Fred Suess, MD (retired)

I had been plagued by festoons (mylar bags) for years. All the plastic surgeons I had consulted with said they were difficult to treat and the results would not be worth the cost or hassle. I had seen a video about a surgeon in Florida who preformed laser surgery on people with my exact condition and the results were amazing. Since I don't live in FL, I went on an internet hunt for someone who did it in my area. It took me many hours of searching and web browsing before I was able to locate Dr. Suess in San Francisco. I made a appointment for his free consultation immediately.

The office is very welcoming and accommodating. Liz is amazing and patient and answers any and all questions you have. Then I met with Dr. Suess. He immediately told me he could help my festoons but cautioned me that the procedure would not make me look 30 again. I assured him I understood and actually did not want that result. I just wanted to look refreshed and to have everyone stop asking me if I was tired or had not slept well!

He spent almost an hour with me going over the procedure and explaining the recovery process and the outcome. He was very patient and also answered all my questions throughly and honestly. He was not out to sell me something he couldn't deliver. Even when I pushed him on doing more than just the festoons, he cautioned me to maybe take things one step at a time!

The surgery was painless, although if you see any pictures you will be convinced that can't be true. It does take 10 -14 days for the area to heal enough to be able to put make up on so you can go out of the house. I did try and get some big sunglasses, and while it worked in a pinch, you can't take them off so you kinda limited as to what you can do.

The results are fabulous! I am so thankful I found Dr. Suess and his practice. I would recommend him to anyone considering this procedure. He is very knowledgeable about his field and I felt very comfortable putting my face in his hands. I have had three follow up appointments which were mainly for Dr. Suess to see me and determine that I am healing am happy with the results. Liz did spend a good amount of time helping me use make up to camouflage the red so I can go out in public again.

Overall it has been a fantastic experience! The person looking back at me in the mirror is the person I feel like I am on the inside. Not the old and tired person who first walked in the Drs office 4 weeks ago.

I had a large procedure, wanted to change all little things i was unhappy with: fat ankles, heavy calves, big inner thighs, hanging lower belly. Interviewed many doctors, felt very lucky i got to Dr. Suess!!! Surgery went very smooth. Along with being super professional and performing great job, Doctor proved to be absolutely honest, straight forward. Another moment was that Doctor came specifically to do my post op on Christmas day!
Another huge distinction from other offices I visited, they were not trying to sell any services. Now I am 6 weeks post op still recovering. Doctor and his wonderful team closely monitor my improvements. LOVE THE EXPERIENCE THAT I RECEIVE AT THIS PRACTICE!

I am 60 year old female. Needed a face lift. And one day just decided to have it done. Dr Suess was my surgeon, I had no pain during or after the surgery.
I recommend this procedure with Dr. Suess, to anyone, age not a factor. I could have gone back to work one week later. All that showed was a small yellowing on either side my neck. Amazing results. Truly unbelievable difference with the skin texture of my face & neck. I look and feel 10 - 20 years younger.

Self conscious about "turkey neck"..... The hereditary wattle all men in my family inherited . As I approached my 68th birthday and 50th High School Reunion, I figured NOW was the time... I choose LifeStyle Lift and Dr. Fred Suess in San Francisco.... I am very satisfied with the results and would highly recommend both LifeStyle Lift and Dr. Suess. I have experienced a renewed self confidence and am very glad I had this procedure.

A little history about me first. In November of 2011, I had Gastric Bypass surgery. At my highest, I weighed 362 pounds. I reduced my weight to 170 pounds, and unfortunately my skin didn't fare as well as my overall health. I have been able to "tuck" the extra skin on the majority of my body, but there just below my cute little chin was the BIGGEST TURKEY NECK!! This could not be covered effectively at all times. It was so big, it actually laid on turtleneck sweaters. I had seen the commercials over the years, and had actually sent away for their free information on 2 different occassions. I decided to do it, and I had my Lifestyle Lift in February of 2012.

My doctor was Dr. Fred Suess at the San Ramon Office. Nicest guy in the world! Along with the lift, I had the Laser Peel. All I remember is the Assistant giving me the "cocktail", and the next voice I heard was Dr, Suess commenting to his assistant, "Boy, she had a lot of skin"! Then he proceeded to deaden my face for the laser treatment. When he got to the area around my nose, I flinched because I felt the needle as he inserted it into my skin. He apologized, and said he would come back to that spot a little later. When he came back over to that spot, the deadening agent had spread from the closest injection and deadened it.

Prior to the surgery, I asked Dr. Suess about the circles under my eyes. He explained about the "fat sacks" we all have under our eyes, and said he could remove one from each eye, and the circles would disappear. When he told me the process to remove them, I decided they were fine. When I went back to have my stitches removed, the assistant was having trouble with one of them, called Dr. Suess, and he immediately came back and took care of me. I was pretty bruised since I'm so fair, but I took 2 weeks vacation, and when I went back to work, everyone said I looked well rested and needed to tke more 2 week vacations.


Once of my bosses, a long time friend and a male asked me what my secret was. I told him,, and he told me his wife had seen the commercials and wanted him to get it done! All I could do was laugh, and tell him to "go for it"!

The laser treatment was about as painful as a bad sunburn. I followed the after-care instructions diligently, and have never regretted my decision to have the procedure.



Updated on 28 May 2013:
I showed the date of my Gastric Bypass Surgery as 2011. That was a typo and should read 2010.

I had the procedure on 1/26/12, the lifestyle lift, lower eyes fatty bags removed, lazor treatment at the lower eyes and lipo for my double chin. So far everything looks very good, I am very satisfied and can't wait for all the swelling,bruising to be gone. I am 65 yrs. old and thought it was time to improve my looks.



Updated on 21 Sep 2012:
Hi, it has been now over 7 months since I had the procedure done with Lifestyle Lift, and I am still very happy with the results. I am attaching a recent photo taken 8/28/2012.

Updated on 24 Sep 2013:
Hi, I was asked to update my comments/photo, well it's been 21 months since my 'lift' and I am still satisfied with the outcome. There is one thing I would not have done again, and that is the lazor treatment under the eyes. I had the fatty pockets removed under my eyes, and it was suggested I have lazor treatment as well, to help with the healing. Maybe it helped with that, but as of today, the skin under my eyes is still much lighter than the rest of my face. The good thing is, I ware glasses so it is hidden. But that is the only complaint I have, every thing else is just fine.

Updated on 27 Jan 2015:
It has been 3 years since my LSL and I am still very pleased and satisfied with the outcome! I have absolutely no regrets. Thanks and good Luck to all of you.

I just had this procedure done a week ago today.I went into thinking (from seeing the videos) that the down time was minimal. They do give you a lot of paper work to read and they are very nice. I have to say. But what i wished i would have know prior to is the actual healing process. i think it would of been helpful to have the healing pictures in the video not just the ugly before and great after photos. But this is what you can expect each step of the way informational videos for some one who has never done anything like this before like myself.

I'm not saying it wasn't worth it. I'm not sure yet. I'm still very puffy bruised and swollen. my skin does feel a lot tighter which is good im guessing. So hopefully after the swelling goes down the wrinkles will be gone. I had lippo on my neck, nothing too drastic because i wasn't that bad to begin with, i just looked tired. Puffy eyes, little double chin started some brown spots. So i had the laser which doesn't seem to be too bad.i had my bags removed, which hurts a lot, my eyes are so puffy and leaky like watery all the time. im guessing this is normal after this type of surgery im not really sure because again they don't give you this information on exactly what to expect. i mean it may very well be fine in the end. i just wish i knew ahead of time how hard the recovery from this was. they made it sound so simple.and the recovery is anything but i just wish i would of had more info up front i guess. but they were all very nice and helpful with the general questions that i thought of asking.

my ears are numb also not sure why that is? i guess i have a lot of questions for them on the 22nd when i go in. not saying im not going to be happy about the whole thing when im healed all the way because i just cant tell yet. but i keep you posted. I did really like my doctor i have to say though. he was very good to me and comforting.

I saw Dr. Suess at the San Ramon location for Lifestyle Lift. This should have put me on alert that he did not have enough business from his San Francisco private practice that he needed to work through another corporation (Lifestyle Lift) that could get him clients.

For $2,200, Dr. Suess robbed me of my youthful eyes that did not have a single wrinkle. There was the most minor spots of puffiness - and not even on every day. It didn't even bother me. What I wanted was the tear trough line removed. Dr. Suess said that lazering below the lower eye lids and performing a procedure on the fat pads would fix this. He even pulled my skin under my eyelids to the side to show me how it would look. It does not look like he showed me it would look.

When I smile (my surgery was 4 1/2 months ago), under my eyes now a a deep sea of wrinkles that was not there before due to the hollowness created by the procedure he did (something with the fat pads). My eyes used to define my youth. I am battling deep depression every day as a result of this. When I saw Dr. Suess on August 22, 2013 - he actually tried to disavow that the new deep wrinkles under my eyes when I smiled were any different that before the procedure he performed. This was insult to injury - like I did not know my own eyes. The before pictures were very deceptive because they were not even developed on quality photo paper and there was a weird type of coloring that does not reflect the way you actually looked. The after pictures are taken when you are still so swollen still that you cannot see the real damage of the hollowness when the swelling goes down.

On the day of surgery Dr. Suess arrived late and I was already under the influence of sedation when I spoke with him that morning. When Dr. Suess arrived, I told him my concerns that removing the fat pads will leave me looking hollow. On the day of surgery when I said this to Dr. Suess, he never responded by saying he was not removing the fat pads. On August 22, 2013, when I saw Dr. Suess, he asserted that he only cauterized the fat pad - he did not remove them. Whatever he did, it created a hollowness that was not there before and when I now smile, I have deep creases under my eyes that were not there before. I expect in a year or two, I will have deep wrinkles under my eyes from whatever Dr. Suess did.

Needless to say, on the day of surgery when I expressed to Dr. Suess my concern that my eyes would be hollow, Dr. Suess said it would not be. I asked why he couldn't just reposition the fat pads - he said it wouldn't make a difference. What he didn't tell me was that this procedure needed to be done under general anesthesia and Lifestyle Lift was only equipped for procedures under local anesthesia.

Given the concerns that I was voicing and my compromised position of being sedated, Dr. Suess should have told me that he would not go forward with any procedure related to my under eyes. I relied and trusted him as the expert that it would not leave me looking hollow. Now that all the swelling has gone down, the full extent of the damage can be seen.

There is no doubt in my mind that his decision was motivated by the additional $2,200 for the surgery because the amount of money he was receiving for the lower face lift from Lifetyle Lift was less than the current rate do to a pre-existing contract with a lower price.

During surgery, someone came into the room where the surgery was being performed (I will not call it an operating room because it does not meet that standard). This person started talking with Dr. Suess like they were having coffee together and just chatting with one another. It was very disturbing to me that while he was operating on my face he could be engaging someone in sustained small talk. I don't even know who this person was. I had to ask him to stop and ask the person to leave. This person never identified themselves. Dr. Suess was taken back that I said something.

I got a consultation in late November, Dr. Was awesome and explained everything. Gave me the price for breast lift with the augmentation which I thought was reasonable. I had actually gone to a previous dr who told me I had to have the lift and augmentation as separate surgeries and was asking for $10k for the first one which I thought was kind of ridiculous. Anyway called this Dr last week to schedule the surgery asking for a date within the next two weeks, they had an opening for the 8th. Now I'm basically a day away and getting nervous by the minute.

Updated on 7 Dec 2016:
Okay so surgery is tomorrow, and I still haven't told my mom yet. I'm 24 and this is my adult decision but.. I live with my mom because she helps me with my child. She's one of those old school judgemental about everything types. Once, I was heading out to a consultation and she was like "you better not be getting liposuction because you should just work out" and I hadn't even told her where I was going lol ???????? I think partly the thought of surgery scares her. Anyway, I was thinking of just not telling her until I came home and saw me post-op but then again she lives with me so I kind of want give her a head's up so she's hella surprised. Any advice?

Updated on 7 Dec 2016:
Finally had time to snap a pic of my sad boobs as I call them.

Updated on 11 Dec 2016:
Hey all! I'm updating now as I took 2 days to rest and off social media. I was scheduled to have the surgery on the 8th but that day the surgical tech had an emergency so we recheduled for the 9th. Idk how to change the operation date on this review so I guess it'll just be a day off. Anyway first 36 hours were the hardest. Had to have help getting up if I was laying down. Could hardly do stuff. Yesterday evening was a bit better I even made dinner. (super easy premade stuff) anyway I'm having a bit more pain on the left side but I'm guessing maybe because that side got the bigger implant? I got 300cc on the right side and 600cc on the left side. Anyway recovering is a bit difficult since I have a 2year old and she's running around demanding stuff from me rather than grandma (who lives with me which is such a relief) but I am able to change her diaper which is good. The dr gave me a limited ammount of pain killers and actually im down to 1 left. I havent been overdoing it, just 1 every 4-6 hours as needed. But it seems like a small ammount to receive considering im not gonna get rid of the pain that quick. Thoughts appreciated!

Updated on 13 Dec 2016:
I had my appointment today to check up on everything and got the bandages removed. Everything looks good except I'm sort of concerned with the left side the bottom where you see kind of double bubble type thing, it's small but still.. I asked the dr about it and he said that it's fine and it should go away once I'm all healed but I'm still a bit worried about it. Has anyone else experienced this? Hoping to hear from someone ???????? I worry too much sometimes