Makes a Subtle but Beautiful Difference - Vancouver, BC

I know! It's like your upper lip weighs five pounds! I swear I thought I had trouble talking with it just hanging down there. ;-)

May I ask, did you ever have porcelain veneers? Your teeth are sooo perfect and what I want mine to look like, even if my anatomy won't ever give me that kind of tooth show...

Hi, MM. Those are my plain old teeth, actually. I had braces as a kid, and that's it, and bleaching trays custom-made by my dentist with an application every few years. I know from RealSelf that veneers can be problematic, but I've seen good results. Sounds like it's got everything to do with the quality of the lab that makes the veneers and the good judgment of the dentist who chooses and applies them. It's such a personal choice, isn't it? All this stuff is. At my age, 56, and here in Vancouver, there is such an enormously broad range of work women have had done, from none at all to every single filler and laser and surgery ever invented. I think just enough judicious improvements to look healthy and still natural is best. Hope that whatever you opt for, things go smoothly for you with a great result!

BTW your real teeth are fabulous - you do not need veneers at all.

Thank you. Honestly though, like you, I'd like 'em longer to improve the look of my mouth when I speak. I remind myself that if they ain't really broke, don't "fix" them -- especially if it means removing healthy enamel!

I meant hugging your teeth

Thank you for saying such complimentary things! I had a look at your profile and reviews and just wanted to say that you sound like a wonderful human being - so full of life and personality. A real original! And you've been so generous with all your posts and recommendations and good advice. You look amazing, too. I see you had a lip lift, which makes a big difference, doesn't it? Yours is perfection. Very sorry that you lost your Mom at a very difficult time. I hope you are now feeling strong and healthy and everything's healed nicely. Take care!

Seriously Catherine, I was staring at your smile as people does in museum in front of MonaLisa . I wish you see it the way I see it. Gorgeous. Now, I am very upset with you. Reading an old comment of yours you called yourself unattractive. I want you to start to believe that you're gorgeous. In my BBL review I wrote an "exercise" that you need to do it in front of a mirror until you start to believe you're gorgeous. I wish you were living closer so we could shop together. Where I was when you posted a full face pic? I wanted to see it :-(.

zizi you should be a poet. I love your responses! 'hypnotize the person'. brilliant. And I absolutely agree with that assessment. ha.

Your Mona Lisa comment brought a big smile! Yes, it would be great to spend time together. You sound like a force of nature!! mcat1045 is quite right. You should be a poet. Thank you - and I will do your "exercise" faithfully until I believe it. It might take awhile ;-)

I love your response, too.

Love, you made me laugh out laud. However I will never forget that a year ago when I saw your pics for the first time, the first world that came into my mind was DELICATE. I will not be a good poet but if I could write a manual that can be distributed to all women to make them feel better about themselves and stop this nonsense envy between women I would be so satisfied. I love to see and hear from a confident woman but I refuse to judge and put down already a weak woman. If we only know how powerful are we. I will love to see more women supporting each other in real life not just online. Back to the initial comment, I feel like I reallycan get lost looking at Catherine smile. Her doctor did an amazing job but she was a really good candidate for this procedure. I love her result

Love you babe :-]. Practice. I want to see you happy. Please don't worry much how you'll look to other people. BE CONFIDENT. You really live once. ((((( Hugs))))

Not only are you a beautiful woman with a larger-than-life character, you are strong, positive and gutsy -- and so very kind. Such an inspiration. Enjoy your voluptuous figure, cute upper lip and everything else from head to toe. I will work on the things you said.

Love all of the above positive comments, BLESSINGS to All!

Ice, I love you girl :-]. I should start a revolution. A feminine one. I am so mad on us, we give up on our "power" and I don't even know when? Our generation failed miserably on giving to our children good examples. My anthem is Beyonce's song "Who run the world?" GIRLS. When did we lost the skirt and pulled up the pants? I agree with you Ice, make another woman happy by complimenting her. Speaking about power. We should love watch other like sisters and stop seeing another woman as a threat or enemy. I can talk for ever how upsetting is for me reading mean comments . There should be no woman with tears in her eyes because she feels less attractive or live with scars or deformities. If we have around us ppl that does not accept and tolerate who we are, we should ignore them. In my eyes every single woman is gorgeous and deserve to know that. Love you guys, and thank you for your support.

Oh, Cath you are as sweet as I though. Don't you ever let your guard down. We live in a society where everything is scrutinized and judged. We live one life. Do it as tomorrow doesn't exist. We didn't received the gift to see what tomorrow is bringing in our way. We all came in this life crying. Be the one that leaves smiling. Everywhere I went ppl remembers me. I always leave a mark on people's heart. That makes me happy. I don't have to be a celebrity or a rich woman to act like one. I do every day something that reminds me that I am a human being. I don't always feel pretty but I do remind myself that I don't have to. I am unique and that is enough.

Hei love, I'm glad to see you participating . Aren't we, women the best?? Yes we are :-]. Blessing to you too , doll.

How nice of you to say! Gosh, I've almost forgotten I had a lip lift. It just looks and feels like my natural-born mouth.

Well, I sure don't know about THAT, but thanks for such a positive comment! I am so happy I had my lip lift - happy every single day I look in the mirror. Best wishes for any procedure you decide to do, lip lift or otherwise.

Your result looks awesome. Did he do that under local anesthesia? If so, was it hard to sit still? At one week were you able to wear makeup or was the incision too fresh? Does he do a lot of those procedures?

Hello! Yep, local. Didn't feel a thing. Very calm and still a bit excited to finally be doing it. No need to take anything to relax beforehand. At one week, Polysporin was still mandated over the incision site. Nope, no makeup. You don't want to interfere with the healing or introduce bacteria. That said, it wasn't ghastly-looking at all, nor especially red. Dr. B. is the doctor in the Lower Mainland - probably in all of B.C. - who does more lip lifts than anybody. I recommend him without the slightest hesitation. He's a lovely human being and an expert surgeon.

Thanks for the quick response. I used to live in Vancouver but I now live near San Francisco. None of the docs impress me here. It sounds like it is worth a trip to Van! Thanks for posting your story.

I'm sure it will turn white as I've looked at close-up photos of Afters and have seen the final results, but the scar is the tiniest hairline-wide, so no worries, as long as your doctor is terrific.

I just visited your profile and saw what a great result you had from your surgery. A lip lift would make your expression as youthful as the rest of your face. I think as more and more doctors zero in on this area and understand the great results that can be had from a quick and relatively minor add-on to any regular face rejuvenation surgery, it'll be as well -known and popular as it deserves to be. Thanks for your compliment, too. Always good to hear.

I think you are right although my teeth are quite long and I'm concerned with looking like a rabbit (when I lift my lip even slightly there is a lot of tooth immediately). I'll just have to look for the right doctor. thanks again! Please do post more pictures as the scar heals.

Please forgive me if I seemed to presume to know what would be best for you. A good doctor will give you the right advice. Perhaps if you do decide to go for it you'll have a very modest amount removed. You are a beautiful woman and if you didn't do a darn thing else you're still a knockout.

You're making me blush! But I do thank you. I've had some really good doctors here in Vancouver who are dedicated to keeping their patients looking very natural and not at all overdone. We're very lucky - and I see there are many terrific surgeons in the U.S., too. This site is really useful for helping us find the best of the best.

Thank you very much, Sarah. Kind comments like yours sure help make these difficult decisions to undergo surgery that much more worthwhile when they're seen as successful.

That is heartening, thank you! In Vancouver most women my age are still very au naturel. They simply don't get work done and accept the changes that come with age. I think that is great, to be like Ingrid Bergman and Dame Judy Dench. I think that I've gone the route I have because I am not naturally beautiful and began fairly early with making changes to areas that were bugging me. Now, the aesthetic here being so natural, if I'd gone all Beverly Hills I'd stand out miserably!

Rachel Welch said that she started doing "little" things here and there, when she was young. She did not wait until she needed it, per se. Though she is 73 yrs. old, she does not look (to me anyway) overly done either. Your smile is beautiful!

I'm smiling because I finally got up the guts to get that lip of mine lifted. ;-) Many women are aging beautifully with a little help now and then. I wish more of them would say so. It would make women like me much less shy about my own decision to do the same.

P.S. I'm thinking of women around my age in the public eye like Helen Mirren, Emma Thompson, Diane Sawyer. Intelligent, accomplished women. Like us!

I agree!

Okay, guys, just since you've been so sincere, I'll put up a full face so you can see the whole effect of 2cm minus 44mm on a 56 year old. I hope it will help guide you to a great result of your own, whatever the math might be!

You give me hope that my 50's won't be as dreadful as I'm fearing. Thanks for posting a great photo!

Oh, good, I really wanted you to see my whole face before I took it down. Yup, your fifties can be just fine. I'm sure you won't make the mistake of some women my age I've seen, who have been desperate to look 36 again and end up just losing sight of what looks graceful and natural. I just hope to try to look like a healthy woman who has good genes (not that I do; that's the work of experts here in Vancouver!) and takes care of herself.