FACELIFT POST-OP: 2 Months Later

The two month anniversary of my face and neck-lift surgery came and went without much incident. The white spots near my left temple I’d been concerned about washed off with some scrubbing. I felt a little silly for calling my surgeon’s office about the dried areas that didn’t seem to be healing. Her advice had been correct, however, and I realized I had not been washing the “numb” areas along the sides of my face very well. I had been worried I’d hurt myself if I scrubbed too much, and frankly it’s weird to touch your face and feel…nothing.

It looks like I’ll be wearing red, white and bruised this Memorial Day. The scars behind my ears are still a quite ugly shade of red, and there are lingering scabs behind my left ear lobe (perhaps I should scrub them harder…?). There are still blue bruised areas on my left temple, but they are easily covered with makeup. Ever heard of your tragus? It’s part of your ear — that pointy little part in the front that you never noticed until now. Today I noticed the TRAGUS on each of my ears is tipped in white. Maybe from not scrubbing, maybe from dead skin accumulating, or drainage of some kind? I still don’t have much feeling on either side, so I pinched them a little and they just got worse. I tried some triple antibiotic and will wait and see what happens.

The numbness is still fading on the right side of my face, and the left side continues to lag behind.

Now for the big story.

Remember how I complained about hearing “through cotton” the first few days after surgery? When the left ear continued to feel that way I saw my primary care physician who noticed dried blood in each ear. She suggested I flush the ear gently with warm water and a little hydrogen peroxide. I did, and some dried flecks did indeed come out, and my hearing returned to what I’d consider normal.

For a couple days this week, I noticed a tickly sensation inside my left ear. I was super busy playing with NINE grandchildren for several days, so didn’t have much time to think about it. On the exact two-month anniversary of the surgery, May 25, I got out of bed in the morning and walked into the kitchen.

Tickle. Tickle. Plop.

A gigantic (anything coming out of your ear seems gigantic) dried chunk of blood fell out of my left ear.

Nasty! Ew! Nasty!

I saved it for you, comparing it to the size of a standard pin.

My hearing is even better, and I realized I’d been really raising my voice since the surgery, and tugging on my right ear to help me hear. I sure don’t need to do that anymore! The takeaway from this incident was a happy reminder that left to its own devices, the amazing human body will do its best to clean and repair itself no matter what we put it through. Even major voluntary surgery.

Have a great week. I’ll check back soon with more tragus updates