I always knew that when the time came I'd have a...
I always knew that when the time came I'd have a face lift. Well.....the time has come :) I'm almost 58 and always looked younger than my age but last year I noticed I was getting jowls and my lids were getting heavy. My first thought was Mexico, it's so much cheaper there but what if there were complications??? I started my search right here where I live in Palm Beach County. The 1st was a PS and he suggested a lower SMAS and upper bleph. The 2nd was a Facial PS and suggested a lower deep plane lift and a coronal brow lift. The 3rd was also a Facial PS with no bedside manner and said I needed a lower FL and upper bleph. I was so confused!!! I went to another Double Board Certified Facial PS and we went over all the options. I felt very comfortable with him and decided to have him do my surgery. I discussed all the options with my husband and we decided that I might as well do it all because I don't plan on ever doing this again. I must admit that I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being very vain but the last 2 years I've been saving my money to have this done. I'm going to have an upper and lower bleph, browlift, facelift, fat transfer, lipo, platysmaplasty a active FX laser.
Of course I'm nervous but I'm also excited. I'll post pic's soon.
day 5
Today's the 1st day my eyes felt good enough to go on the computer. As I had stated I had a face lift, neck lift, upper and lower eyes, coronal brow lift, fat transfers and an active FX laser done. I honestly didn't have any pain, only discomfort. I'm still really swollen and look like a burn victim, good thing I don't go back to work for 3 more weeks. I'm trying to download pic's from my cell to my laptop but for some reason it's not working.
day 5
although I have a long way to go I'm very confident in my surgeons skills, look at the stitches by my ears.
day 6
had stitches from eyes removed and half of the staples in head removed today. They also cleaned my face really well to remove all the dead skin from the FX laser, it all hurt, went home, took 2 pain killers and laid down.
day 7
I still don't look like me, praying every day that I'll wake up and see "me" again.
day 8 belly
Fat was grafted from my belly and injected in to my face. This is what it looks like and yes, it's tender.
Question.....
why do always say 2 weeks??? No way!!! That's not enough time.
day 10
my intention was to take a pic of my mouth area so you could see how raw my mouth area is from having the FX Laser passed over 2 x. After taking the pic I looked at my lips and thought I better take a profile pic of them. Geez....they're worse than duck lips....Newmeaug13 may I borrow your mustache please?????
Greasy face
because of the laser I have to keep my face slathered in Aquafor which is like Vasoline. Hate it, gets in my hair, have to wash it daily and still doesn't feel clean.
Yay....almost
Today for the first time I saw "me", it was just the right side of my face and didn't include the mouth area but it was me!!!! I figured I'd post a pic this evening. Took a shower, washed my hair, made hummus, cleaned up the mess, made pasta, cleaned up the mess.....bet you can guess what I'm going to say. My face swelled.... "me" wasn't there anymore. Oh well, tomorrow after getting my staples and stitches out I'll take a pic and post it if I look like "me".
Stitches out!!!
Had my stitches and staples removed this morning! Was afraid that removing the staples from my head would hurt so I took 1 pain pill before leaving the house. Out of the 30 something staples only 1 hurt. They gave me camouflage mineral make-up to cover the bright pink skin around the mouth area from the laser. So the doc says I'm at 50% healed right now and although I might want to start doing more I shouldn't. He said taking a walk is fine but that's about it. My husband asked him when my face is going to stop looking like a fat Chinese lady.....lol. The doc said my swelling, lip included is at 50%, so in other words I should look more like myself in a couple of weeks.
pic's of scars
here's what the scars look like after having the stitches removed. Sorry but I can't figure out how to take pic's behind the ears.
day 15
I'm starting to see "me" again. I actually recognized the person in the mirror today. I'm still a little swollen but nothing compared to the way I was. When I try to smile it looks weird, the area above my lip is swollen from the laser.....notice all the red still around the mouth area. All in all I'm happier today than I've been in a while.
day 26
Saw my ps today and would like to post the before and after pic's but can't figure out how. They emailed them to me as an attachment. If there's anyone who can tell me how I'd appreciate it.
day 26 post op
here are the before and after pic's my doctor took. I was wearing concealer to cover the redness around the mouth from the laser. I can't believe how old and wrinkled I looked!!!!
1st day back to work
I took a selfie to see if I concealed the red around my mouth.... feeling self conscience
just a thought
if you're going to get multiple procedures done at the same time don't think that 2 weeks is enough, depending on what you have done plan on at least 1 month but most likely two.
Almost 12 weeks post op
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22 Aug 2014
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2 months post
Saw my ps today and he says that I'm doing great. He said the redness caused by the laser will be around for a few more months. i have to admit that I'm very pleased, my eyes look great, jowls are gone and neck is tight.
6 month check up
Saw my doctor today and mentioned the scar on my left eye. He looked at it, had me close my eye, he applied a little pressure and told me that there's a little fat there that's causing the scar to appear worse than it is. He said that although he removed fat from there sometimes fat from behind the orbital rim( I think that's what he called it ) moves forward as it did in my case. He wants to make a small incision and remove it. He also offered to laser a long scar I have on my neck from when I had my neck fused years ago. I am so lucky to have him as my PS, not only is he very talented and takes great pride in his work but he truly cares about his patients.
Realself changes
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18 Feb 2015
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8 months post
Not happy with changes Realself has done. I seriously might stop reading the comments and reviews...they've made it too generic, don't know who's commenting on what until I click on the link....what a shame, was a great site.
Photos of Before and almost 10 months post
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23 Mar 2015
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9 months post
Found a "before" photo.... Brace yourselves cause it's not pretty and added a photo I took last week
my 1 year update and some new pic's
In some ways I can't believe that it's been a year since my surgery. I am so happy that I decided to do it, no regrets. It's funny how quickly I got used to my "new" face, When I look at "before" pic's I'm always shocked at how old I looked!!!
Many thanks to the very talented and caring Dr. Westine who has gone out of his way to ensure that I'm thrilled with my results.
P.S. I'll post pic's of my nonexistent scars as soon as I figure out what I did with them :)
