After facial surgery, patients always want to know when they can wear makeup again. It definitely depends on the surgery that was performed and how the healing process is going. After a rhinoplasty, there will be stitches under the nose (on the columella) and a splint across the top of the nose to control swelling. These remain for about a week. While those are around you could put makeup under your eyes to cover any bruising that comes from the breaking the nose during surgery. After the splint is off and the stitches are out makeup can be applied to the nose, but avoid anywhere the stitches came out right away. A couple days after the stiches are removed, the tiny holes in the skin will heal and you can then put makeup across them too. With eyelid surgery, the stiches are along the crease of the upper lid and under the lashes of the lower eyelid. These are in for about a week. While they remain in you want to avoid any makeup on the eyelids, but you can wear blush or concealer on the rest of your face (maybe put on movie star sunglasses to hide the eyes!). Once those stiches are removed and the stitch sites have sealed, then light makeup can be worn. For a facelift, stiches are under the chin and around the ears. The ones in front of the ears and in the chin are removed one week after surgery. The stiches behind the ears and in the scalp will be removed around 2-3 weeks after surgery. Makeup should not be worn on these areas until a couple of days after the last stiches have been extracted. The problem with wearing makeup too early is that there may be contaminants and irritants in the products that can cause infection to the incisions. The wounds have to be totally sealed before they can tolerate being covered with cosmetics.