ABSTRACT
Hematoma is the most common complication of rhytidectomy and can lead to prolonged
facial edema or skin necrosis. The factors leading to hematoma formation remain unclear,
and studies to establish a causal relationship are lacking. The aim of this study
was to evaluate which parameters were significantly associated with hematoma formation
in a consecutive series of facelifts performed by two high-volume operators. The records
of 1078 patients who underwent facelifting were reviewed, and parameters associated
with hematoma risk were investigated using multivariate statistical analysis. Forty-five
hematomas were found in this series of 1078 patients (3.8%). Analysis revealed a significant
association among anterior platysmaplasty (p = 0.009), systolic pressure (p = 0.02), gender (p = 0.03), aspirin or nonsteroidal antiinflammatory intake (p = 0.04), and smoking (p = 0.049). In addition the relative risk of each parameter was calculated. This allowed
the hematoma risk for individual patients to be calculated using a scoring system
permitting the identification of the hematoma-prone patient.
KEYWORDS
Facelift - rhytidectomy - hematoma
