Fritz E. Barton, Jr., MD (retired)

I had always had what I called a "turtle neck, " even when I was young and thin. Decades of being overweight had made the lack of definition worse. My eyes had always been my best feature even though one eyelid was slightly more exposed than the other. Add the effects of gravity not to mention the incentive of a recent divorce -- I was more than ready for a "rejuvenation" by age 58. You can read below about the selection process, but I chose Dr. Fritz Barton even before I understood that not everyone did the kind of facelifts that he does. Barton did not invent the "High SMAS" facelift, but he has done them for a couple of decades and wrote a recent textbook on them. I'm not sure the 2 doctors I decided not to use were even going to do a High SMAS. From a layman's terms -- the "work" is done at a deeper level and then the skin is "re-draped." The skin is not being used to hold up the "work," which often leads to a poor result, especially if later surgeries are done. That description would probably drive a professional up the wall, but I've read as much of Dr. Barton's textbook as I can understand (plus watched the video in the text about a year after my operation!), and that's my take. It is a longer recovery than the "lifestyle" lift and some of the other methods -- but the results last MUCH longer and are much more natural when you're having a lot of work done. I gave myself a birthday party 20 days post-op and felt fine with a little cover-up on my neck. (Ironically, the lipo. place on my neck was the last bruise to fade away, but also the last to appear. Lipo was done to augment the surgery on the neck, due to my age. Younger and/or thinner women can sometimes get away with just lipo on the neck but I'm glad I let the surgeon do everything he wanted to do.) I had the luxury of not having to be at an office, but I would have had no problem after 2 weeks. (Granted, I'm not the type to worry about people knowing I had had "work done.") Not every doctor can or should be doing the High SMAS. There IS increased risk of nerve damage because of how deep the work is done, but Dr. Barton has never had a patient with permanent nerve damage. I think the fact that I had a High SMAS facelift is why friends said it was the most natural they had seen, and that it took off 15 rather than 10 years. One of them, a former broadcast professional who has seen and heard LOTS of plastic surgery stories, said: "You look just like yourself but when I first met you 25 years ago." I had the "total" work done -- can't remember the terms but it was eyelids, forehead, face and neck. I chickened out at the last minute at having a fat implant in my lips because I was concerned about it being too much of a change. Given how much I now trust my doctor, I wish I had gone ahead and done it. So I get Juvaderm injections once a year. My doctor doesn't believe in a lot of the "holistic" stuff before or after -- primarily because he said it's impossible to know what's in some of the preparations and it's possible that they could contribute to well-known common side effects. His one stipulation (other than no smoking) is a low-sodium diet for AT LEAST 3 months post-op, preferably 6. Has to do with water retention stretching out the skin while it is in a transitional state. Can't describe how good I felt by suddenly becoming more cognizant of sodium in processed foods and restaurants; I got off blood pressure medicine and immediately lost 6 pounds, which would have stayed off if I had exerted any self-discipline after the six months were up.

I went with the best surgeon I could find and he was great.  I had my eyes done at the same time so I was blind and laid up for awhile.

The pain of the tummy tuck was not nearly as severe as everyone described.  It was mostly just an annoyance because you have to walk doubled over.  10 days after the surgery however,I developed  blood clots in my legs which then migrated to both lungs.  I was in the hospital for nearly two weeks while they thinned my blood.  This was not due to the surgery but the way that I was sleeping with my legs up on an Xray wedge at night.

After all that was over I loved my tummy tuck and now after three years I still am glad that I did it.  The only thing that you have to watch out for is weight gain after the tummy tuck looks wierd.  I gained weight in my upper abdomen, my butt and thighs as well as my arms.  The tummy tuck is still flat!  It looks pretty peculiar but one of these days I'll lose the weight and get it done again if I have to!