I've been horrified by the texture of my neck for 10 years - so crepey. Recently, the tendons under my chin and running down the front of my neck have started to sag as well. Otherwise, I look fairly youthful for my age, but my neck is a giveaway! Also, the hollows under my eyes make me look tired and ill all the time. Finally, my right eyelid in particular was beginning to droop. So - after swearing for years that I'd never get cosmetic surgery, I did my research and chose Dr. Orloff in Burbank to do the procedure. I can't attest to the results yet, as I'm only 6 days post-op. Updated on 25 Dec 2017: It's been a week since my necklift and upper and lower eyelid surgery, and I still feel pretty horrible. The swelling has finally gone down for the most part, but my eyes are still gunky and red, my jawline is swollen, and my ears, particularly my right ear, feel very sore and swollen, and parts of them feel numb as well. The worst is that I feel dizzy and lightheaded all day long. It's not the drugs- I take one Xanax and one Norco at bedtime and that is it. Might be an inner ear thing. I can see that my jawline and chi are more firm, but because my sutures are still in my eyelids and they are so sore, the jury is still out. Updated on 26 Dec 2017: Today is the first day I haven't felt totally light-headed and ill. Slept 10 to 11 hours last night, as I have for the past fee nights - lovely, healing sleep! My eyes are still red, irritated and crusty, especially the right one. Still so tight under my chin that I can't raise my head to look up. Lots of swelling and numbness along my jaw, especially near my ears, and right ear still painful and numb at the same time (I know, I know - but it's true!). Yellow bruises along my cheeks and still some purple bruises as well. The good news? Stitches come out tomorrow morning!! Updated on 31 Dec 2017: The bruising and swelling have gone down so much that I can easily go out in public without anyone giving me a second glance - hooray! However, there is still swelling around my eyes, my ears, and along my jawbone.What I'm happy about so far - my neck skin is much more firm, especially under and near my chin. Also, the hollows under my eyes are much decreased (although that could be due in part to swelling).I'm not so happy about my upper eyes. Dr. Orloff says the swelling takes a long time to go down, but my right lid in particularly is so puffy and droopy, it looks worse than before. Worrisome!! Still, it's been less than two weeks, so...And alas, I still have crepey-ness at my lower neck, but it's better than before. Surgery doesn't cure everything, I guess - but the crepe IS what prompted me to get surgery in the first place, so it's a bit disappointing.The scar under my chin protrudes - I press on it and feel hopeful that it will flatten out.I still am quite numb along my jawline, in front of my ears, and all along my right ear, and experience a lot of pulling and pressure in and around my ears. My right ear often throbs and turns red, as if someone had just socked it. I didnt realize I'd be experiencing this much discomfort for this long!Going back to work in a week - hope I lose the puffiness and cat's eyes by then! Updated on 2 Jan 2018: The good - there has been progress! Lower eye area, though still puffy, is clearly so much better than pre-surgery. The hollows are gone! My jawline is firmer and my upper neck looks much better as well. The bad - still so puffy around my eyes. I know I just have to be patient, but my right eyelid is particularly droopy, it looks pretty bad. And in general, there is still a lot of swelling all over my face. The ugly - my chin scar is so poochy still that my chin actually looks longer/larger. It's only been a bit more than 2 weeks, so I have a long way to go. Dr. Orloff's team has been so kind with all my many concerns. Updated on 31 Jan 2018: First, how I'm feeling physically: SO much better! The noose-like feeling under my chin is gone, my left ear has totally regained feeling, my right ear still has patches of numbness but is better, there is no pain around my eyes. There are still numb patches in front of my ears, along my jaw, under my chin and a bit on my neck. I'm still a bit sore behind my ears and on my scalp. How I'm looking: Better than I was. My eyes are very slowly improving - the dark cats-eye scars are still there but fading, the swelling is going down but is still there. There are still bumps where the stitches were - I massage them and press on them multiple times a day and use a scar medication. Hopefully they'll eventually disappear! The weird bump under my chin is gone, thanks to a steroid injection last week. My neck is tighter, especially under the chin - but the texture of my neck skin is still kinda crepey, so disappointing. Worth it?? Jury is still out. I love that my deep hollows under my eyes are gone! I like my newly tight under-chin area. But my eyes are still hooded (with scar tissue/swelling) so I can't really say that they are much improved. Hopefully in another few weeks i can report back that im satisfied with them. And the texture of my neck - well, not happy about that, but not miserable either. Updated on 4 Feb 2018: I do like my profile better now. My chin is weak and I have a small jaw - end pulling the skin tight under my chin has given me more definition in that area. Not sure if you can tell from the photo, but there is still some redness on the right side of my neck. Not an issue, really. Still hoping my eyes will improve. You can see that my right eye looks smaller than the right, due to the swelling in my right eyelid. At least I hope it's swelling, because then there's a chance for improvement! I'm worried that the scar from the stitches is so knobby that it won't ever look better. I know, I know - it's only been 6 weeks!! Updated on 4 Feb 2018: Here's the other side.... Updated on 20 Mar 2018: Overall, I'm satisfied with the procedure. My neck and chin line are smoother and firmer, and my eye hollows are gone. I do have a lot of scar tissue on both outside corners of my eye, which makes my eyes look hooded and deepset (well, even more than they are normally). I went in for a regular post-op yesterday and the doctor injected a tiny bit of steroid into each lump of scar tissue. It worked for the lump under my chin, so fingers crossed it'll work for my eyes as well. Still numb in front of both ears and on parts of my jaw and neck. Getting better, though. Worth $13,000 and a lot of pain? Not sure! It would have been better to save my money and deal gracefully with the inevitable effects of aging. But I do look less tired now, if not younger, and once my eyes are scar-free, perhaps I'll be more enthusiastic! By the way, I realize it seems weird to grow out my gray hair right after major plastic surgery! But I don't want to look younger than I am - I just want to look better. And I kind of dig having gray hair!
