Forehead flap surgery

Hi Josh4214.

 I can tell you of my own experience, but it may not be equivalent to your situation.  

On February 21 I had surgery to remove a basal cell carcinoma, which left a hole in the side of my left nostril, including part of the rim.  Two days later I had surgery to construct a forehead flap and use a bit of my ear cartilage to repair the nostril.  The forehead flap was in place for 4 weeks, I believe the usual time is 3 to 5 weeks.  Then I had what was the final operation for me to separate the flap and stitch the ends.  I think some cases have a further surgery to improve the appearance by thinning the grafted skin, but in my case the surgeon did some thinning during the separation operation.  A week after the separation I had the stitches out.  I would have felt ok, not great, about going to a wedding a week after that.  So in my case, 6 weeks after the start of reconstruction I would have been willing to attend a wedding.  

I looked terrible, and felt pretty poor, during the 4 weeks that the flap was in place.  I did go out socially a little bit during this with a small number of close friends.  Whether you could attend a wedding in this period very much depends on your personality.  After separation the scarring is much less obvious and it would have been possible to conceal with a dressing in the early days and make up later.  This may apply to you in the period after separation and before a thinning operation.  I am guessing that the thinning operation might be many months later, to allow for the area to improve naturally as far as it can, and that it would be relatively minor, so just a couple of weeks to heal well.  But I am guessing here.

 I am now just over 10 weeks from the start of reconstruction and I socialise as normal.  But the repair doesn’t look entirely normal.  I have the advantage of being old and not really worrying about my looks.  On the other hand, you have the advantage of being young and therefore likely to heal better and much more quickly.

 I would suggest that you ask your surgeon for a timeline.  You should be able to get an answer via their secretary at least as to when follow up operation(s) would be.  

Good luck!

Thankyou for putting so much info as very helpful.