Facelift at 53, "Because I'm Worth It" (Of Course)

You have to do whats best for you, what makes you comfortable. You have your whole life ahead of you and if something is meant to be it is meant to be. I believe that in our lives the path we think we want isn't always the path that is meant to be. That doesn't mean you can't take that path later, everything happens for a reason. You have come across to me as a level headed lady and you will figure it all out when the right stepping stones are in front of you. I believe in God (not trying to preach) and when I feel lost or confused I just pray and ask for guidance and he has always been there for me. I, myself and I'm sure lots of other ladies here would hope to still find you here for moral support, if you can. Big hug

My brother has been visiting from Texas so I was taking a break from realself. I popped in here because I knew you were getting closer to your surgery date. First off, I noticed all your photos had been removed. My thoughts were "Oh no what happened"? Then I caught up on your postings. After reading all the way to the end I had to back up to where you wrote "stunningly beautiful girls on here that think they need a facelift." My dear that is you. You have a timeless beauty and I do not see all the negative flaws you see in yourself. Even when you are not smiling you are beautiful. Whatever came up that made you have to cancel might be a blessing in disguise.

I am just now seeing this comment from you - I don't seem to be able to navigate on RS very effectively! I wish the best for you!

I can't say that I am sorry that you decided not to have surgery, because I fully understand! I am a lot like you. I have been trying to schedule for over 8 years now. Something always came up. You will work it out. XOXOX KAT PS You are beautiful!!

First I think your cat is adorable and you have a very nice smile. What I think and hope is going to happen to all of us is once we have healed from the surgery and face our family/friends see how great we look THEN they will notice how much better we feel and look. I know some people actually get jealous when you look younger then them especially if your 10 yrs older. LOL

Had a FL and now 6 weeks out. Still swollen but it's finally getting better. Pretty much FL straight forward and some lipo. My observation in reading the RS feedback is there is more swelling with fat grafting. I am so thankful I did not have FG to add to my swelling! I'd say don't over do it. You are a very pretty woman and you don't want to compromise some of that beauty! Wishing you the best and looking forward to seeing your photos.

We are so hard on ourselves aren't we? I am doing the same thing you are - add guilt on top of that for spending the money on myself.....I have no one to share in this experience, because the few people who know about it seem almost.....I don't know the right word to use here - they just seem to not want to be happy for me, even knowing how hard I worked to go from a size 20 to a size 6. With that came gravity - loose neck, deep nasolabials, jowls, etc on my face, and bat wings on my arms and an ugly flappy (and I mean FLAPPY) apron around my whole lower trunk. I will likely go down another couple of sizes once the swelling has gone down after my abdominoplasty on 11/4 - no telling how they will feel about that. I don't think my husband understood at first, but now he is on board - he sees how much of a positive difference just what I've had done so far has made on me mentally. I've had an extremely stressful few years (sick mother who passed in January) and have also gone up and down in weight all my life. Car accident, surgeries, back issues...goes on and on. And I've been incredibly hard on my body.
Back to the face - I had my lower done, and it was not a huge difference. It is subtle and yours will be too. The only places I really noticed a difference is my jowls are all but gone, and my neck looks 20 years younger. I am going to have the fat grafts during my surgery coming up since I will have fat leftover to use in my face. I still have the nasolabial grooves and sunken in cheeks, and 2 very deep pesky lines above my upper lip which drive me NUTS. The fat transfer will take care of all that to a certain degree. I went to my PS yesterday for my pre op - and talked to him a little more about the fat grafts and told him I did not want to have my pre weight loss chubby cheeks back, and showed him a photo of me about 40 lbs ago (I have lost a total of 70) and he thought my face looked fantastic in it! Maybe it is psychological but when I look at the photo all I see is fat face (and it's my employee i.d. ugh.....) BUT, they say you will lose some of the fat by re-absorption and the fact that your face moves a lot, so now I am unsure/confused on whether I would rather have a little too much added, or not enough (which is what he asked me yesterday). At the time I ended up saying I'd rather have too much, and now I'm freaking out!
So I'm right there with you girl!!!
I'm having a hard time deciding if I want to load photos on this website - seems like plenty of people have loaded their pics here only to take them off later. But I feel the way you do about receiving so much inspiration from others on here that I also feel I should share mine to help someone else out. I most likely will after my surgery.....
I'm very excited about both of the procedures I'm having done, and it's sooooo nice to be able to come on realself and chat about it with someone who understands. You are the first person I have ever replied to because it was obvious we are feeling so similar, and our "face problems" are similar as well. But when I look at your photos all I see is a beautiful lady!
I'm sorry if this reply is all over the place - I'm just typing as I think - that can be dangerous!!

I first have to say I love your nose when you see mine you'll know why. I have always been hard on myself this is my 3rd procedure with the same PS and he has done so much for my self esteem. I'm all over the map with my feelings and also going back and forth with yes do the FG then no then get filler in my upper lip. I'm obsessed with trying to be the best that I can be. I'm feeling guilty that I just payed the balance of my surgery and Friday my car just died, perfect timing. My PS told me he doesn't over fill the fat that I can always have more later then have to worry about removing some which is much harder if not impossible. I just want my jowls gone and my neck smooth like it use to be. I had upper and lower bleph approx. 20yrs ago it was seriously needed on the top but back then they removed fat under and now my eyes look sunk in. I have had lots of fillers done in the past and thought fat would be cheaper in the long run but I'm freaking that I won't look like me. I just want to look more youthful, refreshed, not done. I feel like I can't think about anything else. After reading the above post and lululovsit I actually had a small melt down...I think my estrogen or testosterone might be out of wack. Sorry for the rant I totally feel for both of you.

First of all, just want to say best of luck. Second, a couple of comments from someone who has had a number of plastic surgeries. I have a pretty good plastic surgeon right now. He only does faces and he does fellowship training. That being siad, in 2014 he did my face and did fat injections. IMHO, fat injections are worthless. All I was left with are 4 scars (like acne scars) from the canula. Again, IMHO, sculptra is the way to go if you are looking for facial volume. In terms of sagging around the mouth and nasolabial folds, I do not believe that a FL is going to fix that very much. I think your plastic surgeon will tell you that. So even after a FL, you will need fillers. Just one more thing, make sure to ask you PS where he is placing the incisions behind your ears. Make sure he is putting them up in the hair and not on your neck. I have huge scars along the back of my neck from a PS who did not place the incisions high enough in my hair line. Again, I am speaking from my personal experience after having had FLs, brow lift, bleph, mid face lift, lipo, fillers, laser, etc. Medicine is an art and not a science. Good luck. I hope all turns out well for you.