Mini Facelift and Fat Transfer

Joanne, those are the official pictures the office took. The after was taken on Tuesday. I'm 3 months post today. I really appreciate the honesty. At least I know it's not just me that doesn't see an improvement. My face is fuller from the fat transfer and lips are fuller but that's about it. The creases were worse afterwards. The filler helped but that's temporary. My stitches are still healing and it's very frustrating. I'm sure no one wants to here negative comments but I really appreciate being able to vent my feelings here. My husband feels bad for me but I try not to talk about it much. It was a sacrifice for him too. No one likes to feel like they wasted money. Thanks again for caring and mostly just listening.

Thanks zooster. I wish I would have tried fillers first and worked my way up to the face lift.

And the latest and greatest from the docs now is the "lift and fill" which I get, but it's like yeah you need a facelift, but you'll still be coming back for the filler. ugh. I'm fine with the botox (only had it once, but it's a miracle worker on my crow's feet!) but it's really inexpensive compared to the fillers. And even spending about a grand isn't really enough filler, I'm sure I need at least twice that much to really do the job I need done... :(

When I need my cheeks lifted, I always wait for the buy 2 get 1 free sales.

Linda I had juvederm. It feels a little lumpy and I do have a bit of a monkey mouth( for lack of a better word) but I'm told the lumpy feeling will go away. Not quite sure that the filler is worth $1300 but I guess time will tell. Sorry... I'm a bit bummed out right now:-(

I have a love/hate relationship with filler :/

Cme, I agree that a face lift is not one stop shopping and I didn't expect to be wrinkle free but my neck and jowls should have shown improvement with the lift and they do not. My neck was not bad. The looseness under my chin bothered me and my jowls. I expected an improvement in both areas or I would not have spent 8k. I fully expected to get get fillers at some point to tweak but think of all the money I would have saved if I tried just getting fillers first? I had planned on some kind of resurfacing and eyes down the road but I'm so disillusioned now I don't know what to do. Probably nothing more for awhile. I need to heal and stop beating myself up over a poor choice of procedure.

I agree with you 100%! What my PS said about fat transfer is that it fails quickly, making a false read of the FL. He NEVER does this with a FL. If after the FL you still have hollow areas where there is fat loss, you may do it then or just continue with fillers.

Can I ask if you have an incision under your chin? This is where they do the neck tightening. If he did not tighten your neck muscles then that may have caused the lack of tightening in neck area. I think you are such a pretty woman, and you look younger than your age. I do understand being upset at the lack of results. I cannot seem to figure out what a mini facelift is. Do they just tighten the skin and do not tighten the facial and neck muscles? In a lower facelift otherwise called neck lift they tighten the lower face and neck including the muscles. I believe the muscle tightening is what takes a lot of time and skill. Do not beat yourself up as this is not your fault. I think it is good you posted an honest account so others can learn. Again, you are very pretty and look younger than your age.

I too was wondering what a mini was. I had a FL in May & fat transfer at the same time. All i know is he said it was an smas FL. He cut me about an inch on my temples near my hair line then skipped a part and did inside and around my ears into the back of my head. It fixed my neck area, i didn't have a lot of lose skin but the little bit that i did have is gone.. I also had a fat transfer at the same time & I'm glad because i don't have to pay for more OR time & he said he saw where i was still hollow after the lift & put the fat there so he saved me money. So between the Fl & fat it made my cheeks higher. I had a dent from an erbium laser resurfacing on my cheek , it had melted my fat, so he put fat in, he also put fat in my chin area where i had another dent, my 11 lines & high up on my cheek bones, also on my nose i had a dent from a childhood accident. He made my mouth even. one side seemed to look lower than the other & he put fat above my lips so any lines I had were improved. I didn't even see any holes so i don't know how he did it there. So did i have a full face lift? Nothing was cut under my chin but what ever he did he fixed the start of my turkey neck. You still had a nice job done to you. But if your unhappy and you told him that you were concerned about your neck area the most before surgery than that's what he should have done for you. If he knew what he did wasn't going to fix it for you then he should have suggested something else, not make you pay for the surgery that didn't address the areas you were most concerned about. i would def in a nice way tell him I wasn't happy with the parts your not happy with again. Tell him your friends agree with you. They usually don't like bad reviews or their name going around as a not so good doctor to go to so keep letting him know. I don't think he'll give you free fillers for years, i know none of mine would, maybe the first time or two but it would be cheaper for him to fix it in the long run. But if he doesn't you still look good. I just believe in getting what you pay for. I've had a lot that didn't do what they say so i keep bugging them til they do something or made them give me my money back. i got my money back from the doctor who destroyed my skin by writing him every week for a year & i also got a dissolver 3 times free when juve blew up my eyes, I had read a lot have to pay for it & I got free juve when the dent didn't look good after paying for a filler. What do you have to lose? Keep telling him, if he doesn't fix what you want I know that's hard to take. you feel you spent so much money & still have to deal with what you went in for to get fixed but as long as you told him the specific areas before the surgery then if he's a good doctor he knows he should fix it for you. Talk to him again. The filler def helped you out but who wants to keep getting them after you got surgery to fix it. It's not a walk in the park thing to go through & it's not cheap. Ask him again what he's going to do once the filler wears off.

I did not have an insicion under my chin and I voiced my concern during preop that I thought I needed it. He said I did not need it. I was not as concerned with the neck(with the exception of area right under my chin) as I was the jowls. My face lift was smas lift but there are different levels and in a mini the ps does not go as deep into the the muscle under a local. Differences may be more related to the surgeon’s experience and preference of surgical technique.

Sats, you say you think I had a nice job but I don't see the areas of improvement. My neck looked better for a few weeks but it was probably just swollen.

I had a tiny cut under my chin for lipo. No neck muscles were moved for me in the front, my Dr said I didn't need it, that was for much older women with severe turkey waddles. Got great results without that, although he did reposition muscles on the sides.

Ok what I see in your front view is that your cheeks look higher & fuller Your face has a different shape. It's more slender looking going down to your jowls. There is a difference. I can see where you think your jowls look the same in the side view but when I see you in your front view they look like their gone. You look slender there. I guess it's the way the pictures are taken, I didn't see my little turkey neck when i was sideways but i saw it when i saw myself from the front. like a little gobble starting to show. So yes you do look like a younger you, you don't have a dropping jowl look when people are seeing you from the front. And after you got the filler, you really made a difference, you look even younger. I need more filler too after my lift & fat transfer so your not alone. I wish they could address everything at once & take away all the flaws I see but we'll always see something that should be a little tweaked so that's where the fillers come in. Just because we got a FL theirs still eyes to get done & more fillers, botox. Geez I need a job just to pay for surgeries & fillers I'll need. You paid a lot less than I did so for what you paid you got your moneys worth. Trust me.

Thanks Lilygirl. I'm trying not to let the disappointment get to me.

Thanks Joanneinflorida.

Shazza thank you for your kind comments. I can't let this whole fl thing control my happiness. I hope you are feeling better everyday! ((Hugs))

Amazing that the pictures were taken the same day yes but a smile makes us look better every time doesn't it?

Thanks Grace. I just hope my experience helps someone else in making their decision on choosing procedures. It's so very hard to get even the best doctor to be explicate about details and techniques. Dr P does feel bad that I'm not happy but still thinks I had a good result without looking overdone. He did ask me if I gained weight and really has no idea why my jowls look bigger. He said I could still have swelling as well. I was not charged for $1300 in Botox and fillers today which I think was very nice of him. There is really nothing more I can do right now but move on and try to be happy that I healed well with no complications. Hope this ropey feeling goes away around mt mouth after juvederm but hey that's another review right? I just hope my review will help someone to think twice about getting a mini lift unless they want extremely subtle results. I so appreciate the support and understanding from everyone on real self.

Jury is still out on fillers. Right now I'm bruised and lumpy. Sometimes I wish I would have just let nature take its course. I didn't do any of this because I didn't feel beautiful or attractive. I just wanted to look like a more youthful me.

New...here's the thing~ you like Dr Prada, he says he purposely created your result BECAUSE he wanted to give you the "very natural result" he finds attractive. Even if you had gone with a full face lift for 15K you wouldn't have gotten a tight neck or had your jowls improved because that would violate his "very natural results" goal. Let's be real....at 61 jowls and lax necks ARE a "natural look". That's kind of what we are trying to FIX! I don't know Dr Prada and like him as you do. That being the case I think he has failed you and I further think it is the worst behavior of surgeons when they make it seem like you are the ONLY one who doesn't think their surgery result is just great. If on your surgical day he was having a bad day that he fesses up to ~well that is one thing. But if he defends this as an outcome HE is satisfied with then I hope prospective patients will take note. And as for him having "good intentions"...the road to he11 is paved with them.

Grace I think what makes me the most upset is that on my preop surgery date I expressed a very real concern that the mini lift would not be aggressive enough for my desired result. I also voiced concern about the pouch under my chin. I tried to ask questions about SMAS degree of tightening and that he would tighten muscles and not just pull skin. Instead of reassuring me he should have been honest and sent me home to think about it at the very least. I have a hard time not seeing the best in people and I'm trying to be positive but I have cried about my stupidity a few times. People say but you are so pretty... I never felt ugly and I know I looked good for my age before the surgery but that doesn't make me feel better about throwing money away. He had to have known what my expectations were and if he could not meet them he should have said so.

Your pic with filler looks amazingly good. Who knew filler could make skin flawless and take away all jowling/marionette lines? But it did! So since the facelift which Dr Prada said would last 5-7 yrs failed to do this but the botox and filler did shouldn't he have simply recommended that from the jump and saved you 8K? Your 8K is gone thanks to poor professional advice so shouldn't he give you free botox and filler for as long as the face lift was scheduled to last? Sounds only fair nevermind your time and trouble recovering from a surgery that couldn't do with injectables did...grace

Today you look Beautiful,i saw your updated pic :0) I understand you spent A lot of $$$$$$$$ and now may have to use fillers,i am glad he compensated those. I hope the fillers do help. Happy Thursday!

It's amazing how much better we look when we smile. Jowls are still there... Trust me. I wish I could get my digital before and afters so I could post! Thanks for having my back Grace!

Thank you Bella. I'm trying not to let this get me down.

I am being positive for the both of us :0) Please Don't get depressed.

Grace you are a genius and I think you are absolutely right in your opinion that her doctor should give her FREE injections and fillers for as long as the FL should have lasted! I hope that she will show him this site and how unhappy she is and no! It was definitely NOT her fault! The only thing that SHOULD matter is HER happiness, not the doctors satisfaction and not listening to her concerns. I have learned a great deal from this and I so appreciate this site and getting REAL experiences expressed by other women. I am going to research extensively so that I do not waste that money! Yay!!!!

Of course--that's what filler is supposed to do!

so filler evens out skin tone making it flawless and takes away jowls....really? I said who knew it would make her skin flawless and take away jowling.

Anon. My ps was very concerned with my health and well being too. He likes a very natural looking result and I believe his intentions were good. Getting plastic surgery is a risk regarding both complications and results even with a good surgeon. I hope your outcome is better then mine. It's very hard for me because this was a once in the lifetime surgery that I saved for and there are no finances for a redo. Even when you do get multiple consultations from surgeons with great credentials and they all have different opinions it's just very confusing. How does one really know?

Hi new, Im sorry that your outcome was not as you hoped. Was wondering what conversations you had with your dr when decisions were being made? I went to two highly recommended surgeons, the 1st one started with the suggestion for a mini, then switched to the full Second dr (the one I used flat out told me a mini was not going to do the job and not waste my money) I do think that the drs opinion on what is needed is critical.

Anon as I said to Grace what makes me the most upset is that on my preop surgery date I expressed concern that the mini lift would not be aggressive enough for my desired result. I also voiced concern about the pouch under my chin. I tried to ask questions about SMAS degree of tightening and would he tighten muscles and not just pull skin. He convinced me that I didn't need a full face lift and said this lift would make a difference without looking plastic and pulled to tight.

Did you have a smas lift or just tightening of the skin?? I see you said you had a mini. What exactly is a mini? Did he say he did a smas? I didn't get a chance to read back if you said it before. I didn't even know all the kinds you can get. Geez.. all i know is i got what he said was an smas lift. I was cut at my temples about an inch long. Then i was cut around my ears to the back into my hair. It took care of my little turkey neck, I didn't have much of one but i did see a little that i mentioned to him one time and it's gone now. i didn't have jowls but my jaw looks good and he put fat in my chin and around my mouth & the top and inside my cheeks. So what kind did i have? a full? mid?? I have no idea. What exactly is a full face lift?? I figured he would do what was best for what i was concerned about and that's what your doctor should have done. What you wanted Not him,. The biggest thing I wanted done was a dent on my cheek needed to be pulled tighter so it wouldn't be so deep which he did and he filled in a dent on my nose, my 11 lines & the top of my lips & mouth area. I had a dent there too and my lips looks lopsided, now they look good. So far i'm happy with what he did but i still need my scars fixed from laser damage i got from Erbiium laser resurfacing. I"m around your age too. I'm 60 and knew this one might be my last but who knows. But i do know that your doctor should be listening to you and if your not satisfied and you told him what your wanted he should have done it. Whether he's nice or not you paid for something he was supposed to do.

I think Grace has a good point. Maybe if you sat down with your doctor again and had another heart to heart on how disappointed you are he would consider a revision. Especially since he was the one who was so assured the mini would be enough. I'm really sorry as I know how important this outcome is to all of us.

I would not base your decision on just mewme outcome!

Kimmie...Just remember that if you go to Mexico...and something goes wrong say a month or two later, or the outcome is not good..you have no recourse. For anyone contemplating PS in another country i strongly recommend a stay of at least three months in order to return to the PS should need be.

Kimmie, there are a lot of US doctors that have reasonable prices with fantastic results. Check the reviews on this site for options. Mexico is not the only option. If you go out of town and plan to come home right after you take the risk of not having your surgeon available if complications set in. Don't base your decision to leave the country on my experience. While my results do not meet my expectations I do feel I was in safe hands.

Kimme, Good advice from newme. How does one manage a less-than-desirable aesthetic outcome if you must return multiple times to the PS when he is a continent or country away? Immediate hematomas/seromas which require immediate intervention can affect results causing permanent lumps when scar tissue forms. So staying close to the PS for the first 2 weeks is prudent. Skype isn't very effective in assessing nuanced aesthetic issues that may develop during post op months. What are the return costs for in-person diagnosis or management? Try looking closely at PS within hrs. driving distance or at more distant cities where family or business might bring you back periodically. grace

I have been researching the Mexican medical and so far...I have not seen nor heard anything bad. There is a place where the clinic and your room to stay in is in the same place and you stay there for 8-10 days. I am thinking about that one. There are a few others as well. It is so expensive here where I am and I do love Mexico and the warmer weather. When I get a chance I will look up the name again and maybe if you have time you could also check it out and let me know what you think or if anyone else on here has been there. Thanks so much.

Perhaps I will stay there then for 2 weeks or more. It is a beautiful country and so many good things written about it. THanks so much for everyone's advice on here. This is just soooo great!~

Is that with Dr.Koelliker?..I live in San Miguel de Allende.

Before going to MX, see if your insurance will cover the upper eyelids. Mine did! That left it very affordable to do the neck/lower face with Carecredit covering 1/2 of that & having 2 years to pay it off interest free.

That WOULD be great, however...what type of doc would I have to go to to get that insurance to pay. My eyelids are sort of drooping and sometimes it is hard to see but I am no where near what perhaps someone much older would have where they cannot hardly see. Please tell me what I can do to perhaps make this happen. That WOULD be so great! I do have great insurance too.

This was all done at my PS office. Please see my before/after pics. I'm only 55. I was quite surprised when my insurance authorized payment.

Who was your PS and where is he located?

Kimmie, the doctor does a "visual field test" and I "think" for insurance to cover, 30% of your "visual field" (Peripheral vision ) has to be obstructed. Or, in the case of upper eyelid ptosis, your upper lid had to be covering part of your pupil. Here on RS http://www.realself.com/question/what-requirements-have-insurance-cover-blepharoplasty hth

LOL. my PS office gave me a few hints on how to "pass" (actually, fail) this test.

Dr Ritacca is the owner & Opthamologist who performed my eyelid surgery.

There are PS who will say you need it done to see better, I don't know how old you are but esp if your in your 50' & up they will say it's so you can see better. Check around for good doctors & when you go tell them your having problems seeing, that your lids are too heavy that they affect your sight. My daughter in law was in her 20's & had a breast reduction & her insurance paid for it. They were too big & giving her back pains.

My insurance paid for my upper eyes.

I can't imagine why they would unless the good doctor "doctored" his report to them dishonestly which is fine with me. I would not mind getting these nasty bags fixed. I would definitely feel better about myself. I have had them all of my life, but as I have gotten older, it becomes much more pronounced. I love your handle Pufferpunk! Cool. Thanks.

Yes, I know about the breast reduction insurance will pay if you are having back problems and when you get really old and your lids are covering half your eye really sagging and hard to see they will also. I guess it wouldnt hurt to try. I hate that a lot of these PS charge a consulting fee! So, its not affordable to run around to many for me. Oh well,,,thanks again for your input.

I keep puffer fish & was a punk rocker for many years. It's always been by webname. They won't pay for bags under the eyes, just overhanging eyelids. It's easy to fail the vision test.

I don't go to any that have a consult fee, there are plenty of good ones that don't. I went once to one who did charge, they say it can go towards what you want done but then he said he didn't want to do any filler on me, said i wasn't a good candidate. I never heard that one before so i called back and said since HE doesn't want to do anything for me then I feel taken advantage of giving you my money & you said I could use it towards a filler, After they talked to the doctor he gave me my fee back.

Thank goodness for happy endings! I would have done the same thing as you. Like Dolores Claiborne the movie the wealthy older woman told the maid Dolores..."Dolores...sometimes a woman has to be a high riding [RS bleep] to get things done!" Unfortunately, we do sometimes when they don't respond to niceness you have to stand your ground. Glad that you did. Bravo!!!! Did you end up getting the fillers? If so...how did they work out? I should probably look into that myself because I changed my mind about the whole face lift/eye job/lipo thing. I am not a good candidate for surgery. Bad enough, that I have put off serious spine surgery and major foot surgery for 2 years now. I live in constant pain and for me to go and get something frivolous and not necessary well...I realized that would not be right. I need to take care of my other problems first. What good would a face lift and other fixers be if I can barely walk? I wonder if the laser spine surgery works...my spine surgeon says that it is a con. I have to look into it, otherwise...6 month recovery time for the surgery for my spine, 3 months for severely damaged nerves in my neck and 6 months to a year for my foot.

Oh, ok...so would it be less money I suppose for the bags? That is my major issue. I don't see well either, so yes, that would be easy. Thanks.

The "bags" do not affect your vision, it's purely aesthetic & insurance won't pay for that.

I got the works, I'm 60. I went for a fat transfer & lift & had it done on May 1st. So far so good but i still have skin problems from a very bad Erbium laser resurfacing procedure I had it done 7 yrs ago so I've done just about everything since then. I also got my money back from the doctor who did this to me. When he saw what he did he walked out of the office. Would never answer my calls. So i kept writing his office for over a year about what i had to do to try to fix what he did, that it was costing me a fortune & told them i was going to seek legal advice, well then they got back & gave me my money back. They were probably thinking it was worth it to get me off their backs. So sorry about your back, i have back problems too I'm on the couch now since my back isn't feeling so good & when that happens all you want is your back fixed, when it's really out bad i forget about my face cause just trying to go to the bathroom hurts. My hubby had 9 surgeries on his feet & their worse than before so he's a mess two. I guess we were meant for each other. Don't get screws in your back, my sister had surgery & got fusion instead, the night before she was scheduled for screws in her back the news came on saying the screws broke in a lot of people & their in more pain than before. I also heard of the one inch spine surgery. I'm going to check that one out.

OMG! Horrible yes! What kind of foot surgery did your husband have? I forgot the technical term for mine, but my arch has collapsed as I have flat feet, on my right foot and so bad sometimes that I truly cannot walk, not even with a crutch it is so debilitating. It is major surgery though, they cut into your heel and the inside of your foot and then in the back of your leg under the knee to release a tendon and take a piece from your hip to inject/place into the arch as well as a plastic piece. I am scared to have it, I have no one to help me, no husband to care for me or anyone really so I would be alone, unable to walk, eat, etc and get more depressed, like I am not already depressed. I am afraid that one foot would be different from the other and then throw my back off even more so. I don't know what to do.