Our annual Most Worth It list recognizes the most-loved aesthetic procedures—from noninvasive tweaks to the gold standard in surgery—as chosen by RealSelf community members like you. This story highlights one or more of the 44 Most Worth It honorees for 2022; you can see the full list and learn more about patients’ favorite procedures here.
Terrese is a 58-year-old woman living in Cleveland and working in sales. She got a facelift and blepharoplasty last year and says the surgeries have had a positive psychological impact on her day-to-day life. This is her story, as told to Alix Tunell, edited for length and clarity.
I started looking for a new job in technical sales about two years ago, because the company I was working for at the time was closing and I needed to make a transition. It was very scary because I was thinking, How am I going to get hired? I’m 56 years old, I’m going to be with a younger group of applicants, there’s going to be age discrimination.
Of course, there are lot of things about being an older woman in the workforce that are fabulous—you don’t have to worry about office politics, you have a lot more confidence in your actual work ability—but looking older and being surrounded by young, fresh, smart people who really get technology can feed into a lot of insecurities.
I was worried about my prospects, but I ended up getting lucky—I had two serious offers pretty quickly, and the job I ended up taking didn’t ask for gender, age, or race [on the application], which has made for a wonderful and diverse group of people. It’s actually the best company I’ve worked for in my entire career, so this is a story of hope—but it’s also a young company: my boss just turned 40; my counterpart, who trained me, was 29. I’ve always taken really good care of myself—I eat right, I’m in good shape—but after menopause, your skin dries out, you notice the signs of aging immediately coming on, and you just look a bit like a different person in the mirror.
My facelift experience
Ultimately, I didn’t get a facelift because I felt like I had to in order to fit in but because I figured, What the heck, I’m going to be at this great company until I retire, so now is the time. Dr. Steven Goldman has done my Botox for years and he’s a great plastic surgeon, so I knew I’d have good results with him. Once I decided to actually go for it, I told all my friends and family. Everyone knew. The generation before me—my mom and people 20 years or more older than me—seemed to regret not doing it for themselves. I heard a lot of, “Wow, I wish I would have done that. I wish I would have had the courage to do it.”
I actually filmed a whole video after my surgery because I thought, Somebody will ask me about this and I’m going to forget. In this day and age, we color our hair, we get facials… a facelift is just one more thing. I wanted to show anyone who was interested in cosmetic surgery that it’s not a shameful thing.
My facelift recovery
I got a full facelift, which included a neck lift and an upper eye lift, in addition to a resurfacing laser treatment on my face and chest. It was a six-hour surgery under general anesthesia. My kids saw me come home from the procedure that same day, and my youngest son was like, “Are you ever going to look normal again?” because for the first four days, you do not look normal. Actually, the laser was the worst part of the whole recovery—it peels and burns, and you have to put this thick goop all over. I didn’t take any pain medication other than a Tylenol.
People think there’s all this recovery time and you need to take three weeks off—you do not. I was out and about, grocery shopping, by the sixth day and I was a little puffy, but I didn’t look like I came out of a war zone or anything. By the 11th day, I was on a plane for a weekend vacation.
No one said anything when I went back to work. Everyone has to be politically correct; people weren’t going to make comments on my appearance, even if they noticed any difference. But I feel younger and like the surgery had a really positive psychological impact. My job is 75% travel, so I’m always meeting new people, and now when I get up in the morning and get ready for work, I’m not looking at my sagging neck and all the flaws anymore. That sort of thing can affect your entire day.
I understand that some people judge others for getting plastic surgery, but if someone is judging, that’s about them and their issues. You have to make this choice for yourself, without worrying about what others think. Women need to support each other now more than ever.
