Dimpleplasty Risks Explained: Asymmetry, Infection and Dimples That Fade or Deepen

She had practised the smile in her bathroom mirror for years, pressing a fingertip into each cheek to see how a dimple would sit. Now she was sitting in a consultation room with a folder of screenshots, and the surgeon had just asked a question she had not prepared for: “What would you do if one side looked different from the other?”

That question is the honest heart of dimple surgery risks. Dimpleplasty is a small procedure, often finished within an hour under local anesthetic, and it is easy to assume that small means simple. The complications are rarely dangerous. They are, however, remarkably visible, because they sit in the middle of your face and show up every time you laugh.

This explainer walks through what surgeons actually do inside the cheek, why asymmetry and fading happen more often than people expect, how infection starts in a wound bathed in saliva, and which signs mean you should stop searching online and call your care team.

What actually happens during dimpleplasty

A natural dimple exists because a small gap or tether in the cheek muscle pulls skin inward when you smile. Dimpleplasty tries to copy that anatomy on purpose. The surgeon works from inside the mouth, so there is no cut on the outside of the face.

After marking the spot on the outer cheek, usually with the patient smiling and looking in a mirror, the surgeon numbs the area with a local anesthetic, a medicine injected to block pain signals in one region while you stay awake. A small incision is made in the buccal mucosa, the moist lining on the inside of the cheek. A tiny core of fat and sometimes muscle is removed to create a hollow. A stitch is then passed from the cheek lining up to the dermis, the deeper layer of skin, and tied down. That stitch pulls the skin toward the muscle and creates an adhesion, which is simply scar tissue that glues two layers together.

In the first days the new dimple is usually visible even with a neutral expression, because the stitch is holding everything tightly. As swelling settles and the stitch softens or dissolves, the hope is that the internal scar keeps the tether while the skin relaxes enough that the dimple mainly appears on smiling. Whether the final result lands there depends on healing you cannot control from the outside.

The NHS cosmetic procedures guidance makes the general point that applies squarely here: any procedure that breaks the skin or mucosa can bleed, get infected or heal in unexpected ways, however brief the operation itself.

Dimple surgery risks: what the evidence base actually looks like

Before listing complications, it helps to know how much we truly know. Dimpleplasty has no large randomized trials, no national registry and no guideline from a major body dedicated to it. The published literature consists of small case series from individual surgeons describing their technique, plus a handful of case reports of things going wrong. That is thin evidence by medical standards.

Why does this matter to a patient? Because it means nobody can quote you a reliable complication rate. When a website says a certain percentage of patients are happy or that problems are rare, that number usually comes from one surgeon’s own follow-up, often short and often incomplete, since people who are unhappy sometimes simply do not return. An honest surgeon will tell you what they have personally seen rather than reciting a figure that sounds precise.

What the case series do agree on is the type of problem that occurs. In rough order of how often they appear in published reports, the recurring dimple surgery risks are:

• asymmetry between the two sides in depth, position or shape
• swelling and bruising that lasts longer than expected
• dimples that soften and vanish as the internal tether fails
• dimples that remain fixed at rest and look carved rather than natural
• infection or a small abscess at the inner incision
• bleeding or a hematoma, a collection of blood under the tissue
• rare injury to a nerve branch or salivary duct

The rest of this article takes each of these in turn, explains the mechanism behind it, and says plainly where evidence is missing. Deciding whether that uncertainty is acceptable is your call, made with a qualified surgeon, and the NHS advice on whether cosmetic surgery is right for you is a useful, neutral starting point.

Why dimpleplasty asymmetry is the most common complaint

Faces are not symmetrical to begin with. One cheek usually sits slightly higher, one side of the mouth lifts a fraction more, and the skin thickness differs by a millimetre or two. A surgeon marking two dimples is therefore trying to place matching landmarks on mismatched ground.

Three separate mechanisms produce uneven results. The first is placement: a difference of even a few millimetres in position looks obvious once you are smiling, because the eye compares the two sides instantly. Surgeons often mark the classic point at the intersection of a line dropped from the outer corner of the eye and a horizontal line from the corner of the mouth, but that formula still has to be adjusted for each face.

The second is depth. The amount of fat removed and the tension on the stitch cannot be measured precisely inside a small, bleeding pocket. One side may end up with a firmer tether than the other.

The third is healing, and this is the one no surgeon controls. Scar tissue forms differently on each side. Swelling resolves at different speeds. A stitch may loosen early on one side and hold on the other, so a pair that looked matched on the operating table drifts apart over weeks.

Some degree of dimpleplasty asymmetry is close to universal, in the sense that no two created dimples are identical, just as no two natural ones are. The question you should ask is what happens if the difference bothers you. Revision usually means reopening one side, adjusting the tether or releasing it altogether, and waiting for the tissue to settle again. Not every asymmetry can be corrected, and each revision adds scar tissue that makes the next attempt harder. Surgeons generally advise waiting until swelling has fully resolved before judging the result, because early asymmetry often reflects swelling rather than technique.

Dimple surgery infection signs and why the mouth is a tricky place to heal

The inside of the cheek is warm, wet and home to hundreds of bacterial species. A surgical wound there is rinsed with saliva and brushed by food dozens of times a day. Remarkably, the mouth also heals fast and has a rich blood supply, which is why most intraoral incisions do fine. When infection does occur after dimpleplasty, it tends to be a localized problem rather than a spreading one.

The CDC describes surgical site infections as those developing within 30 days of an operation without an implant. Since dimpleplasty usually leaves a dissolvable stitch rather than a permanent implant, that 30-day window is the period to watch. The MedlinePlus page on surgical wound infection lists the signs clinicians look for, and they translate readily to the cheek:

• pain or tenderness that worsens after the first few days instead of easing
• redness or warmth of the outer cheek skin that spreads rather than shrinks
• swelling that increases after it had begun to settle
• pus, a bad taste or a foul smell from the inner incision
• fever or feeling generally unwell

A stitch abscess, meaning a small pocket of infection around the buried suture, is a specific pattern. It can cause a tender lump under the dimple or a small opening on the cheek lining that leaks. Treating it may involve removing the stitch, which can also release the dimple. That trade-off is one of the least discussed dimple surgery risks: sometimes clearing the infection means losing the result.

Antibiotics are sometimes prescribed, either preventively or once infection is suspected. Whether they are needed, which class and for how long are decisions for the prescribing clinician, based on what they see and any allergies you have. Careful mouth hygiene, avoiding smoking and following the rinsing instructions you are given are the parts you control.

Does dimple surgery fade? Why created dimples disappear

Yes, it can, and this is the outcome patients least expect. A dimple that looked crisp in week one can flatten by month three until the cheek looks as if nothing was ever done.

The reason lies in how the dimple is held. Initially the stitch does the work, pulling skin down to muscle. Over weeks the body either builds a durable adhesion, the scar tissue bond between those layers, or it does not. If the adhesion is weak, the stitch dissolves or slips and the skin springs back to its natural position. Thick, elastic skin with plenty of subcutaneous fat is particularly good at resisting a tether, so fuller cheeks are often described in case series as more prone to fading.

Fading is also influenced by early movement. Vigorous chewing, wide yawning and animated talking in the first days put repeated tension on the fresh tether. This is why surgeons often ask for a soft diet and gentle facial movement early on, even though the evidence for exactly how long is based on convention rather than trials.

Distinguishing fading from normal settling is genuinely hard. A dimple is supposed to become less visible at rest as swelling goes down, so a shallower dimple at week four may be the result behaving exactly as planned. What signals true failure is a dimple that no longer appears even on a full smile. Most surgeons wait until healing is complete before deciding, and the NHS notes that scar tissue keeps changing for many months, which is relevant since the dimple is, in essence, a controlled scar.

If a dimple fades, options include accepting the outcome or a repeat procedure. A second attempt has to work through existing scar, and there is no reliable evidence on whether it holds better or worse than the first.

Dimples that are too deep, too static or in the wrong place

The opposite problem is just as frustrating. Some dimples never soften. Months after surgery they remain a visible pit in the cheek even with a completely relaxed face, and instead of a charming flash when smiling, the person has what looks like a permanent scar or a small dent.

Overcorrection happens when too much tissue is removed, the stitch is tied too tightly, or the body forms an unusually firm adhesion. A static dimple also tends to distort with expression: rather than deepening pleasantly on a smile, it can pull the surrounding skin into a crease or a slight fold, and in some patients it looks like a puckered scar when the cheeks are pushed forward, for example when pursing the lips.

Position errors are a separate issue. A dimple placed too high can read as a hollow under the cheekbone; too close to the mouth, it can merge with the natural smile line and look like a wrinkle. Shape matters too. Many natural dimples are short vertical lines rather than round dots, and a round created dimple may look artificial to a critical eye.

Correcting an overly deep dimple usually means releasing the adhesion by dividing the scar tissue, sometimes with a small graft of fat placed into the pocket to fill it. This can help, but releasing scar is imprecise, and a shallower dimple or a slight surface irregularity may remain. Some surgeons prefer to under-correct deliberately, reasoning that a dimple that is too faint is easier to deepen than a deep one is to soften. That reasoning is logical but not proven in comparative studies, which is a fair example of where opinion currently substitutes for evidence in dimple surgery risks.

Bleeding, bruising, swelling and hematoma after dimple surgery

Swelling is not a complication; it is the expected response to cutting tissue. The cheek is loose and richly supplied with blood vessels, so it puffs up readily and can look lopsided for a while, which is why early asymmetry often frightens people unnecessarily.

Bruising follows the same logic. Blood from small vessels tracks along the tissue planes and shows through the skin as purple, then green, then yellow discolouration as the body breaks it down. People who take blood-thinning medicines, or supplements that affect clotting, are more likely to bruise, which is why surgeons ask about everything you take. Whether any medicine should be paused before surgery is a decision for the prescribing clinician; never stop a prescribed medicine on your own for a cosmetic procedure.

A hematoma is different from a bruise. It is a defined collection of blood that pools in the surgical pocket and forms a firm, tense, often painful lump. It can stretch the tissue, delay healing, and occasionally become infected. Small hematomas may be reabsorbed on their own; larger ones sometimes need to be drained. Rarely, blood collecting in the pocket disrupts the tether and contributes to a lost or misplaced dimple.

Practical measures that surgeons commonly advise, and which fit general wound-care guidance from MedlinePlus on plastic and cosmetic surgery, include keeping the head elevated when resting, using cold compresses briefly in the first day or two, avoiding hot food and drink while numb, and skipping strenuous exercise until cleared. Persistent bleeding from the mouth that does not stop with gentle pressure is not normal and warrants a call.

Rare but serious: nerve, salivary duct and deeper structures

The cheek is a crowded neighbourhood. Within a centimetre or two of where a dimple is created run the buccal branches of the facial nerve, which move the cheek and upper lip, and the parotid duct, the tube that carries saliva from the large parotid gland in front of the ear into the mouth. The buccal fat pad sits deep in the same region.

Facial nerve injury after dimpleplasty is uncommon in published reports because the procedure stays relatively superficial and the nerve branches lie deeper. Still, the injection of local anesthetic, bruising or stretching can cause temporary weakness of the upper lip or cheek on one side, so that the smile looks uneven for a while in a way unrelated to the dimple itself. Temporary weakness typically improves as swelling resolves; permanent injury is described as rare, but the sparse literature means no one can give you a dependable number.

Parotid duct injury is the other structural concern. The duct opens inside the cheek opposite the upper molars, not far from typical dimple placement. Damage can cause saliva to leak into the tissues or the duct to narrow, producing a swelling that enlarges at mealtimes. This is a well-recognised hazard of any surgery in this area and one reason surgeons place the incision and dimple carefully in relation to the molars.

Numbness or altered sensation over the cheek is more common than motor weakness and usually reflects bruising of small sensory nerve endings. Persistent altered sensation, drooping of one side of the mouth, or difficulty closing the lips fully are all reasons to be assessed rather than to wait and see.

Scarring, lumps and skin changes you can see or feel

Because the incision sits inside the mouth, dimpleplasty is often described as scarless. That is true of the outside of the face in the sense of a surgical line, but it glosses over the fact that the dimple itself is scar tissue, and scar tissue is unpredictable.

Patients sometimes notice a firm lump beneath the dimple for weeks or months. This is usually the healing adhesion plus the dissolving stitch, and it commonly softens over time. A lump that grows, becomes painful or drains fluid is more likely a stitch reaction or infection and should be seen.

Surface changes can include a slight indentation extending beyond the intended dimple, a shadow that is visible at rest, or a small area of skin that puckers when the cheek moves. Some people also report a faint depression from the fat removed if the pocket does not fill in evenly.

Keloids and hypertrophic scars deserve a mention, since the mouth lining does not usually form them but the deeper skin can. The Mayo Clinic notes that keloids are raised scars that grow beyond the original injury, can appear months after the wound, and are more common in people with darker skin and in those with a personal or family history of them. If you scar heavily anywhere on your body, tell your surgeon; it changes the conversation about dimple surgery risks for you specifically.

Scar maturation is slow. The NHS explains that scars continue to fade and soften for up to two years, which is why a final judgement on how a dimple looks at rest should not be rushed, and why revision surgery is generally delayed until the tissue has stopped changing.

Who dimpleplasty is usually for, and who is usually asked to wait

There is no medical reason to have a dimple, so the decision rests entirely on personal preference weighed against risk. Surgeons generally consider adults with realistic expectations, healthy gums and cheek lining, no active mouth infection, and a clear understanding that the result cannot be guaranteed. The NHS guidance on whether cosmetic surgery is right for you emphasises a cooling-off period between consultation and procedure, a written record of the risks discussed, and the freedom to change your mind.

Several groups are commonly asked to wait or to reconsider:

• people with active gum disease, dental infection or poor oral hygiene, because bacteria near the incision raise infection risk
• smokers and vape users, since nicotine narrows blood vessels and slows healing
• anyone with a bleeding disorder or on blood-thinning treatment, until their prescribing clinician has been consulted
• people with a strong history of keloid or hypertrophic scarring
• those with uncontrolled diabetes or other conditions that impair wound healing
• anyone under significant emotional pressure to change their appearance, or whose expectations are tied to a specific photograph of someone else

That last point is not a judgement. Body dysmorphic disorder, a condition in which a person is preoccupied with a perceived flaw others barely notice, is more common among people seeking cosmetic procedures than in the general population, and surgery rarely brings relief in that setting. A responsible surgeon may ask a few screening questions or suggest talking with a mental health professional first. Treat that as good practice rather than an obstacle.

Age matters too. Most surgeons decline to operate on minors for purely cosmetic reasons, and facial proportions keep shifting into the mid-twenties. Ultimately the treating team decides whether and when to proceed, and a surgeon who declines is exercising the same judgement you would want them to use in the operating room.

How painful is dimple surgery, and what the following days and weeks look like

The honest answer is: less painful than most people fear, and more annoying than most people expect. The local anesthetic injection stings briefly; after that, most patients report pressure and tugging rather than pain during the procedure itself.

Once the numbness wears off, the inner cheek feels sore, similar to having bitten it hard. Chewing, wide smiling and talking for long stretches pull on the wound. Over-the-counter pain relievers are commonly suggested; which type is appropriate for you, especially if you have stomach, kidney or bleeding concerns, is a question for your clinician, and this article gives no doses.

The timeline below reflects patterns described in surgical case series and general intraoral wound healing rather than trial data, so treat it as a typical shape, not a promise.

Phase	What is common	What is not typical
First 2–3 days	Swelling peaks, bruising appears, dimple looks deep at rest, soreness when chewing	Bleeding that will not stop, fever, rapidly increasing swelling
First 2 weeks	Swelling eases, stitches begin dissolving, soft diet, gentle mouth rinses as advised	Pus, foul taste, spreading redness on the outer cheek
Weeks 2–8	Dimple becomes less visible at rest and shows more on smiling; sides may look uneven as swelling resolves at different rates	Dimple absent even on a full smile; new lump that grows or hurts
Months 2–12	Scar tissue matures and softens; final appearance emerges	Persistent numbness, weakness of the lip or cheek, mealtime swelling

Most people return to desk work within a day or two. Contact sports, heavy exercise and anything that risks a blow to the face are generally postponed until the surgeon confirms the tether has settled. Follow-up appointments matter more than they seem, because early problems such as a loosening stitch are far easier to address than late ones.

How dimple surgery risks compare with other cosmetic procedures

People searching for dimple surgery risks often land on lists of the riskiest operations, so it is worth addressing that directly. There is no agreed ranking of the top three riskiest surgeries or the single highest-risk cosmetic procedure. Risk depends on the length of the operation, whether general anesthesia is used, how much tissue is disturbed, where in the body it happens, and the health of the person on the table, far more than on the name of the procedure.

What can be said neutrally is that procedures combining general anesthesia, long operating times and large areas of tissue disruption, such as extensive body contouring or multiple procedures performed together, carry higher rates of serious systemic complications like blood clots, major bleeding and anesthetic problems. Dimpleplasty sits at the opposite end: a brief procedure under local anesthetic disturbing a few cubic millimetres of tissue. Its complications are overwhelmingly local and cosmetic.

That is reassuring in one sense and misleading in another. Low risk of serious harm is not the same as low risk of an outcome you dislike. A person can walk away from a dimpleplasty in perfect health and still be unhappy every time they look in a mirror, and the procedure is not fully reversible.

The NHS advises checking that anyone performing a cosmetic procedure is appropriately qualified and registered, that you have seen written information about complications, and that you know who to contact if something goes wrong afterwards. Those points apply as much to a small procedure as a large one.

If your real question is whether dimple surgery is dangerous in the way major surgery can be, the evidence points to no. If your question is whether it can go wrong in ways that matter to you, the answer is yes, and the earlier sections describe how.

What people often get wrong about dimpleplasty complications

Myth: it is reversible. Many people believe a dimple can simply be undone. Releasing the adhesion is possible, but the removed fat does not come back and the released scar may leave a subtle shadow. Reversal is a second operation with its own uncertainties.

Myth: the dimple should look perfect immediately. The early dimple is held by a stitch and framed by swelling. It will look deeper and more artificial at first. Judging the result in the first weeks leads to needless worry and occasionally to premature revision.

Myth: a fading dimple means the surgeon did something wrong. Fading is a known outcome tied to how an individual forms scar tissue and to skin thickness. It can happen after technically excellent surgery.

Myth: because the cut is inside the mouth, there is no scar. The dimple itself is a deliberate scar. That is what makes it work and also what makes it unpredictable.

Myth: antibiotics make infection impossible. Preventive antibiotics may lower risk in some settings, but the mouth cannot be sterilised. Good hygiene and prompt reporting of early signs matter more than any prescription.

Myth: a surgeon’s online results tell you your odds. Photographs are chosen. People with faded or uneven results rarely feature, and short-term photos miss late changes. Ask instead what proportion of the surgeon’s own patients have needed a revision and how they handle it.

Myth: it is too minor to bother with a proper consultation. Everything in this article argues the opposite. The procedure is small; the face is not.

Questions to ask your care team about dimple surgery

A good consultation should leave you knowing more about what can go wrong than about what can go right. These questions steer the conversation toward the evidence, or toward an honest admission that evidence is limited.

• What are your qualifications and registration, and how many dimpleplasties have you personally performed?
• In your own patients, how often have dimples faded, stayed too deep or looked uneven, and what did you do about it?
• How do you decide where to place the dimple on my face, and can I see the marking before anything is done?
• Do you deliberately under-correct or over-correct, and why?
• What material do you use for the internal stitch, and does it dissolve?
• How will you protect the salivary duct and nerve branches in my cheek?
• What signs of infection or bleeding should prompt me to contact you, and how do I reach someone outside office hours?
• Should any of my current medicines or supplements be reviewed with my prescribing doctor before surgery?
• How long do you ask patients to wait before judging the result, and when would you consider revision?
• What does revision involve, and what are its limits?
• Is there a cooling-off period between this consultation and the procedure?
• What would make you advise against this surgery for me?

Take written notes or ask for the answers in writing. The NHS recommends having the risks explained in writing before you consent, and a practitioner who is reluctant to do so is giving you useful information about how they will handle a complication later. Bring someone with you if you can; a second pair of ears catches the caveats that excitement filters out.

When to call your doctor after dimpleplasty

Most of what you will notice in the first two weeks is normal healing: swelling, bruising, soreness and a dimple that looks too deep. A short list of signs means you should contact your surgeon or seek urgent care rather than wait for the next scheduled appointment.

Call your care team the same day if you notice:

• bleeding from inside the cheek that does not stop after ten to fifteen minutes of gentle, steady pressure with clean gauze
• swelling that gets worse after the third day, or a firm, tense, increasingly painful lump under the cheek
• pus, a persistently foul taste, or a bad smell from the incision
• redness or warmth on the outer cheek that is spreading
• fever, chills or feeling generally unwell
• a stitch that has come loose and is poking through the cheek lining

Seek urgent or emergency care without delay for:

• rapidly spreading redness, swelling that is hard and hot, or red streaks tracking across the face, which can indicate cellulitis, a spreading skin infection described by the NHS
• swelling that affects breathing or swallowing
• new drooping of one side of the mouth or inability to close the lips, especially if it is not improving as swelling goes down
• an allergic reaction with hives, facial or throat swelling, or difficulty breathing

Later concerns deserve a call too, even if they are not emergencies: a swelling in the cheek that appears at mealtimes, numbness that persists beyond the early weeks, or a dimple that has vanished or remains fixed at rest once healing is complete. Your treating team is the right place to take these questions, and any decision about medicines, drainage or revision belongs to them, informed by what they can see and you can describe.

Frequently asked questions

What are the downsides of dimple surgery?

The main downsides are cosmetic rather than medical: dimples that end up uneven in depth or position, dimples that fade as the internal stitch loosens, dimples that stay too deep and look like a scar at rest, and the difficulty of correcting any of these. Infection, bruising and swelling occur as with any wound inside the mouth. Nerve or salivary duct injury is rare but possible.

What are the most common dimpleplasty complications?

Published case series most often describe asymmetry between the two sides, prolonged swelling and bruising, loss of the dimple as the tether fails, and dimples that remain visible with a relaxed face. Infection at the inner incision and small blood collections come next. Because the literature is small and mostly from individual surgeons, reliable complication rates do not exist, and any precise percentage should be treated with caution.

Does dimple surgery fade over time?

It can. The dimple depends on scar tissue bonding skin to muscle after the stitch softens or dissolves. If that bond is weak, the skin springs back and the dimple flattens, sometimes completely. A dimple that becomes less visible at rest is expected; one that no longer appears even on a full smile suggests the tether has failed. Repeat surgery is possible but works through existing scar.

What are dimple surgery infection signs I should watch for?

Watch for pain that worsens after the first few days rather than easing, redness or warmth on the outer cheek that spreads, swelling that increases after it had begun to settle, pus or a foul taste from the incision, and fever. MedlinePlus and the CDC describe surgical site infection as usually arising within 30 days of surgery. Any of these signs should prompt a call to your surgeon.

How painful is dimple surgery?

Most people describe the procedure as uncomfortable rather than painful, since it is done under local anesthetic and the sensation is mostly pressure and tugging. Afterwards the inside of the cheek feels sore, similar to a bitten cheek, and chewing or wide smiling pulls on the wound for several days. Pain that intensifies after day three, rather than fading, is a warning sign worth reporting.

Can dimpleplasty asymmetry be fixed?

Sometimes, but not always fully. Surgeons usually wait until swelling has resolved, since early unevenness often reflects one side healing faster. If a true mismatch remains, revision may involve deepening the shallower side, releasing the deeper side or adjusting position. Each revision adds scar tissue that makes the next attempt less predictable, so an honest surgeon will describe limits rather than guarantee a match.

Is dimple surgery one of the highest risk cosmetic surgeries?

No. Serious complications in cosmetic surgery track with general anesthesia, long operating times and large areas of tissue disruption, none of which apply to a brief local-anesthetic procedure on a few millimetres of cheek. Dimpleplasty risks are mainly local and cosmetic. Low medical risk does not mean low risk of an unwanted appearance, and the result is not fully reversible.

What are the top 3 riskiest surgeries in general?

There is no official ranking. Operations on the heart, brain, major blood vessels and the abdomen in frail or acutely unwell patients carry the highest mortality, driven by the patient’s condition as much as the procedure. Within cosmetic surgery, combined or lengthy body-contouring operations under general anesthesia carry the most serious systemic risks. Dimpleplasty is not in these categories.

Can dimple surgery damage a nerve or salivary duct?

Rarely, yes. The buccal branches of the facial nerve and the parotid duct, which carries saliva into the mouth, both run close to where dimples are placed. Temporary lip or cheek weakness from swelling or the anesthetic injection usually settles. Duct injury can cause cheek swelling that appears at mealtimes. Persistent weakness, numbness or mealtime swelling should be assessed by your surgeon.

How long before I can judge the final result of dimpleplasty?

Longer than most people expect. Swelling makes early dimples look deep and uneven, and the NHS notes that scar tissue continues to change for many months and can take up to two years to settle fully. Most surgeons ask patients to wait until healing is complete before deciding whether a result is acceptable, and they generally delay any revision until the tissue has stopped changing.

References

• NHS: Cosmetic procedures
• MedlinePlus: Surgical wound infection – treatment
• CDC: About Surgical Site Infections
• NHS: Scars

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.