“Lifestyle lift; evidently i am one of the lucky ones.”
Lifestyle lift: NOT worth it
Pain: Severe
I had my Lifestyle Lift along with upper & lower eyes and the additional neck tightening procedure done February 9, 2009. So I am writing this about six weeks after everything was done.
Immediately following the procedure I experience swelling and bruising, which is fairly normal. The pain I experienced however was awful! The pain meds I was given hardly made a difference. I am no baby either. I had this Lifestyle Lift procedure done because ten years ago I had gastric by-pass surgery to lose weight so I could have a hip replacement done. I lost 186 pounds, and had the replacement done! I am familiar with surgical pain. My main reason for having this procedure was the removal of the "turkey waddle" I had hanging from beneath my chin because of the massive weight loss from my gastric by-pass. The eyes and mid face lift to me where just "vanity add-ons" but I wanted it all so that I looked younger and felt better about myself. The weight loss left me looking so much older I had self image problems!
To the point. The surgical procedure to me was a nightmare and extremely traumatic. I was constantly being administered more of the local anesthesia because I was not staying numb. But the WORST for me was that I could see and hear everything! It was traumatic. Hearing the muscle being sliced, seeing the tools, hearing the doctors and the assistants, hearing the liposuction sucking the fat from the jowls, feeling the jabbing pressure. NOT GOOD!
Following the procedure I spent the night in a hotel because I had driven 2 hours to the city where the closest clinic was located. No sleep - much pain. Follow-up with the doctor the following day was short, short, short! She changed the bandaging and told me to return in two weeks, if I could. Well of course I could!!! Who, in their right mind wouldn't????
At home I faithfully followed the post-op instruction sheet. My partner helped me and if anything we went overboard on keeping the incisions cleaned and covered. I kept the neck wrap on 24 hours a day for the first three (not just the two weeks recommended) and then slept in the wrap for the remainder of five weeks after the procedure. I took the round of Z-pack (Zithromax) that I was prescribed. However the pain - Oh goodness! NOT GOOD AT ALL! My ears hurt so badly I couldn't get comfy - I slept in a recliner for three straight weeks. There was a place on my right temple that at times I would experience such a sharp stabbing pain that I thought something had struck me. The wrap around my face and under my chin went over my oh so painful ears but I did it anyway and took pain meds so I could. I knew that the skin had to re-attach itself to the underlying muscles and tissue. I wasn't going to risk having that awful turkey waddle back in any way!
The Zithromax didn't keep the infection away and I knew enough to call the Lifestyle Lift clinic and tell them immediately. They gave me more pain meds (stronger) and another round of antibiotic (not a Z-pack) to take for another ten days. Still, I had the lower edge of the incision in front of my left ear open up. I kept it very clean and covered. I emailed a picture of the wound to the clinic manager and she gave it to my surgeon. I did receive a reply via a phone call from the clinic telling me to continue with what I was doing and stating that my smoking had most likely caused this. (Funny but all my other incisions were healing quite nicely - how come my light smoking effected only this ONE spot????)
At my next follow up, the Dr. blew into the room, looked at the wound, stated that she could not stitch it closed because the tissue was too fragile. She said to continue what I was doing, she also hypothesized that the stabbing pain I was experiencing was a migraine (?) that my hair looked great (?) and the assistant would remove my stitches. She then blew-out of the room, never to return. The scared silly young lady who tried to remove all my stitches was inexperienced and ill trained, bless her heart. She missed a number of stitches and was shaky, worrying that she was hurting me...I was (and still am) without feeling in the areas she was working so she couldn't hurt me.
When I finished my second round of antibiotics, I still felt that there was infection so I made an appointment with my family physician. My wonderful family doctor immediately prescribed another Z-pack and told me to continue with the pain meds, and the topical antibiotic crème.
I had another appointment with the Lifestyle Lift Dr in two weeks (my six week follow-up) Between the time I saw my family doctor and returning to Lifestyle Lift my daughter, who is a nursing student came to visit. One look at the wound in front of my ear and she asked "why in the world I was keeping it covered all the time?" She went on to say that the healing process requires air to dry the wound allowing it to scab over and heal from the inside out. By keeping it covered all the time I was creating a warm, moist environment for bacteria to grow."
Well, thinking back I knew that was true because of my own first aid training, however I found it strange that at NO TIME did the Lifestyle Lift Dr. tell me to uncover the wound for even a little time much less even mention uncovering the spot at all. When I did uncover it, the scabbing occurred and by the time I went back to Lifestyle Lift the Dr. wiggled the skin around the area and said that yes it was closed and healing (she knocked off the scab) and that it might scar. I asked her what she would do about that because I did not pay $8500 for a scarred hole in front of my ear or the still loose skin under my chin (not a waddle but, not smooth either!) Dr. W said that she could remove the scar if after six months it was still bad enough to bother me and that some neck - firming crème might help tighten up the crepe-like skin under my chin. (Hey, if that had worked I wouldn't have paid thousands of dollars for surgery!!!) But she didn't give me any names of neck firming topical nor did she write any prescriptions. She did mention that I might look into a Dr who did laser firming in my hometown (more $$$ out of my pocket!!)
After sitting for over an hour in the separate waiting room for post-surgical people and talking to five others who had used the same Dr. I must admit that only one other man (of Latino descent) and myself (Caucasian) looked decent. One woman's ears had a quarter of an inch height difference and a big fold in one ear lobe that she stated wasn't there prior to the surgery. Her face and the face of another African-American lady looked as though they were pre-surgical NOT post-surgical! Both were really angry and upset! In my opinion they had every right to be upset. The other lady in the waiting room had awful scarring around the ears, jowls that were still prominent, and many large, deep wrinkles around the mouth (smile lines) - it was bad!
If I had known about this web-sight, had thought about the difference in local and general anesthesia (hearing and seeing everything) I certainly would have spent the extra money, gone to a board certified plastic surgeon and had this done in a hospital setting under general anesthesia. Also, I caught an interview on television with the "inventor" and founder of Lifestyle Lift . He stated that the optimal age for someone to have this procedure is in their late 40's early 50's - At NO time was this fact mentioned to any of the people in the waiting room that I spoke with nor was I told this.
Even though my resuults are FAR better than those I encountered in the post-op waiting room or have seen on this web-site I still am not 100% happy and I would NEVER encourage anyone else to undergo this procedure with this company!
Updated on Jun 3, 2009:
Mar 25, 2009Comments and replies (48)
149 posts
11 May 2009
Dear Lifestyle surgeon (who wrote the note above). I did not go to LSL for surgery, but I did briefly consider it. Fortunately, I did my research on LSL first. That, in fact, is how I found realself.com in the first place. But you say nothing in your comment about the claims LSL makes in its TV ads that the type of facelift LSL performs is somehow different (and the implication is 'better') than the kind performed by most plastic surgeons. LSL's ads really push the hype that LSL's procedure is "quick, easy and inexpensive with little downtime," and "With an LSL facelift you can be back to work very quickly (compared to a more traditional facelift. ...and what about those Hard Sell ads that LSL runs on TV in some states? Don't you think they're rather unethical by most surgeons' standards? What kind of facelift do YOU perform on your LSL patients? It may be true, as you said, that 'many or most surgeons have some dissatisfied patients,' but that does not account for all the horror stories that have been told on this site, or the photos of bad surgery that have been posted, OR the fact that LSL protects itself by threatening to sue patients who come forward in the news for slander. Doctors with integrity wouldn't make such threats against patients--they wouldn't feel the need to. Have you even read the stories people have posted about their bad experiences with LSL? Or looked at the photos? Or read how LSL's lawyers have threatened specific individuals with lawsuits for speaking up about their bad experiences with LSL? Why does LSL employ such a large, AGGRESSIVE LEGAL TEAM in the first place? Sure, doctors have lawyers--but Big TEams of them? Not the ones I know. As you know (or maybe you don't), lawyers caution people against saying negative things about anyone EVEN IF IT'S TRUE, because the cost of taking the party to court will be higher than any amount of money the wronged person might gain. I went through this with a bad builder who threatened to sue me, even though he had been found guilty by the state of PA for breaking the law 8 years earlier (I wouldn't have hired him except I thought he was a landscape architect. HE wasn't). But my lawyer told me that it didn't matter that I was right--the guy could harm me financially by driving my legal bills through the roof. I hope you respond to my posting, doctor, because I am really quite suspicious of you.
19 posts
12 May 2009
AND, the part about sitting/hanging out in the waiting room to talk to other is a lot of hoop-la, NO WAY will the staff let you sit and talk with others. I was talking with a lady in the front waiting of the Atlanta clinic and she asked if I was there for my consultation because she could not tell I had ALREADY had the surgery!I was telling her about the REALSELF site and the receptionist got me out of there and took me to the BACK waiting room asap! I was then in that room with ONEBAMALADY and darn if they didn't separated us as soon as possible because we were comparing scars and complaints! SO the sitting and talking with others is definitely out of the question. LSL is a fruad, all they want is the money and do not care if they are ruining the life of many, many women and men. I know I am a lot lucky than most as I do not have the scars in front of my ears - but my ear lobe were sewn to the side of my face, my left eye will never be the same because of the nerve damage and the itching is at times unbearable. I absolutely cannot believe "physician" is a real LSL doctor! And to berykute1, yes I know but I was so upset and angry that day I was not even thinking when Dr W told me my "spit glands the pituitary" were not "even" and that was causing the lumpy neck! I was so mad at her I could not think straight or rational, and very angry with myself that I was so gullible to believe the sales pitch. I actually think if I could have gotten a scapel that day I would have performed earlobe surgery on her and tried stretch them to sew them to her nose then see how she would like to walk around looking deformed and scarred! Can anyone tell I am angry and vendictive?!!
149 posts
28 May 2009
Dear LSL Physician who joined Realself on 5/10/09 but remained anonymous, 1.What kind of surgeries do you perform on patients at LSL? 2. Why are you working for LSL in the first place? You say you have 'a lot of experience' doing 'facial surgery.' If you've had a lot of experience and you're a good surgeon, why aren't you in private practice where you'd make more money and could earn a good reputation for yourself [and not be afraid to disclose your name]? 3. You say you made a point of reading the stories on this site about LSL--yet you did not address any specific complaints that were made, even though they were credible complaints, often accompanied with real photos. All you did was make huge generalizations such as 'all surgeons have some patients who complain.' There's NO SUBSTANCE to that statement. It's a feeble 'dodge' to avoid addressing real issues brought up on this site. 5.You did not address the claims LSL makes on its TV ads at all--that LSL can do a 'great'facial procedure with little downtime, little bruising and scarring, etc. WHAT ABOUT THOSE CLAIMS? TELL US SOMETHING REAL ABOUT LSL, DR. ANONYMOUS.
378 posts
27 May 2009
Dear NO-Named Lifestyle Lift surgeon, boy you are either really stupid or have Illusions of Grandeur about the company that you work for. If you are so concerned about the consumers of LSL -- you would not work there and if you had one bone in your body that was ethical, you would be turning this place in for the ethics or lack there of. Why would you even come on board here and make the comments that you have made? Your comment: "I know the company is not perfect" in itself is the one point that we have been trying to warn other people about. And the hard sell, and it is hard sell, is performed by a "Consultant". LSL is a MARKETING company. They print a real pretty brochure, put pictures up that have been airbrushed and the women shown have had more surgery than stated, plus the fact of a printed "1 year guarantee". All of this together is very, very tempting to anyone that is not familiar with LSL. I will have to disagree with you on the point that every doctor is paid on commission. No, the docs at LSL are paid a commission as is the sales person on the procedure sold & performed. That is why when something goes wrong, they want you to go back to the physician that screwed your face up in the first place. (And that doctor would be the last person I would want to touch me again.) Other doctors actually consult with the patient first and then give them a price. You state that you have actually changed what the consultant has sold the client & what needed to be done. What I want to know is why do you need the "Consultants" in the first place? They are not trained in Facial Plastic Surgery. What they are selling is a one fit for all types procedure and the fact is LSL procedure is not new or revolutionary. It is a throwback from the 60's and 70's discarded then because it did not work and it should be discarded now. I think each and every doctor should be held to a higher set of standards, not run a face factory and ruin lives forever. And why can't you use your name??? I really can't say much more as True Colors, McKen & Ada covered most of what I would like to say to you. Sincerely, Chrystal Eckes
149 posts
28 May 2009
Dear LSL Dr. Anonymous who joined on 5/10/09, WE'RE STILL WAITING TO HEAR FROM YOU. WHY HAVEN'T YOU RESPONDED TO OUR COMMENTS here on realself.com?
378 posts
28 May 2009
Where oh were is that Anonymous lil booger??? Do ya'll think he was kidnapped by a band of surgeons and is having a LSL over and over as punishment for posting??? Egads, the torture of it all, I will pass out from worry. Hope You Are OK Dr. A. (But I would bet my left kidney that he is holed up with a bottle of bourbon. Hope it's the good stuff.) Best, Chrystal
25 posts
29 May 2009
IMHO the mysterious blogger was an office manager or corporate employee NOT a doctor. Think about it...how many reputable doctors do you know of who have the time to return their patients phone calls much less surf the internet and look for websites that have derogatory information about the company he/she works for posted and then write a lengthy response and post it. It just doesn't happen! No I do not believe that the mysterious writer was a doctor at all.
378 posts
1 Jun 2009
Or maybe he/she/it really was but can no longer type with bamboo skewers under the fingernails. (From the torture endured from posting)
149 posts
1 Jun 2009
Dear Onebamalady, How are things going for you now? Is your wound starting to heal? I hope so. Please let us know.
105 posts
2 Jun 2009
Hi Obamalady....how long ago was your surgery? What do your Drs say about the numbness? Mine has been almost 18 months and one Dr. said the feeling might still come back....