POSTED UNDER Facelift REVIEWS
55 Years Old: Five Days Out and Already Very Happy with Facelift, Temporal Brow Lift,Neck Lift, Fat Transfer, and YES: Lip Lift!
ORIGINAL POST
I'd been considering getting a facelift for a few...
NorCalH20PoloSeptember 25, 2017
WORTH IT$30,000
I'd been considering getting a facelift for a few years. I have a somewhat spotty history with the sun (too much beach time as a youngster, and then tanning beds in the 1980s), and even though I've been pretty good about getting peels, Fraxel, Retin-A, etc. over the years, the underlying tissues of my face were continuing their gradual slide toward the floor. I'd been seeing Dr. Hessler for several years for fillers and Botox, and every time I'd visit her office I'd pore through her "Before & After" gallery books. The "after" photos were all so beautiful: everyone looked refreshed and rejuvenated, but so soft and SO natural. Between her bright, sparkly personality and her obvious gift for cosmetic surgery, Dr. Hessler was a no-brainer choice for me when I finally decided to take the plunge.
I should tell you that I had a blepharoplasty (upper and lower) performed by another Bay Area surgeon about ten years ago, and his approach was to try to bully me into buying add-on procedures, including a chin implant, which I had serious doubts about needing. I initially agreed to it anyway, mostly because I was pretty helpless in the face of his bombastic personality. However, the night before that surgery, I called his office and told him that I'd changed my mind about the implant, but that I'd go ahead with the bleph. He gave me some guff about it, but I've never regretted that decision.
Dr. Hessler's approach was the exact opposite of this other surgeon's approach. She's clearly a gifted surgeon -- GIFTED -- but somehow her ego takes a back seat to her desire to make sure that her patients know they can trust her to take good care of them. She can answer questions to any level of detail you want or need. She spent a year (literally) answering my questions, from the vaguest aesthetic ones to some very specific ones about which procedures would benefit me most. One of her suggestions, the lip lift, was a surprise. I'd seen lots of before-and-after lip lift pictures here on RS and on Google images, and most of them looked un-subtle and over-done to me. I didn't have a particularly long upper lip. So during one of the handful of consultations I had with her, I told her I wasn't interested in a lip lift, and she was absolutely fine with that. But then, on a subsequent visit... I started looking again at those before & after gallery books of hers, and I asked her some more questions, which she answered with her characteristic patience. It turned out that a few of my favorite cases from her books were patients who'd had a lip lift in conjunction with a facelift (and neck lift). But the results were so natural-looking! It was then that I realized something obvious that Dr. Hessler was simply too polite to reiterate (she'd already suggested a lip lift, but I'd rejected it): when your whole face is sagging a bit, why would you just lift your jawline, cheeks, and forehead? Your upper lip is sagging, too!
In the end, I went with a facelift, neck lift, fat transfer (abdomen to face), and a subtle lip lift (I believe the widest part of the excision was 4mm). I'm only five days out, but I'm already starting to see my results, and I could not be happier. I've seen Dr. Hessler twice since my surgery for routine follow-ups, and as usual, she and her staff have treated me like they have all the time in the world to talk to me and answer my questions.
It's pretty hard to express how impressed I am with Dr. Hessler's work and her professional practice without resorting to hyperbole. But she really is THE BEST.
I'll post some before and after pics here in the coming weeks. For now, it's time for a little incision care and rest. More soon!
I should tell you that I had a blepharoplasty (upper and lower) performed by another Bay Area surgeon about ten years ago, and his approach was to try to bully me into buying add-on procedures, including a chin implant, which I had serious doubts about needing. I initially agreed to it anyway, mostly because I was pretty helpless in the face of his bombastic personality. However, the night before that surgery, I called his office and told him that I'd changed my mind about the implant, but that I'd go ahead with the bleph. He gave me some guff about it, but I've never regretted that decision.
Dr. Hessler's approach was the exact opposite of this other surgeon's approach. She's clearly a gifted surgeon -- GIFTED -- but somehow her ego takes a back seat to her desire to make sure that her patients know they can trust her to take good care of them. She can answer questions to any level of detail you want or need. She spent a year (literally) answering my questions, from the vaguest aesthetic ones to some very specific ones about which procedures would benefit me most. One of her suggestions, the lip lift, was a surprise. I'd seen lots of before-and-after lip lift pictures here on RS and on Google images, and most of them looked un-subtle and over-done to me. I didn't have a particularly long upper lip. So during one of the handful of consultations I had with her, I told her I wasn't interested in a lip lift, and she was absolutely fine with that. But then, on a subsequent visit... I started looking again at those before & after gallery books of hers, and I asked her some more questions, which she answered with her characteristic patience. It turned out that a few of my favorite cases from her books were patients who'd had a lip lift in conjunction with a facelift (and neck lift). But the results were so natural-looking! It was then that I realized something obvious that Dr. Hessler was simply too polite to reiterate (she'd already suggested a lip lift, but I'd rejected it): when your whole face is sagging a bit, why would you just lift your jawline, cheeks, and forehead? Your upper lip is sagging, too!
In the end, I went with a facelift, neck lift, fat transfer (abdomen to face), and a subtle lip lift (I believe the widest part of the excision was 4mm). I'm only five days out, but I'm already starting to see my results, and I could not be happier. I've seen Dr. Hessler twice since my surgery for routine follow-ups, and as usual, she and her staff have treated me like they have all the time in the world to talk to me and answer my questions.
It's pretty hard to express how impressed I am with Dr. Hessler's work and her professional practice without resorting to hyperbole. But she really is THE BEST.
I'll post some before and after pics here in the coming weeks. For now, it's time for a little incision care and rest. More soon!
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Replies (11)
I wouldn't categorize Dr. Hessler as "cautious." She's just dedicated to a natural-looking result, and she's not going to do anything that she thinks would end up looking "done."
I'm going to be doing my review of my TT with Duet (Dr. Weintraub in my case). I'm now fifteen days post-op. Short version of my TT review w Duet: HIGHLY recommended! :) Did I mention that it was Dr. Hessler's office who suggested that I talk to Duet about getting a TT?
Wishing you a speedy recovery from your TT. Be good to yourself!
Oh, I would so love to just say YES! Go for it! But... I think that'd be tempting fate. The fact is, the TT is MAJOR surgery, and you could be feeling pretty good at four weeks, or you could still be feeling pretty beat-up and worn out. I saw Dr. Hessler for a squirt of Botox last Wednesday (post-op day 15) and she was amazed at how well I was moving around. She said she'd recently seen a patient who was four weeks post-op from a TT, and she (patient) was scooting around with a walker! The thing is, everyone heals at such different rates... it's just impossible to tell how you'll be doing at four weeks until you have the surgery and you're well into your recovery period.
I had a drainless TT, for which I was apparently a candidate because my BMI is on the low-normal side (not sure what other factors make a person a good candidate for the drainless TT). The lack of drains might have made a difference in my recovery time. I had the full-on muscle plication (repair) as well as a bit of lipo along my flanks. I also had a little bitty complication in the form of a small blood clot in my calf, which Dr. W and I caught right away (post-op day 1, before any swelling/redness had even developed in my calf). All of that notwithstanding, I was back to about 95% of my normal energy level by day eight or nine. This is not typical for a TT patient, and I know it, and I'm grateful every single day that I tend to heal quickly and that I tend to have a ton of energy in general.
But your mileage could vary greatly. And the five-hour flight to the east coast... I realize that I'm now paranoid about blood clots, but you should absolutely ask Dr. L about the wisdom of booking that flight for that time-window in your recovery. She might think it's just fine. I just figure it can't hurt to seek the opinion of the surgeon!
I'll be three weeks post-op on Monday. I still have noticeable swelling in my lower abdomen, which is almost certainly more extreme than it would be were I not drinking tons of fluids to help me deal with the blood clot (I'm also on blood thinners, of course). I've already been out and about a lot. I stopped needing anything for pain after post-op day four or so (although I've been taking some regular Tylenol here and there because I've had a few muscle spasms in my rectus in the last week). I'm fair-skinned and have naturally low blood pressure, so I tend to look pretty pale for a while after any kind of medical anything, and I'm happy to say that I've finally been able to stop slathering on the blusher in an attempt to appear more life-like! :) As far as my normal activity level is concerned, I'm doing just about everything but going to the gym (and picking up heavy objects like my obese cat). I'm stiff and sore for the first few minutes after I get up in the morning, but once I start moving around, I feel pretty good. But that's me, and like I said, I'm probably not typical.
If I were you, I'd pepper Dr. L with questions about your TT (drainless or not? lipo or not?), and ask her about the wisdom of planning to travel to the east coast four weeks out. Have you had major surgery before? If so, how'd you do afterwards? I also healed really quickly from my facelift, but, as Dr. W pointed out BEFORE my TT, this surgery to the abdomen -- even though it's a MUCH shorter surgery (2.5-ish hours compared to almost six for my facelift) -- is a much more SERIOUS surgery. The insult to the body is just a lot greater anytime the abdomen takes a wound.
I'm in no way completely recovered -- there's the lower-abdominal swelling, the occasional muscle spasm, etc., but my energy level is great. All of my pants are too big in the waist, which is a hoot, but since I have this little bitty pot-belly from the swelling, I'm still wearing shirts and sweaters that cover my abdomen. The swelling is always worst for me in the evenings (thanks, gravity!), which is common, I understand.
Anyway, sorry for the rambling answer to your simple question. I guess that I'd just want you to be mindful that everyone has a really REALLY individual healing journey after a procedure like this, and it's hard to predict how you'll be feeling a month after your TT.
Wishing you all the best!! And please feel free to ask me anything else (just be prepared for a rambling answer :) ).
It was in the neighborhood of $30k. I definitely didn't go bargain shopping when I was looking for a surgeon -- I went "trust" shopping instead. I just felt really confident in Dr. Hessler's technical expertise and experience, as well as her taste in what makes a nice-looking rejuvenated face. There was also the fact that she was so easy to talk to. It just felt like she had all the time in the world to answer my questions, and that's really valuable to me.
A facelift is a big deal. You literally wear the results for all to see, every single day. For me, it was important to feel confident in the surgeon who'd be operating on my face. 30k is a lot of money, but I never had one anxious moment with Dr Hessler. I still see her for various small cosmetic things. I cannot recommend her highly enough!