POSTED UNDER Facelift Reviews
Worth Every Difficult Week: my Face and Neck Lift with Dr Tonnard
ORIGINAL POST
Worth Every Difficult Week: my Face and Neck Lift with Dr Tonnard
WORTH IT
I chose a top surgeon and let him go all the way: MACS lift, deep neck correction, brow lift, lipofilling and nanofat needling to face, neck, décolleté and hands.
Looking back, I would do it again without hesitation.
I only went in wanting my neck done. Dr Tonnard was honest from the first consultation: treat only the neck and you'll end up with a young neck on an older face. He asked me to bring photos of myself between twenty and thirty, because that's what he works from, and from there proposed the brow lift and lipofilling of the cheeks and lips.
He's cautious with eyelid work, since it can hollow the area around the eyes, and in my case it genuinely wasn't needed. He guaranteed a result that would hold for ten to fifteen years. He was right to expand the plan, and I'm glad I listened.
The surgery itself was fine. The team was warm and supportive throughout, and I felt I was in good hands with professionals who genuinely care.
The weeks before the operation were nerve-wracking and I had a lot of questions. Every single one was answered within the day.
They're remarkably accessible, no question is ever too much, and that accessibility didn't stop once the surgery was done, it continued for months afterwards. That's stayed with me.
The recovery was hard. I couldn't open my mouth properly, ate everything in tiny bites, and woke up at night with a dry mouth from sleeping on my back. The facial nerves are cut during the procedure and take two to six months to fully heal. It isn't painful exactly, but it's deeply uncomfortable, like wearing a tight band under your chin the whole time.
My ear didn't get quite enough blood flow to heal on its own, but Tonnard had an answer for that too: medicated strips, worn for over a week. What struck me most was how closely they follow up. You stay overnight after surgery, then you're back in for a check the next day, and again two days after that. With that many touchpoints, nothing gets missed and nothing is left to risk.
What I want other future patients to know, because I couldn't find enough about it beforehand, is how heavy the emotional and psychological side of healing was.
Everyone shows before and after photos. Almost nobody shows the weeks in between. I looked genuinely unnatural for a long stretch, swollen, and I went through real panic that I'd made an irreversible mistake.
Dr Tonnard had warned me there'd be a moment where I'd think, what have I done. I assumed that meant a day, maybe two. For me it lasted several weeks. That gap between the warning and the reality is exactly what's missing from most of what's written about this surgery.
What carried me through it was the people around me, and Dr Tonnard's own accessibility was a huge part of that too. You get his personal mobile number after surgery. He answers himself, or calls back quickly, and no question was ever treated as too small.
His team of nurses and assistants are genuinely there for you. When I raised my fears about swelling, he told me he was three hundred percent certain it would resolve, and it did, exactly on the timeline he described. My physiotherapist and lymphology specialist worked on my face twice a week through the healing period, and that also mattered.
If you're considering this and you're frightened by the healing process, that fear is normal, it passes, and it's worth it.
So, the conclusion. I'm genuinely happy. I look the fresh version of myself, at fifty-two. I never wanted to look younger for the sake of it, I wanted to look like myself, just rested. People now guess my age about twelve years younger, which is funny, but it was never the goal. What matters is that nobody looks at me and thinks "surgery." They just think I look well. That was always the point.
Set aside at least eight weeks before you feel properly like yourself again, the healing is more intense than anyone tells you. But I'd choose Dr Tonnard and his team again in a heartbeat.
Looking back, I would do it again without hesitation.
I only went in wanting my neck done. Dr Tonnard was honest from the first consultation: treat only the neck and you'll end up with a young neck on an older face. He asked me to bring photos of myself between twenty and thirty, because that's what he works from, and from there proposed the brow lift and lipofilling of the cheeks and lips.
He's cautious with eyelid work, since it can hollow the area around the eyes, and in my case it genuinely wasn't needed. He guaranteed a result that would hold for ten to fifteen years. He was right to expand the plan, and I'm glad I listened.
The surgery itself was fine. The team was warm and supportive throughout, and I felt I was in good hands with professionals who genuinely care.
The weeks before the operation were nerve-wracking and I had a lot of questions. Every single one was answered within the day.
They're remarkably accessible, no question is ever too much, and that accessibility didn't stop once the surgery was done, it continued for months afterwards. That's stayed with me.
The recovery was hard. I couldn't open my mouth properly, ate everything in tiny bites, and woke up at night with a dry mouth from sleeping on my back. The facial nerves are cut during the procedure and take two to six months to fully heal. It isn't painful exactly, but it's deeply uncomfortable, like wearing a tight band under your chin the whole time.
My ear didn't get quite enough blood flow to heal on its own, but Tonnard had an answer for that too: medicated strips, worn for over a week. What struck me most was how closely they follow up. You stay overnight after surgery, then you're back in for a check the next day, and again two days after that. With that many touchpoints, nothing gets missed and nothing is left to risk.
What I want other future patients to know, because I couldn't find enough about it beforehand, is how heavy the emotional and psychological side of healing was.
Everyone shows before and after photos. Almost nobody shows the weeks in between. I looked genuinely unnatural for a long stretch, swollen, and I went through real panic that I'd made an irreversible mistake.
Dr Tonnard had warned me there'd be a moment where I'd think, what have I done. I assumed that meant a day, maybe two. For me it lasted several weeks. That gap between the warning and the reality is exactly what's missing from most of what's written about this surgery.
What carried me through it was the people around me, and Dr Tonnard's own accessibility was a huge part of that too. You get his personal mobile number after surgery. He answers himself, or calls back quickly, and no question was ever treated as too small.
His team of nurses and assistants are genuinely there for you. When I raised my fears about swelling, he told me he was three hundred percent certain it would resolve, and it did, exactly on the timeline he described. My physiotherapist and lymphology specialist worked on my face twice a week through the healing period, and that also mattered.
If you're considering this and you're frightened by the healing process, that fear is normal, it passes, and it's worth it.
So, the conclusion. I'm genuinely happy. I look the fresh version of myself, at fifty-two. I never wanted to look younger for the sake of it, I wanted to look like myself, just rested. People now guess my age about twelve years younger, which is funny, but it was never the goal. What matters is that nobody looks at me and thinks "surgery." They just think I look well. That was always the point.
Set aside at least eight weeks before you feel properly like yourself again, the healing is more intense than anyone tells you. But I'd choose Dr Tonnard and his team again in a heartbeat.
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