Deep plane facelift & neck, upper eye, brow & rhinoplasty, lip lift with Dr. Tevfik Sozen

A couple of months ago, my husband and I went out to a bar for a late nightcap. This is not something we have done in decades.
I am 67 years old. My hair is grey.
I went to go to the washroom at one point and I was immediately stopped by a group of young women who said that they had been talking about me all night and that I was "stunningly beautiful". They wanted to be like me when they got to be my age. I asked them what age that would be. One of them hesitatingly that I was late 30's or maybe 40.
I gave them all a huge hug!
This type of thing happened a couple more times that night with other young women. In fact, It has happened on many occasions. Young women would flock to grey haired me with questions. As of this writing I am 9 months post surgery.
I did not tell them my real age. Instead, I talked about nutrition, skin care, weight/cardio training and finding a caring stress-free life companion.
That was my bad, I should have also had Dr. Tevfik Sozens card on hand with the advice to make small surgical interventions throughout the course of their lives because, personally, there is no other way to maintain a youthful appearance throughout life.
The attention from much younger men has been disarming to say the least.
Gravity is real and it drags our faces and bodies us down to look older every minute of every day!
I feel very fortunate for putting my trust in Dr. Sozen and his team. I recall endless hours of reading and charting to distill a list of practioners I would feel most certain about. No matter what I did I never got rid of the nagging feeling that I could be making a choice that would lead to disaster. Plastic surgery can not ever be viewed as a trivial choice. I kept looking at myself in the mirror asking myself "Why are you thinking of doing this at your age?"
My first go at facial plastic surgery was fraught with an intense level of fear and uncertainty and I had nothing to go on other than internet reviews. I had facial surgery 12 years ago in Costa Rica it was a SMAS facelift. I speak Spanish and Latin America was always the obvious choice for any subsequent cosmetic surgery. The experience in Costa Rica was quite satisfactory in the end and when I decided to go for facial surgery again I realized that Turkey was a real possibility despite the additional hours of travel. (As a side note, the recovery centre where I stayed in Costa Rica was in a nice neighborhood of the capital, but there is a problem with crime and gun violence in Latin America. Some guests were robbed when they ventured downtown when I stayed there. The daytime receptionist admitted that in the year that she had lived there, she had been held up at gunpoint five times. I was alone, that time in Central America, and this was not reassuring. I never felt insecure like that in Turkey. Turkish people also do not stare at someone with a nose cast or facial bandages on. Feeling secure makes a big difference.
As you do your own research you will find a legion of positive reviews about the very high quality of the medical infrastructure and staff there. I too can attest to that observation about this wonderful country and the incredibly hospitable people who live there. The medical facilities are truly world class to the point of putting our humble Canadian facilities to shame. The hospital staffing chosen by Dr. Sozen is attentive, patient and kind. These aspects become very important to your experience during the recovery stage. Healing is relatively quick but I looked like a mess and I was up and down emotionally. My husband was with me the entire time. I am so grateful to have had his support. It is critical to have a person around to help because the simplest task can feel insurmountable after you are out of hospital post surgery. If it is the case that you are in the country alone, Dr. Sozen can arrange for post surgery daily visits by a qualified care giver.
In selecting Dr. Sozen over several other highly qualified options I also chose to have the surgery done in Ankara, the capital of Turkey as opposed to having the surgery done in Istanbul where the bulk of medical tourists go.
Dr. Sozen recommended Ankara but he could have also done the procedures out of Istanbul. I was grateful to have made this choice because Ankara turned out to be a much more convienent and affordable option for a very important aspect of cosmetic surgery and that is the recovery. Moreover, I chose to add rhinoplasty and a lip lift to the list of procedures.
I was hoping to get an upper eyelid lift, brow lift, neck lift and face lift and rhinoplasty and lip lift done at the same time. The doctor wisely and gently convinced me to schedule the rhinoplasty two weeks subsequent to the initial procedures to minimize the stress my body will have to deal with at one time.
Ankara is a modern major metropolis but the cost of living is much lower than Istanbul because it is not a major tourist destination. Pricing of everything is aimed at the average Turkish resident so the ground costs were substantially lower. In Istanbul the traffic congestion is indescribably horrible. In contrast, in Ankara, Uber can take you anywhere fast at astondingly low cost. Quality accomodations are very reasonable and the city is safe all hours of the night. Women and children could be found walking confidently everywhere no signs of fear or insecurity. Even stray dogs and cats are taken care of by professional vets. They are all ear tagged and taken care of by the neighbourhood. People are leaving food out for their neighbourhood pets. In fact, there are food dispensors for these pets everywhere. Put a coin in and food drops into a bowl for any animal that passes by.
Google translate was used extensively to communicate with people and everyone my husband and I met was eager to try to communicate. The unexpected pleasure of this country was a total surprise to the two of us and we will definitley be returning.
I am going off course waxing poetic about Turkey and the people we had the pleasure to meet but I am sure you will feel the same way if you find yourself in the country.
The choice of Dr. Sozen was not difficult. We found his manner to be very personable, sincere, caring and communicative right from our initial video conference through surgery on to recovery.
We communicated primarily through an app call WhatsApp. It took a little effort but we found it ultimately indespensible. Load it up and use it to get familiar with it. It also provided a full accounting of all our communications, pictures, text and videos included.
He gave us sound balanced advice in perfect English on what was achievable and of course what to expect subsequent to surgery ( He studied his art Stateside under the eye of a most emminent "God" of plastic surgery)
In evaluating the shortlist of choices regarding Turkish surgeons we found a surprising amount of concordance on the elements of my specific case. All the surgeons presented extremely well but there was an aspect of craftmanship, artistry and of course trust that tipped the scale towards Dr. Sozen. He has a comprehensive Instagram account that gave me a good sense of the fine quality of his work.
My husband was very impressed with the precision of the stitching post-surgery. Of course at the time the expected swelling and bruising had not come into play. He too got alarmed over the next few days. Neither of us could truly relax about this even though we have been through this process before.
Doctor Sozen also corrected the “pixie ear” that resulted in my left ear after my previous SMAS facelift. He was able to tailor a new earlobe for me. In fact he also restored the tragus in both ears I had lost due to excessive skin tensioning. The advantage of the “deep plane lift” that Doctor Sozen recommended is that the skin is draped naturally over its new position and is never under tension so the healing process occurs undisturbed. I can barely see the scars now.
The after care was superior, the Doctor was always available during my recovery although most of the communications were with my husband initially. They communicated every evening. I was too out of it. We talked to him every day and he handled every question and concern with a calm, reassuing demeanor. My husband took a series of standardized photos every day for the doctor to review and we talked with him about practically every detail. That level of personal care was greatly appreciated because I was alarmed every time I looked in the mirror. We were provided with a list of prescriptions and materials to help with my recovery. The cost of the medications and materials was shockingly low compared to what we were used to back home in Canada.
Eight days after the deep plane face-lift, neck-lift, upper eye-lift, brow-lift and lip-lift I felt well enough to consider travelling to Istanbul. We were able to visit most of the major sites and had a brilliant time there. I wore a lot of makeup and sunglasses to cover my embarrassment. After my travels in Latin America where I endured stares even when I hadn’t had any surgery, it was a welcome relief to discover that no one actually reacted to my surgery at all. People are really chill in Turkey and they simply are too polite to just stare at other people. Moreover, it seemed that there were lots of people in every crowd proudly sporting either a bandaged nose or a bandaged head. I stopped feeling out of place after a few days and it was a relief.
We returned to Ankara a day before my rhinoplasty. The surgery went very smoothly but the recovery was much more challenging. This time I had a lot of head pain and this coupled with the added difficulty breathing had me behaving "badly" as my husband puts it.
Six days later after checking my stitches and healing with great relief he removed the spacers from my nostrils. I still had a swollen piggy nose and this would persist for far longer than I had expected. My husband joked that i resembled a beautiful little elf. My face healed at different rates on the different sides because I needed more revision of an old scar on the left side of my face. Dr. Sozen was able to explain these issues and even face timed us back in Canada to check on how it was going. We really felt the depth of his friendship when he talked to us every night about the healing process during my recovery. You need to prepare yourself for the emotions that will arise while your face is settling into its new look, because there will be bruising and lots of swelling and for a bit of time you’re going to look like hell. It did take some time for my face to settle down and I was glad we had planned an extensive holiday where I could hide out and recover before returning home to family scrutiny.
When I did return home, it was with a reinvigorated look, but turning back the clock about 30 years, does seem to have triggered a lot of soul searching among the in-laws.
Several things come to mind when people ask me how I managed to look the way I do at my age. I have spent many decades minding my appetite, and exercising and walking. You should get your weight as low as you can BEFORE SURGERY, because losing weight afterwards will cause a subsequent loss of facial volume and then the temptation will arise to pack on some extra pounds to fill in the sunken cheeks. Lose the weight first! I managed to achieve a BMI of 22 and this has definitely played a big role in my results. Although I have mixed Mediterranean heritage, and can really darken up if I was so inclined, I have always cared for my skin by wearing a hat outdoors, applying high SPF sunscreen, and thoroughly cleansing and moisturizing, because self-care is essential.
It is now over nine months since I placed myself under the care of a masterful surgeon who has handed me back my youth. After surgery I had anxiety and fears and during the recovery every bit of bleeding, swelling, bruising or feeling of discomfort was a major cause of concern but the Doctor always gently reminded me to relax and wait for the results. And the improvements slowly but surely appeared. I wake up every morning now extremely happy with the new more vigorous and vibrant face I see in the mirror. I did not expect my surgeon to perform a miracle. In the end, however, he did.