51 Year Old Wants Her Face to Match Her Sunny Outlook - Wayne, NJ

I'm generally a very positive, energetic person. I'm a retired makeup artist (head of training for a luxe cosmetic company), so I've personally seen thousands of women's faces and many of them shared their experiences of plastic surgery with me. I've never been opposed to that kind of thing. I wear my hair in a sort of GI Jane buzz cut and I've always been personally daring with fashion and makeup--it's just like decorating a Christmas tree in my mind. It should be fun and I really believe every woman should do what makes her feel joy in life (as long as it isn't hurting anyone else). When I was a makeup artist I would meet women at parties who would go into a self critical mode because they assumed I thought they should wear makeup. Or they'd say something like, "I should have waxed my eyebrows" and I never look at people's faces like that unless I'm hired to do it. I think lots of women look great au naturale--I'm just not one of those natural ladies. I once wore a giant pink tulle ball gown with a denim jacket on the subway (New Years Eve) When I hit 50, I felt great, but just one year later after menopause without taking hormones, I felt haggard looking. Many people thought I was insane to want to get my procedures because I generally have very good skin for my age but the turkey neck was really bad, I always had a tiny chin which made the turkey neck worse and my eyelids were really looking sleepy. I realized when I saw pics of myself, I had "resting bitchy face"! Lol! I warned my husband years ago that I came from a long line of vain women and that we needed to save money because I would probably be one of those women who had work done. After doing a lot of research and reading reviews (thank you thank you thank you RealSelf community!) I chose an awesome facial plastic surgeon. Because of my former career, I do have knowledge of the anatomy of the face and neck and the doctor confirmed my instincts when he suggested I get exactly what I was thinking in my head. We decided the neck and lower face lift and upper and lower eyes with a medium chin implant would be good. Then, only because I wear my hair extremely short, I figured I'd get a left ear Otoplasty--it always drive me a little nuts that I had one flat ear and the other ear stuck out.

I was a nervous wreck the few days before. But I focused on the fact that I did a TON of research (I'm secretly a big nerd), and I knew I chose an outstanding surgeon. My elderly parents came to take care of me (very sweet, non- judgemental people who know I've always been a bit brazen). Hubby is totally supportive (the usual guy thing "I don't think you need it but if it makes you feel happy") but hubby is on business trip so here I am with two senior citizen "nurses" that have more energy than I do! Everyone at Dr.'s office was as nice and genuine as in my previous visits, and they gave me my meds and I just fell asleep in the surgical chair. I was put under twilight anesthesia and that was what sealed the deal for me. I'm a chicken about flying and general anesthesia-I'm probably a control freak but we all have our fears so I was glad to have twilight sedation. I remember talking with the Dr. a little bit before. He's a great guy and then it seemed like 5 minutes and they were telling me I was finished!!! I have read that some people are terrified of twilight sedation but-I only felt a tiny, tiny pin prick when getting numbed as I was so relaxed from whatever they gave me--I felt wonderful! I mean, that's amazing to me that I had a lower face and neck lift, medium chin implant, upper and lower blepharoplasty, left ear Otoplasty and fat transfer. Go big or go home, I thought!

Yes, yes, it's true what everyone says on here is that the first few days are the worst. The first night I slept very easily and well after the procedures. I remember I had to sleep elevated many years ago after a surgery and I could not sleep at all. I'm one of those fetal position side sleepers, so since I knew sleep is critical to one's recovery I went on Amazon and got this giant folding thing to sleep on. It was expensive but SO WORTH THE EXTRA $ for me. I've slept great every night and I am the most swollen now and also sleep in a compression garment (claustrophobic a bit). I looked up "surgery recovery pillows" and read reviews and that's how I found this genius foam recliner that lays right on top of my bed. It lifts my knees slightly just like a recliner chair and that position makes me so comfortable that I can sleep elevated on my back for the first time in my LIFE. On day 2 I had returned to the Dr. to have the drains removed and dressings changed. I've started posting a little late in this journey. I read a couple of comments that were so mean that it briefly made me not want to share my story, and then I thought, my GOD, I already lived through the mean girls in high school, and I really owe my courage to go through with this because of all of you incredible ladies on RealSelf. I think that's the best thing about aging. You get braver and are really true to yourself. As I mentioned before I am probably at my peak of swelling. The pics are funny because I genuinely look like a blowfish. All pain was managed with painkillers every six hours but now on day 3 I've only had a single pill.