Overview
Cannabis use has increased in the United States with legalization and wider access. The authors review cannabinoid biology in wound healing, the surgical evidence, and how to include cannabis use in each patient's risk assessment before facial plastic surgery. It is a narrative review, not a new patient study.
Findings
- "Cannabis use" covers smoked flower, vaping, concentrates, edibles, pharmaceutical cannabinoids, topical CBD, and frequent co-use with tobacco or nicotine.
- Systemic use, particularly inhaled or heavy use around surgery, may be associated with more complications in selected groups.
- Existing studies are limited by retrospective design, inconsistent exposure definitions, poor dose and route data, and confounding by tobacco and other illness.
- Cannabinoids act through CB1 and CB2 receptors in the nervous system, immune cells, blood vessels and skin.
- Early lab and skin research suggests possible roles for topical CBD in calming inflammation and skin repair.
- In several surgical cohorts, systemic use around surgery was associated with infection, delayed healing, hematoma, nonunion and reoperation.
- In jaw fracture repair, cannabis-only use was not linked to more complications (small cohort); cannabis plus tobacco was linked to more surgical site infection, nonunion, abscess, debridement and malocclusion.
- No published studies address cannabis outcomes in rhinoplasty, rhytidectomy, blepharoplasty, browlift or facial rejuvenation.
What it means for a patient
- There is no direct evidence yet on cannabis and face lift results.
- Tell your surgeon how you use cannabis (smoked, vaped, edible or topical), how much, and whether you also use tobacco or nicotine.
- In the closest study cited, jaw fracture repair, cannabis with tobacco was linked to more complications; cannabis alone was not, in a small group.
- Limits: a narrative review built mostly on retrospective studies of other surgeries.
Why this paper matters
It gathers cannabis and wound-healing evidence for facial plastic surgeons and states that face lift-specific data do not exist.
Terms
- Cannabinoids: active compounds in cannabis, such as CBD (cannabidiol).
- Endocannabinoid system: the body's own signaling network that cannabinoids act on, through CB1 and CB2 receptors.
- Hematoma: a collection of blood under the skin after surgery.
- Nonunion: a broken or cut bone that fails to heal together.
- Narrative review: a summary of published research without a formal pooled analysis.
- Perioperative: the period around surgery.