Endoscopic Facelift, Neck Lift, Fat Transfer,Laser Skin Resurfacing for This Wrinkly 49 Year Old! Top 10 Tips! -Santa Monica, CA

I had an Endoscopic facelift, neck lift, eye lift, fat transfer, and laser skin resurfacing in one procedure. Fat and stem cells were endoscopically put all over my face, neck and lips. I wanted to write this review for those folks who are terrified to go overseas and want a natural no one will know you had a facelift and have the resources to pay for the best in facial work. I realize everyone has a different comfort level and price level but wanted to write this review as I think Dr. Kao is amazing at what he does and wanted to share it in this forum. I did a ton of research to find a doctor who would not cut the sides of my face and pull sideways, but a surgeon who would pull my face up and made me look like a better me, and not look like I had any plastic surgery done. I know he works on A list celebrities and that was important to me to have the best of the best.
I am a 49 year old gal in great shape who was very very very wrinkly. My mother is gorgeous but has a lot of wrinkles so I knew my face would only get worse. I am allergic to Botox and other fillers so I was running out of options. My surgery lasted 14 hours and although the healing time took way longer than anticipated, at 3 months out I am thrilled with the results.
Here are my top 10 tips I wish I knew before I had surgery that hopefully will help some of you thinking about a similar procedure.
1) If you don't want anyone to know you are having surgery don't plan anything for a good 8 weeks. I had no stitches that were visible or bruises but I was pretty swollen and didn't look totally amazing until almost week 10.
2) If you live at a higher altitude it takes WAY longer to heal. Less oxygen.
3) Get Bariatric Oxygen as often as you can afford to go, it really helped speed up my recovery once I started and wish I would have made arrangements before my surgery for multiple sessions over 8 weeks.
4) Find a Lymphatic massage therapist, the 2 gals I saw saved me and made my neck feel so much better and truly helped the swelling go down.
5) Have the doc prescribe Diflucan for a potential yeast infection from all the antibiotics, wasn't fun waiting in line at the pharmacist on day 6.
6) Totally avoid salt
7) I found truly lying around and taking it easy the first 4 weeks helped with my healing. If I ran errands or moved around too much my neck would throb and my healing slowed down.
8) Don't have your partner or friends see you at the beginning, find a good after care center that can take care of you at least the first 3-5 days. The one in Santa Monica was key to my initial healing. They don't need to see the 3 drainage tubes I had for a week. Also, I was so thankful to have the first 2 weeks to myself to concentrate on healing.
9) If they are going to do a fat transfer buy compression clothing ahead of time in case you bruise on your thighs and hips.
10) I found eyelash extensions on week 4 helped distract folks from seeing something weird about me to saying Oh you got eyelashes.
I only am posting a before and after photo of my neck as I am pretty private about my procedure. If you want additional info, feel free to contact me. Bottom line, the procedure was way more of a big deal that I realized and it took way longer than I had been told to heal, (with a fat/stem cell transfer it takes longer to heal but lasts longer than a regular facelift) but totally worth it and yes I would do it again, even though it cost the price of a Porshe, having my face look absolutely normal was the most important thing to me and worth every penny I saved.