Face Lift In...Costa Rica!

Syllogistic was easy to figure out.Hi ladies! I have been a member of realself for a few years now and thanks to this forum I learned a lot. Thus I feel I owe to the community and i'm willing to share my experience with a facelift I had in June 2018.
First time I heard about Dr Lev when I did my dental work in Costa Rica at 2016. I decided to not waste the time and immediately scheduled a consultation while I were there. My impression was pretty positive- knowledgeable, modest, humble, friendly,no show off personality. The word of mouse is the best advertisement. Especially, if this recommendation is given by people who work with patients at recovery places and see different jobs done by various doctors.
I always stayed at Las Cumbres Inn in San Jose where I met a lot of people from US and Canada. So, i also saw some face lifts and nose jobs. But I saw them in recovery process and not the final result. I decided to dig deeper because the face lift was on my list right after dental.
Sometime later somebody mentioned about realself forum. I started reading and decided to check out if there are some reviews of doctor Lev by chance. And I found them! There were many with photographs, explicit details, lots of thanks and almost 100% high ratings. This is how I was sold.
Next Step was to figure out the price. I took a few photos on my phone and emailed them to Didi (she represents Dr Lev in US and is a marvelous guide for the facelift Journey.) I received approximate estimate of $8500 that included brow lift, upper eyelids, neck lift ( platysmaplasty) and SMAS. Yet the price was very affordable ( I calculated that with air and recovery place for 2 weeks, it will be $11,000 max-still less than in Chicago where I reside.)
After that i gave myself a year to get ready, save some money, learn more about facelift and get morally prepared. I read almost all reviews of former Dr. Lev's patients, watched a lot of videos (even australian tV show "changing Faces" on Netflix to get inspired.) I highly recommend videos of Dr Joe Niamtu from Richmond, Virginia. He is a great educator and surgeon (not for my pocket though... huhh...) he explains how to choose the right surgeon and you will learn about various types of the facelift, sutures and stitches. The information he gives in his videos is priceless. Any way, By June 2018 I was very ready to get back my old look.
The logistics was very easy to figure out. Doctor's Lev website has explicit information about each step. I just followed the instructions. I genuinely regret though I didn't do my blood test earlier, at list 6 month before surgery. It was my idea to have the full panel done (it is not required but I wanted to know where I stand) and it showed I have hypo thyroidism and deficiency of B12. If I knew about these issues earlier I would of address it way before surgery and have better and faster recovery.
Didi was extremely helpful with her advises. She even connected us- patients, who were staying at the same place and had surgeries close to each other, over e-mail. It was a great idea- we could ask questions and communicate with people who had surgery already!
I think I made the right decision to go to Costa Rica for my face lift. First of all, the job was done by highly experienced and talented surgeon for very reasonable price (I ended up with $ 7,500 for my full "enchilada". It included cranial, SMAS and platyzmaplasty.)
Second, I was taken care of for 2 weeks during my recovery. It would not be possible if I had such surgery at home. In addition, I was in a company of wonderful people, and all of us were in the same boat-we all had the same surgeries! So, we supported, encouraged and entertained each other on our facelift journey.
Ladies (Jenny, Rosanne, Kathy, Renee)! How are you? I am glad I can share my results with you and hope to hear your opinions. I would love if you share your stories of your recovery and results.
It has been 2 months since my journey and I am still recovering (some areas-a skull, under the chin and around the ears are numb), but the stream of compliments is endless. Most important- I like what I see in the mirror!
Good job-thank you Dr. Lev! You are one of those people who are Happy to make others Happy!

In general, I am happy with my surgery even though the healing process is very slow. It is been 3 months since the surgery but my skin is still numb. Well , of course when if was cut, detached, trimmed and stitched back all nerve endings and blood vessels were cut also and now they are regrowing... It takes time and I am patiently waiting. I am even used to this weird feeling. It feels like not your own skin but some mask got glued to your skin. When I sleep on the side skin feels a little bit sore, but it is not painful.
Another observation is about thinning hair. When I returned home and finally washed my hair in a tub, the bunch of hair felt out and it was scary. I realize it is temporary... yet it will take months for hair to recover unless blood supply of the scalp will be restored completely.
I liked my look the best after 2 months Post OP. Now, after 3 months, the plumpness is gone and I can see my eyebrows came back down. Doctor's idea to do the coronal lift and not just brow lift was to bring my eyebrows up. I really hoped it will do the job, but the result didn't meet my expectations. I don't know if it is because of my skin that is thing with no much collagen or it was just not pulled up enough. I am going back to Costa Rica in September and plan to meet with Dr again and ask this question. I clearly can see the same hood of wrinkles hanging on my eyelids.
I'll update my review after my trip. I very hope Dr will address my concerns.

Hello ladies! Upon request, I am updating my review adding some new pics and thoughts.
As I mentioned before, the coronal lift I had, was supposed to lift my eyebrows. So, Dr. Lev decided do not perform blepharoplasty in a hope the coronal will take care of my drooping eyelids. Moreover, I had this procedure done in 2013 by other Dr. The incisions were uneven and on the 3rd day a stitch on the left eye came off... After that my eyebrows became uneven and what you see now is the result of his job.
Anyway, Dr's Lev and my expectations didn't come true and this is not his fault. My skin is very thin and stretches easily. After surgery, I was very swollen and it persisted for 2 months, so my skin stretched over the enlarged forehead and when swollenness went away, my eyebrows came down... But this is me and my skin that is luck of collagen.
Dr Lev was very nice and gave me a shot of Botox but I clearly see that I need another blepharoplasty and plan to do it next September-October.
Our generation doesn't want to give up so easily... We refuse to age, aren't we? LOL