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I was tired of looking like my mother (who is 25...
I was tired of looking like my mother (who is 25 years older than I am), but I was also raised with the crazy habits that come from "combing your hair more than once in the morning is primping." I don't do make-up, haven't for a long time. While I comb my hair whenever it needs it (take that, Mom), a facelift was something I had never considered. In fact a colleague I knew got injections in her face for wrinkles (it didn't help all that much, to be honest) and I thought, what a waste of money!
Okay, so I kept seeing the ad on TV for the LIfestyle Lift. I don't particularly like You Light Up My Life, and Debby Boone has never done it for me, but the free consultation seemed risk free, and I figured, why not. So I went. I will say that the people who talked with me had had lifts themselves, and they looked pretty good. Everybody looked their age, but they looked rested and relaxed. Even my surgeon had had a lift (I have seen one of his scars--it's almost invisible). One thing that has always annoyed me about my mother's face, and then my own, was hooded eyelids. And one thing she had always gotten after me about was my wrinkled forehead. I learned that I was wrinkling my forehead to keep my eyes open--when I relaxed my forehead in front of the mirror, those wrinkles were gone, but there were the exaggerated hooded lids from my mother's face.
One thing I did not do and do not regret not doing is the laser treatment for skin. My skin is pretty good. What put me off was the idea of spending four or five days (or more) with my face slathered in vaseline. I cannot stand the stuff and would have been miserable. Maybe it doesn't bother other people, but I would have had to be institutionalized with big meds. Not for me.
If you had asked me the first of August, who among those I knew was going to have a facelift before the end of the month, "me" would have been the farthest from my mind. But there I was on the 20th, getting it done. In contrast to the "don't eat for a year before your procedure" sort of warnings a lot of surgeries demand, this bunch said not only to eat a nice breakfast before I came, but to bring a lunch to eat afterward. I did not have anesthesia, but I did have some muscle relaxers that worked very well. I was told I would sleep out of boredom. I slept, but I didn't have much of a choice! I was OK with that. I did feel the goings on exactly once, and careful not to move my face, I garbled "that hurts" a couple of times, and was rewarded with a shot of buffered lidocaine. Incidentally, plain lidocaine shots burn like h***, and lazy providers will stick you with that. These people were all about my comfort (as are any good providers) and I barely felt the stick of the needle.
They sort of warn you that you will look weird for the first five or six days, but they don't tell you that you will look like the child of Betty Boop and an alien. I also had more discomfort that most people apparently do, and I was grateful that I had meds on hand (I'm a nurse and know how to do that--if you aren't, then you want to make sure you have a prescription for something). I am the only nurse in the house, so while I was supposed to put ice on my face pretty much around the clock, that didn't happen like it should have. (Ice, frozen vegetables, frozen wet kitchen towels, whatever....) I think I'd've been more comfortable if we had followed that. I will say that I prayed very hard for two things during my first few days of recovery. First, that I would not regret my decision and second that my face would not stay that way.
Both prayers were answered beyond my hopes. I am very, very pleased.
In fact, I went out and got a new driver license because I looked so much better than I had in June. I told the people there, and have kept my old DL for comparison purposes. Several people there took down the name of my doc (Dr. Himmelheber--they call him Dr. H, but seriously, the name is just like it's spelled!). I tell everyone who gives me an opening.... Recently someone asked my age, and then said, no, he didn't mean to ask--I told him anyway (I'm kind of proud of it!). He noted I did not look my age, so I borrowed from a movie I like and said, My mother thanks you, my father thanks you, and my plastic surgeon thanks you!
I would do it again. I regret nothing about it. They promised me I would not look like Joan Rivers and they kept that promise. I look like a younger, more relaxed, healthy, natural me. I am very happy I had the procedures done.
Okay, so I kept seeing the ad on TV for the LIfestyle Lift. I don't particularly like You Light Up My Life, and Debby Boone has never done it for me, but the free consultation seemed risk free, and I figured, why not. So I went. I will say that the people who talked with me had had lifts themselves, and they looked pretty good. Everybody looked their age, but they looked rested and relaxed. Even my surgeon had had a lift (I have seen one of his scars--it's almost invisible). One thing that has always annoyed me about my mother's face, and then my own, was hooded eyelids. And one thing she had always gotten after me about was my wrinkled forehead. I learned that I was wrinkling my forehead to keep my eyes open--when I relaxed my forehead in front of the mirror, those wrinkles were gone, but there were the exaggerated hooded lids from my mother's face.
One thing I did not do and do not regret not doing is the laser treatment for skin. My skin is pretty good. What put me off was the idea of spending four or five days (or more) with my face slathered in vaseline. I cannot stand the stuff and would have been miserable. Maybe it doesn't bother other people, but I would have had to be institutionalized with big meds. Not for me.
If you had asked me the first of August, who among those I knew was going to have a facelift before the end of the month, "me" would have been the farthest from my mind. But there I was on the 20th, getting it done. In contrast to the "don't eat for a year before your procedure" sort of warnings a lot of surgeries demand, this bunch said not only to eat a nice breakfast before I came, but to bring a lunch to eat afterward. I did not have anesthesia, but I did have some muscle relaxers that worked very well. I was told I would sleep out of boredom. I slept, but I didn't have much of a choice! I was OK with that. I did feel the goings on exactly once, and careful not to move my face, I garbled "that hurts" a couple of times, and was rewarded with a shot of buffered lidocaine. Incidentally, plain lidocaine shots burn like h***, and lazy providers will stick you with that. These people were all about my comfort (as are any good providers) and I barely felt the stick of the needle.
They sort of warn you that you will look weird for the first five or six days, but they don't tell you that you will look like the child of Betty Boop and an alien. I also had more discomfort that most people apparently do, and I was grateful that I had meds on hand (I'm a nurse and know how to do that--if you aren't, then you want to make sure you have a prescription for something). I am the only nurse in the house, so while I was supposed to put ice on my face pretty much around the clock, that didn't happen like it should have. (Ice, frozen vegetables, frozen wet kitchen towels, whatever....) I think I'd've been more comfortable if we had followed that. I will say that I prayed very hard for two things during my first few days of recovery. First, that I would not regret my decision and second that my face would not stay that way.
Both prayers were answered beyond my hopes. I am very, very pleased.
In fact, I went out and got a new driver license because I looked so much better than I had in June. I told the people there, and have kept my old DL for comparison purposes. Several people there took down the name of my doc (Dr. Himmelheber--they call him Dr. H, but seriously, the name is just like it's spelled!). I tell everyone who gives me an opening.... Recently someone asked my age, and then said, no, he didn't mean to ask--I told him anyway (I'm kind of proud of it!). He noted I did not look my age, so I borrowed from a movie I like and said, My mother thanks you, my father thanks you, and my plastic surgeon thanks you!
I would do it again. I regret nothing about it. They promised me I would not look like Joan Rivers and they kept that promise. I look like a younger, more relaxed, healthy, natural me. I am very happy I had the procedures done.
Provider Review
Very personable and very skilled (which is more important than being personable, but it's nice he's both), Dr. Himmelheber actually gives his patients his cell phone number and expects to be called whenever there is a question or concern. I called him twice over the course of my recovery and he was always happy to hear from me. You don't find that with most doctors! My only issue with aftercare did not have anything to do with Dr. Himmelheber--the day I came to have my sutures removed, I waited almost 2 hours (I went to have lunch during part of that time). Other than that, everything was perfect.