over months.
The Best Part Is Still Ahead
Five weeks is often when patients start enjoying their result without thinking about recovery every day, and the best is usually still to come. If Sandy’s story sounds like where you’d like to be, let’s talk about your goals and what recovery would look like for you at my office in southwest Austin.
You May Also Like:
- How Long Does a Deep Plane Facelift Last?
- How to Maintain Facelift Results
- Managing Swelling After a Facelift
- Patient Stories
- Facelift Before and After Gallery
