Deep Plane Mid-Face Lift - Portland, OR

I decided to go for the mid-face lift because I had deep nasolabial lines around my nose. The surgeon explained that he would do an endoscopic lift through the brow, which would gently lift the cheeks up and leave approximately 1" scars on my head. What I actually got were 8" scars going from my brow down behind my ears, which you can see when my hair is wet. My cheeks were lifted off of the bone and repositioned in a very high position which looked very unnatural. In a side profile it looked as though the cheek was pointed at the corner. I looked ridiculous.

Initially, the swelling was extreme, as it went down I prayed that what I was seeing wasn't what I would get. Unfortunately, it was. When the swelling went down my cheeks were very, very, high, unnaturally so. I did not venture out of my home for at least 3 months, when I did people stared at me. One man asked me if I had been in an accident. Family members were shocked, and my brother-in-law actually laughed in my face.

Since having this surgery 7 years ago, my life has gone down hill. I lost two jobs as people seem to act very negatively towards me. I have suffered from chronic depression and have been in hospital 3 times and I am taking anti-depressants. I have been seeing a therapist, but it is going nowhere. I do not have a job and know I will never have another as I have lost my confidence. I used to pride myself on my lovely hair, however, my hairdresser of 8 years was so disgusted that I had had surgery that she started giving me bad haircuts, her way of telling me she didn't want me as a client anymore. I have found that other hairdressers feel the same way, when they see the horrific scarring on my head.

The saddest thing of all is that I have lost my sense of identity. When I look in the mirror I don't recognize myself anymore, surgery took away my identity. My surgeon lied to me, he told me I would look subtle and be back to work in 2 weeks. I do not look subtle and it took me 2 years to pluck up the courage to go back to work and when I did it backfired. Finally, it will be 8 years this August since I had my surgery and I STILL do not look normal, and I STILL think about my surgery every single day, it never goes away.