Feeling Great at 66 but Disappointed in my Aging Face! OKC

To be brief, I'm still so glad I decided to get a facelift and I'm very happy I chose Dr Harley in Asheville, NC. Although my neck did not stay as tight as I would have liked it to, I only have to compare before fl and after fl photos to confirm how fortunate I was to be able to have had it done! Dr Harley looked at pics I sent to him and seems to think some stitches must have come loose. He has said he can fix it if I would like him to. One thousand miles is a long way to go, but I am contemplating the redo he says won't be too difficult to accomplish. Love that man!! The newest photos were taken in the past 30 to 45 days.

Hey, Friends! I'm finally posting another update - I hope I get it uploaded before midnight! I have spent way too much time taking pictures and working to get a few collages that show the before and after truths! I love the smooth face and jawline I have now and my more youthful looking eyes. My neck looks so much better but still has some laxness that I wish weren't there. My bruising has been gone since the one month post-op. I still have numbness on the sides of my face and under my chin. It feels like I'm washing a skin-covered box - LOL. There is some tenderness in places along my face, but nothing severe. The incisions along my ears are quite unnoticeable. The extra incisions on my neck are very pink but looking much better and lying flatter all the time. The bump (dissolvable suture) I mentioned in my last update near my left earlobe is nearly gone now. Unlike the incisions along my ears, the incision under my chin is noticeable to me, but no one looks under my chin - not even my dental hygienist! I have a small lump on one side that you may be able to see in one of the pictures I post, and I don't know what will eventually happen to it, but for now, it doesn't effect how I feel about my face. I haven't had real problems with swelling since about the third week post-op. My diet hasn't been heavy on the salt side for several years and although I don't drink the recommended ounces of water, I attempt to drink water off and on all day. I think exercise and staying active in general is important to our well-being whether recuperating from surgery or not so I exercise and stay busy. In the summer I work out in our pool five days a week and stay busy with staying busy! Everyone who knows I had a facelift and even those on RS want to know - are you happy with your results? How and why did you choose Dr. Harley? First, I am very happy with the more youthful face, eyes and neck Dr. Harley was able to give me. I feel as though I have been given the gift of time - even though time marches on, I feel like several years were rolled back on my face, which makes me FEEL so much younger! I went about dreading the looks I would get when someone would come close enough to see the aging I face I had developed. Despite the fact I am in excellent health and have kept a trim and relatively fit body, my face gave away my real age. Really, I KNEW I looked older than my age and I was sick and tired of mourning the death of my youth! The person who has had the most dramatic reaction to my facelift is a friend who lives across the street from me. Because she has two friends who had facelifts with poor results - and those women have lots of money - she was afraid I wouldn't get a natural look and would regret having it done. I didn't see her for a month after I got home from North Carolina. (She is very busy with her job!) One evening I was pulling out of my driveway and saw her getting ready to get on her bicycle. Instead, she started walking to my car and as I started going forward, I rolled down the window. I had just taken a shower and I had no makeup on - just clean hair and maybe some moisturizer on my face. She stood at the window and started smiling and started telling me what a natural and wonderful result I had gotten. She literally went on and on complimenting me on how great I looked and how she couldn't believe how I looked the same but better. I knew I would know immediately if she thought I looked good because she cannot cover up her honesty. It was such a huge relief to get her reaction to my new face! If no one said another thing about it, I knew from her reaction I had done the right thing! There have been other compliments, including my dentist who had a facelift several years ago. (Her results are not extremely natural looking, especially her eyes.) She told me she may need to know how to get in touch with my doctor. At 67, I have the confidence back I had lost when I was around my friends, acquaintances and strangers. Yahoooooo!!
Why did I choose Dr. Harley? I wrote a little about this in my initial reviews, but I want to reiterate the two most important reasons I thought and now believe Dr. Harley was the best choice for ME. #1- I absolutely did not want to go under general anesthesia. In my research, I had read that elective surgery under a general anesthesia would not be a good choice for me. There is research that indicates an early onset of dementia can be brought on by general anesthesia. At 66, I knew I didn't need to add a risk to my elective surgery by going under anesthesia for a lengthy amount of time. My first doctor told me I would be under for up to 8 hours. He was going to do a composite lift and a lower bleph. That really worried me!! #2 - I did not want a lengthy recovery. When I chose to have a composite lift, I was told I would be back to normal in two weeks. Further research and a private message from a gal on RS told me differently. The time I spend with my grandsons in the summer is invaluable and again, at my age, I value all the good times I can get! I am also needed by my family to be available and a lengthy recovery just felt a little selfish - for me. So, you can see how personal a decision this was for me, and I know it is for everyone. I wanted to choose what was best for me and my family. (Isn't it nice there are so many choices out there in the PS world?) When I got on RS, I chose to view face and neck lifts within a certain age group, Dr. Harely's reviews kept coming up in my newsfeed. I got very excited about the prospect of using a highly successful surgeon who used a less invasive procedure using valium and not general anesthesia. It all came togethe, and I am satisfied I chose the best surgeon for me. Night all...hope your days and nights are filled with hope, peace and love. ~jan

I was going to post pictures along with this update, but my day is only now slowed down, but because I'm 40 days post op AND it is my birthday, I'm going to update without pics. I'll start with the progress of my upper and lower blepharoplasty's: the bruising under my eyes was gone by the fifth week. I used warm compresses to help disperse the blood more quickly. I only did that twice a day for 7 days about the third week post op. My eyes began feeling a little dry a few weeks ago. I'm disappointed, but I knew that could be a side effect. I'm hoping when my upper eyelids aren't numb anymore my eyes will get back to normal. I sometimes put Systane drops in my eyes, but it's a temporary fix. My eyes also seem more sensitive to light, especially when I'm driving. I probably need darker lenses in my prescription sunglasses. I still have little bumps on either sides of my upper lids. I massage those and my upper eyelids several times a day. My eye lids are still a little pink, but nothing that would appear out of the ordinary to anyone. The incisions along the outside of my ears are blending in very well with my skin. The incisions along my hairline in my temples aren't noticeable, but they are taking longer to blend in. My hair hides them so I'm not bothered by that. The incisions along the hairline on my neck are healing nicely, but they will take the longest to become "one" with my skin. I use night time and daytime Mederma cream on them and I put silicone strips on them at night - in fact I have to remember to do that when I finish writing this! I am still sleeping in the very comfy recliner in our bedroom. It not only keeps me upright, it prevents my lower back from hurting. I bought a new neck pillow at Bed Bath and Beyond a couple of weeks ago. It isn't as confining as the travel type neck pillow but it still helps keep me from sleeping on the side of my face. My neck: I hate my neck. - LOL. I don't mean I hate the results I got, I just mean the skin on my neck is somewhat bumpy and I have those lines that go around the neck and those things aren't very attractive - even after a neck lift. I do think I may need some more laxness removed - hate to even think that way, but it seems to me I still have skin that is loose and it looks unsightly to me. In a couple of weeks I'm going to ask Dr Harley what he thinks. My wrinkled jowls are non existent! How happy does that make me!?! Very!! Also, the deep wrinkles on my face are still stretched - I can't believe how much better my skin looks! I love it!! I feel great, and I do not have significant, if any swelling. I began a new night and day beauty routine Monday. It includes Retin A most nights before bedtime. I'm excited about finding products that have the proven ingredients that help prevent and turn back some of the aging skin, yet it isn't very expensive and I can purchase it at the local discount store- Ah! Ha! I was careful not to say which store! I need to use it all over my body! You can watch hot and flashy on YouTube if you are interested in knowing more about the three year experiments a 50 year old woman who is now 53 has been doing in search for the right combination of researched ingredients. I'm not trying to advertise for this woman or any products. It's a little like listening to a scientific experiment, though! It's something I would like to do, but I never would've had the patience to do or taken the time to do. Goodnight Y'all. Hope you're sleeping well and doing great out there!