Statistical Review of 1078 Consecutive Facelifts: Lessons for the Prevention of Hematoma

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

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