Deep Plane Facelift Recovery: My Day-by-Day 2 Week Transformation

I documented my deep plane facelift recovery day by day for the first two weeks, including the swelling, bruising, stitches, lymphatic drainage massages, scar care, and the emotional ups and downs nobody really prepares you for.

Along with my deep plane facelift, I had a neck lift, lip lift, and lower blepharoplasty, so there was a lot happening with my face at once.

If you're researching what deep plane facelift recovery actually looks like during the first 14 days, this is my experience—including the messy, uncomfortable, and very unglamorous parts.

If you read about what happened on the day of my deep plane facelift surgery, you already know things didn't quite go to plan. I ended up spending far longer at the surgery center than either of us expected. Some unforeseen complications turned day one into a total blur, and I woke up in an unplanned overnight stay at the surgery center rather than my own bed.

So this story picks up on day two, back in my Airbnb in Los Angeles, because that's really where the actual recovery began.

Over the following 14 days, I documented everything: the swelling, the bruising, the wins, the setbacks, and the whole unglamorous middle of it. This is the part I wish someone had shown me honestly before I went in for a facelift, neck lift, lip lift, and lower blepharoplasty of my own.

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Want to watch the recovery instead? I documented my first 14 days after my deep plane facelift, neck lift, lip lift, and lower blepharoplasty in the video below—including the swelling, bruising, setbacks, and the day I started wondering if I'd made a huge mistake.

Deep Plane Facelift Recovery Days 2–4: Swelling, Showering and the First Stitches Removed

Day two, I still couldn't talk properly, everything felt tight and puffy, and I had maybe a sliver more energy than the day before, but the actual highlight of the morning was brushing my teeth for the first time in days. I mean that with zero exaggeration—it felt like a spiritual experience. Try opening your mouth two millimeters and managing a toothbrush through it, and you'll understand why.

I still couldn't shower, so I felt thoroughly greasy and gross, but that one small act of brushing my teeth made me feel human again in a way nothing else had. I also started drinking daily protein shakes to help support my recovery, even though my appetite had all but disappeared, which is wildly out of character for someone who's normally planning her next meal before she's finished the current one. I think my body was simply routing every ounce of energy toward healing because the swelling was still enormous.

By day three, I could talk again—sort of. My voice was very raspy, but at least I could communicate with my husband, who was taking care of me.

Day four brought real progress: talking came easier, eating came easier, I graduated to a different face sling, and, biggest of all, I was cleared to shower. Nothing, and I mean nothing, makes you appreciate hot water on your scalp quite like three straight days of looking and feeling like a glazed donut.

I even logged into work that afternoon, camera strictly off, because I'd only taken three days away from my job and my vision was still too unreliable to sit through a video call comfortably. That afternoon, I also received a steroid shot at my doctor's office to help bring the swelling down, and my surgeon removed a few stitches from behind my ears, which felt like the first tangible sign that the worst might be behind me.

Facelift Recovery Days 5–9: Lymphatic Massage, Stitch Removal and Finally Washing My Hair

This stretch became a rhythm of doctor visits, lymphatic drainage massages, and slow, steady stitch removal. The swelling dropped noticeably after the steroid shot, although a rough night's sleep on day five didn't do me any favors.

After a facelift, I had to sleep on my back, which was challenging because I'm a side sleeper, and I was still adjusting to sleeping propped up. A wedge pillow became my friend and made the whole situation more comfortable, although there's really no way to make sleeping upright feel completely natural when all you want to do is roll over onto your side.

I also still hadn't washed my hair, and between the crusted blood and a hip drain left over from an unrelated seroma revision I'd had done while I was in LA, my Airbnb shower situation was genuinely comical. I ended up waiting until the drain came out before finally—blessedly—washing my hair that night, and it took every ounce of patience I had because dried blood does not come out in one go, no matter how much you want it to.

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My Experience With Lymphatic Massage After a Facelift

The lymphatic drainage massages themselves are worth being honest about because, at least for me, they were definitely not a spa day. It's closer to someone gently pressing on every single place that already hurts, but lymphatic massage was an important part of the aftercare plan my medical team had recommended for me.

My advice from my own experience is not to cheap out on your aftercare. If your surgical team recommends post-operative massages, consider building that expense into your surgery budget from the beginning, because it doesn't make much sense to spend thousands on the procedure and then decide the recommended aftercare is where you want to cut corners.

My massage therapist, Courtney, had worked with me before after a Lipo 360 procedure a year earlier, and having that continuity made a real difference. She even talked me through a bandage rash I developed from the head wrap, which was one of those small, unglamorous side effects nobody warns you about.

By day seven, the swelling around my eyes had visibly improved, and by day eight I could open my mouth enough to eat more normally. More stitches came out along the way, while a few dissolvable ones were left to do their own thing behind my ears since that area was healing more slowly and wasn't visible anyway. The general trajectory was clearly upward.

When Did I First Go Out in Public After My Facelift?

Day nine brought my first real trip outside since surgery: a walk along the beach in Santa Monica, with my hair down to cover my ears and sunglasses and a hat doing the rest of the work. I was very aware of how I looked and wondered whether other people would notice that something was different, but nobody stared and nobody seemed to notice.

It turns out most people are far less focused on you than your own head convinces you they are.

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Day 10 After My Facelift: Swelling, Asymmetry and Second-Guessing My Results

I want to be especially honest about day ten because I think it's one of the days that matters most for anyone considering this kind of surgery. Ten days in, I had a rough emotional day: my face still looked swollen and asymmetrical, one eyebrow sat higher than the other, one eye had taken on an unintentional cat-eye pull, and a sunglasses strap had left an actual swollen lump on one side of my face that hadn't shown up on the other.

I remember looking at myself and thinking, What did I do to my face? Did I get botched? How long is this going to take to look normal again? I worried about going back on camera at work and having people quietly wonder what had happened to me, and I even second-guessed the entire decision.

I wondered if doing this in my forties made me look unnecessary, vain, or selfish, even though, if I'm being fully honest, I don't actually care what strangers think. There is still something incredibly vulnerable about looking in the mirror and not quite recognizing yourself, especially when you're only ten days into a process that you know intellectually is nowhere near finished.

What got me through that day was something I'd already told myself repeatedly while scrolling through recovery support groups and seeing other people going through their own versions of the same panic: it's still early, be patient, and remember that everyone heals on their own timeline. Day ten is not day 30, and it's definitely not day 90.

My husband, who is annoyingly calm about these things, just kept telling me I looked normal with my hair down. I didn't fully believe him that day, but I believed in the process, and that turned out to matter more.

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Facelift Recovery Days 11–13: Straws, Scars and a Very Lopsided Smile

Day eleven brought a small, strange milestone: I could finally sip from a straw. I'd assumed using a straw had nothing to do with my lip lift until I realized just how much upper lip movement you actually need to create suction, and eleven days of eating smoothies with a spoon will teach you that fast.

That same day, I finally looked closely at my ear scars for the first time, checking the healing and comparing them with the original incision plan. We also took a break from the recovery routine entirely, hopped in a Waymo, and followed it with a very indulgent, very LA grocery store run for soda, salads, and an obscenely good slice of pizza. It was proof that recovery doesn't have to mean cutting yourself off from actually enjoying the place you're healing in.

By day twelve, the swelling had mostly plateaued day to day, although the bruising had started to fade, and I had my final lymphatic massage before flying home. My smile at that point was its own small comedy—tight, stiff, and noticeably lopsided since more pulling had been done on one side than the other. I looked, and felt, like a four-year-old being told to say cheese.

Day thirteen was a travel-prep day that included packing up the Airbnb, going to one last appointment, and getting a CO2 laser treatment on my lip lift scar. There was also the genuinely tempting urge to pick at every scab on my ears, which I mostly, though not perfectly, resisted.

2 Weeks After My Deep Plane Facelift: Flying Home

I flew home on day fourteen, and I can honestly say nothing beats sleeping in your own bed after two weeks of Airbnb recovery. The CO2 laser scab from the day before looked dark and crusty and was a little uncomfortable, but I'd choose that trade-off again without hesitation.

At two weeks, I was certainly not looking at my final facelift results. I still had swelling, asymmetry, stiffness, and a lot more healing ahead of me, but compared with day two, the transformation was already significant.

What My First Two Weeks of Facelift Recovery Taught Me

These two weeks were a genuine rollercoaster, with moments when I felt brave and others when I felt completely vulnerable and unsure I'd made the right decision. Telling this story honestly—complications, swelling, asymmetry, messy hair, emotional lows, and all the uncomfortable in-between parts included—reminded me that recovery isn't a straight line.

For me, it was about giving myself permission to change, to be imperfect in public for a while, and to trust a process that wasn't moving at the pace I wanted it to. If you're considering a deep plane facelift or you're somewhere in your own recovery right now feeling exactly like I did on day ten, I hope seeing my experience helps you feel a little more informed and a little less alone.

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Frequently Asked Questions About My Deep Plane Facelift Recovery

How swollen was I two weeks after my deep plane facelift?

I still had noticeable swelling at the two-week mark, although it had improved dramatically compared with the first few days. My face was also still somewhat asymmetrical, and I knew I was nowhere near seeing my final result.

When could I go out in public after my facelift?

My first real public outing was on day nine, when I walked along the beach in Santa Monica wearing sunglasses and a hat and keeping my hair down around my ears. I was very aware of how I looked, but nobody seemed to notice or pay attention. It's important to walk and move your body after surgery, so I also walked to the surgeon's office for daily appointments. It was only four blocks away and I was self conscious of how I looked so I wore a hoodie and sunglasses.

When could I wash my hair after my facelift?

I was cleared to shower on day four, but because of my particular recovery circumstances, I waited longer to properly wash my hair. Once I finally did, removing the dried blood took patience and more than one wash. Your surgeon may tell you it's ok to shower sooner.

Did I get lymphatic drainage massages after my facelift?

Yes. Lymphatic drainage massage was part of my post-operative recovery plan, and I had several sessions during my first two weeks. My experience reinforced for me how important it is to budget for the aftercare recommended by your own surgical team rather than thinking only about the cost of the surgery itself.

When could I eat normally after my facelift and lip lift?

Eating was difficult during the first several days because I couldn't open my mouth very far, but by around day eight, opening my mouth and eating had become noticeably easier. Using a straw took even longer, and I wasn't able to comfortably create suction until around day eleven.

Was my face asymmetrical during facelift recovery?

Very much so. Day ten was particularly difficult because one eyebrow looked higher, one eye appeared more pulled than the other, and the swelling wasn't even on both sides of my face, which was one of the biggest reasons I started questioning my results so early in the healing process.

When did I start feeling more comfortable being seen after my facelift?

Day nine was my first public outing, but feeling comfortable was another story. During those first two weeks, my confidence changed from day to day depending on the swelling, and wearing my hair down, sunglasses, and a hat helped me feel less self-conscious when I first ventured outside.

Could I fly two weeks after my facelift?

I flew home on day fourteen after being in Los Angeles for my initial recovery and follow-up care. This was based on my individual situation and the guidance I received from my own medical team, so if you're traveling for facelift surgery, ask your surgeon specifically when they consider it safe for you to fly because your procedure and recovery may be very different from mine.

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Watch My Full 14-Day Deep Plane Facelift Recovery

Want to see what the recovery actually looked like? Watch my full 14-day deep plane facelift recovery vlog above, where I documented the changes in my face throughout those first two weeks, including the days when I was swollen, bruised, uncomfortable, and questioning everything.

I'm continuing to document my results as the swelling goes down and my face settles, so I'll also be sharing more updates as my recovery progresses.

This article documents my personal experience with cosmetic surgery and recovery. It is not medical advice, and my recovery should not be taken as a prediction of what yours will look like. Procedures, risks, aftercare, recovery timelines, massage, medications, travel, and other post-operative decisions should be discussed with your surgeon or qualified healthcare professional.

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