52 and Didn't Care for the Strange Old Lady in the Mirror! London, GB

I think I always knew that one day I would probably need a facelift. I was a sun worshiper from an early age and even at age 10, remember slathering on the oil and lemon juice and frying myself in the midday sun, all in the name of 'beauty'! In my 20’s I lived in France and Africa, and when I occasionally resorted to some protection, it was generally factor 2 or 4, and I took the appointed hours to avoid the sun, as a bright green light for maximum tanning! Coupled with this and a fondness for drinking, smoking and generally partying my way through to my mid 40's, shortly after my 50th the day of reckoning finally arrived, and all those misguided, reckless chickens of the past came home to roost!

Obviously the ageing process didn't happen overnight, and I suppose I began to notice changes to my behaviour on family holidays when photos were being taken, I either hid behind someone else or deleted the results because I looked so old and awful. Like many others, I really noticed things speeding up with the menopause and decided, I was going to have to take action and my search for a surgeon began.

I went on-line and read everything I could about cosmetic surgery, good, bad and horrific and even downloaded operations to see what I was letting myself in for. Whilst I would not wish to comment on or discredit any surgeon without first hand experience, I would certainly recommend doing your research as thoroughly as you can and DO NOT assume celebrity surgeons are the ultimate simply by virtue of their association. They may or may not be, but I can only speak from my own opinion and experience.

In the course of my research, I found the stories from people brave and generous enough to share their experiences on RS to be incredibly helpful and informative, and for that I am so grateful as it undoubtably led me to best decision I could have made with my choice of surgeon.

Initially, I made appointments with 2 well known (London) surgeons, assuming that would be a good place to start, and felt reasonably confident with my decision. As time went on and I continued researching, one name kept cropping up with rave reviews and it was starting to bug me. That name was Dominic Bray. I kept trying to find favourable reviews on my chosen surgeons in an attempt to justify my decision, but could only find a handful of good ones and actually uncovered 2 bad ones from a 'celebrity' one I had booked with and that was enough for me to cancel.

I was beginning to suspect some kind of mass conspiracy. I mean how could one individual keep receiving 10/10 reviews? By now it was rattling me to the point that I could no longer ignore it and telephoned his office to make an appointment. I'd heard of Lucy his PA via RS patient reviews and like everyone else found her to be every bit as lovely as they said.

When I saw Dominic I knew instantly it would be pointless to go elsewhere. I took my husband along as it was important to me that he was on board and I value his opinion. He is absolutely nobody's fool and refuses to waste money, (unlike me who loves to)! so when we left the consultation and said 'He's your man' the deal was sealed.

I have spent quite some time agonising whether to include some pretty awful before photos and equally gruesome after ones(!) but decided that without those kind of images from other ladies, who probably felt the same, I may not have had the courage to go through with it. Having any kind of elective surgery is always a big decision and I think especially so with your face. As my aim was to have a subtle but better version of myself, without doubt, the before and after shots on Dominic's Gallery dispelled any qualms I may have had, and made choosing him as the man to trust, a very easy decision indeed. So thank you ladies! Xx