Surgery Completed and I am very pleased with results

I am a 58 year old female who has always looked younger than my age until 8 years ago when I turned 50 and menopause literally caused my face to melt almost over night. I have researched plastic surgeons in NJ and NY and have a consultation scheduled with Dr Dan Baker in NY in a few weeks. Very anxious!

I have been waiting 7 months for this appointment, I made it back in December 2013, that's how long his wait time is! I will let you all know how my consultation went! Also, if anyone here has had surgery with him recently please share your experience along with costs. Wish me luck..........

I was so nervous about my consultation but pleasantly surprised. The office is beautiful with an Old World Charm. I filled out a complete medical history form when I arrived. He does not overbook so I was finished with my visit and received my surgery proposal with costs from his surgical coordinator all within one hour. Dr. Baker has such a calm, professional demeanor, I felt relaxed as soon as he walked into the examining room. What I really liked about him is the time he took discussing my medical history. He was very concerned about my new onset high blood pressure with respect to surgery. Apparently, if your blood pressure becomes too elevated during surgery and post op as well, you will ooze blood and body fluids through the incisions which would be a disaster. I respect the fact that he put safety first ahead of my cosmetic wishes and for a minute I thought he was going to refuse to take my case. He sits right next to you instead of behind a big desk and I almost felt as if I was speaking with a friend or colleague due to his soft spoken and reserved quality. It is obvious that he is passionate about his work and addressed all of my concerns as he was touching my face and explaining things to me. He was not rude, arrogant or condescending and his fees are no higher than most plastic surgeons in Manhattan. I told him I wanted a facelift ( he said I only needed a short scar lift), upper and lower bleph and "something done" about a small scar on my face that has bothered me since I was a child. For that he recommends dermabrasion and prefers that over any laser treatments. If all goes well and there are no surprises personally, with my family or my health, I am thinking of a Surgery date for this September!

Feeling so much better after pre op visit. The time from the initial consult to the pre-op visit is very challenging emotionally. I changed my mind several times a day regarding my decision to have surgery. I questioned everything! Thought I was being too vain and selfish. During the pre-op visit, I realized I was in the best possible hands with my surgeon. He is such a nice person, very humble, a gentleman and so experienced. I can breath now..........at least until the day of surgery.........

I am post op day 6 and had great surgeon, wonderful private duty nurses for 3 days and I am very pleased with my results. The nurses iced my neck first 2 days then began warm compresses on third day which I continue to do myself on my neck and eyes and have no swelling and minimal bruising. Celebrex helped a lot as well. Only wore face bra 2 days and was given a neck brace after that which I have to wear for at least 2 weeks.

Incisions healing very nicely and are extremely thin.

Sutures removed in front of ears and under chin today. No swelling at all since day of surgery and I think it is because I had 2 drains, one on each side of my face and the nurses began manually massaging my jawline up to the sides of my ears to the drains to facilitate blood moving into the drains and out of my face. This combined with the continuous icing and the Celebrex played a role to halt swelling. I only have bruising on the sides of my neck below and behind my ears.

Left ear after suture removal

Upper eye incisions removed today. Still a little puffy but incisions are invisible.

Hard to believe it was 2 weeks ago I was traveling to hotel in Manhattan day before my surgery. I was so nervous and now I wish I had surgery years ago when I no longer liked looking in the mirror.

6 weeks post op: I am able to drive and turn head side to side more easily. All incisions are healed. Burning in neck is gone. Still numb on sides of my face and all over ears. Still feels weird putting make up on those areas of my face. My eyes have healed perfectly without any problems. At 4 weeks I was able to open my mouth wide enough to stop using baby toothbrush! I am healing well and beginning to forget I ever had jowls. That's all I wanted.