Facelift etc..

[Stuckoncrossroads]

I’m looking to have face “refreshment” surgery in Nordesthetics Clinic in Lithuania. (lift,upper lid reduction and possibly brow lift) …i’m ( suddenly!) in late 50’s and after few tough years and losing few stones I want to feel good and reward myself for once.
I’m fatigued after researching uk options, and not finding a clear winner for me, but I’ve found this clinic to have excellent reviews and the least percentage of poor reviews so far … ( of those with 500 + reviews , except the one uk surgeon who charges from 35k for a facelift .. )…so I’ve decided to bite the bullet and book …any recommendations, advice or experience with them you can share, would be great , (first or second hand),most reviews I read were about great body surgery, and general high standards but not more specific about individual surgeons etc ..so, I don’t have nearly as much specific info as I would like …thank you !

This is how I feel about it. It's worrying that even celebrities can get poor work done, even with all their money and contacts. or perhaps every single doctor out there is hit or miss...

But if you get good surgery, it must be such a boost. Emma Bunton looks amazing, and so does Tess Daly. They MUST have had facelifts, surely?

She didn't need it at all imo, but I can see the sense in having it done early to take the clock back a bit, then age better in the future, without waiting for everything to sag first.

Why are you unlikely to be in a relationship because of your age!?

I think so too… but being in public eye and photographed a lot, and after 5 pregnancies and childbirth, I imagine it doesn’t take too many unflattering photos to feel worn out and in need of something to make you look& feel your ‘good old self’…
(the issue is that with facelifts becoming more & more mainstream, our natural aging faces can start to feel less and less ‘natural’ and in need of ‘tidying’ .. that’s how I feel …).

Not her first face lift! Ridiculous to have another one!

Wow. I had no idea.

Though apparently they were non surgical procedures involving fillers along jawline , Botox , laser etc. I thought she had had surgery to her nose , as it had that pinched look, but that wasn’t mentioned.

She had a threadlift, which costs a lot ,doesn’t last as long as a surgical one and can have a lot of problems.

Going abroad for surgery is a silly idea. It’s not as though you can just nip back if there’s a problem. Get it done in the UK

@Stuckoncrossroads Sounds ideal that C West is the surgeon whether it is Spire Leeds or Coppergate. Presumably he will do exactly the same procedures whichever the hospital. Subject to the dates that either place offers, would it make sense to go with Spire Leeds as it is slightly cheaper and includes overnight hospital stay. You can use the savings to pay for the accommodation in York for the 5-7 days after surgery.

I cannot give you a quote for C West because my consultation is in May.

In case it is of interest for comparison and appreciate you have already found your surgeon, A Goodwin quoted £16,630 for a face/neck lift + upper bleph under GA with overnight stay in hospital. But it is not a full deep plane face lift. It is a deep plane lower face and neck lift but not the midface. This is so that he will avoid the facial nerves around the mid face. I don't whether that means he will do a SMAS lift instead at the midface but he will re-position the fat pad under my eye and bring it back up as high on the cheek as possible, so it does sound he is fixing my midface. Since he was doing that, I would not need a fat transfer. He will 'throw the kitchen sink' at my neck using the deep plane including a little liposuction below the chin.

Facelift per above £7,500, Upper Bleph £2,500, Hospital fee £5,000, Anaesthetic fee £1,650

That is via a virtual consultation. I will also be visitng Mr Goodwin in May to do a proper face-to-face consultation. He will decide then whether I should do a lower bleph too. He was not in favour of a liplift or a brow lift. He thought the brow lift would not do much and the lip lift would take longer to settle and I was already doing quite a lot of procedures. I told him I wanted to be 'one and done' 😁

@blueshoes “one & done” yes please!! I wish they could give guarantees like that.
And yes, I didn’t expect the quote to go up when I asked to switch clinics (was put off S because of some feedback& admin was a bit unprofessional/ chaotic), so…I ( took a deep breath &) asked if they could match my existing quote from dr. W.
Thank you for the details and figures- The consultation/lifts you discussed with dr G sounds so interesting, the SMAS is one “sheet” across the whole face & neck,so I imagine he would lift it at mid face too. (many reputable surgeons don’t like doing brow lifts or lip lifts, it’s a good sign!). Personally, I was initially looking to address just my lower face and chin/neck…I didn’t think I needed full face& neck deep plane, but CW was confident it’s the way to go and “would look really good “ and achieve “most natural” results ..it’s his thing that he does all the time and is comfortable with, so ….( I know I will be terrified closer to the date either way).

If anyone knows of ‘horror stories’ , please share details - names .. I hear clinics etc are being able to somehow remove old negative feedbacks even from reputable reviewing websites .

@Stuckoncrossroads you asked for horror stories.

I am a lurker on this facebook group Face-lift & Neck-lift Support Group. You can search C.West or if feeling brave, ask UK-based members for reviews. As far as I know, C.West only has good reviews on there but of course unverified, being facebook and all.

There are before and after photos of various face/neck lift procedures. Some are not good outcomes but bear in mind, they might not have had enough healing time and you often don't know which procedure they did (precisely), which surgeon they used/where or chose responsibly.

.. Thank you for this… I will check tonight 😬…I have time till tomorrow to change my mind haha - tomorrow morning i’ll confirm date and pay deposit.( deciding between dates in May, June and early July).

I searched more for Dr Goodwin, very good reviews about his work, ethos, and him as a person as well… his patients seem happy and appreciative of his responsiveness/ accessibility which is really important…

I spoke to a woman on Facebook who had a DP facelift with CW, I’ll post the link. Great results, and horrifying day 3 photos which are good to see, to be prepared 🫣 (She had co2 laser surfacing as well which contributed to the day 3 look).

Also, C Clinic agreed to price match, it was worth asking to save 1k 😁

@Stuckoncrossroads have you decided and booked in yet? Price match is a cunning negotiating tactic.

yes, I get it, it’s so full-on physically, emotionally and financially, and easier to just opt out. I feel if I don’t do it very soon, I will get less&less bothered and might end up not doing it and regret it ( many say they regret not doing it sooner). …but looking at my tired-looking “Mounjaro-face” is demoralising me and making me feel old & not me 😤, I am not going down without a fight (I think 😂).

This has resonance with me. No I am not going quietly into the good night either. This is my pre-retirement present after 45 years of graft (studies, job, kids) and doing the right thing. Retirement is still 3-5 years away but I am going to soft launch into the next phase of life with a new face!

I have booked dates for surgery, ( & 2nd consultation,pre op etc..) 😁😬

@blueshoes such a well earned present, to help FACE the future feeling and looking good, refreshed and defiant.
Queen behaviour I say 💃.

I feel I still occasionally have to fight bits of (misplaced) guilt to justify the (fabulous & well deserved !) self indulgence, but no, after decades of hard work ,‘service’, and prioritising others, a feel-good investment is perfectly justifiable, I don’t want to look in the mirror and feel old, wiped out and mugged .

There is more than one version of growing old gracefully 😁💃👒

@Stuckoncrossroads must be so exciting to have your dates in a diary. It is getting real now. If it were me, I'd veer between cannot wait and being terrified.

You have have gone about this responsibly and done extensive research over many months and consulted many surgeons. This is it.

I am very excited for you! Do continue to share your experience. I will be right behind you 😁

I have zero sex drive and men dont tend to want that.

@blueshoes that’s exactly how i feel!
Will do- you too, keep us posted about your journey. Are you looking to do yours this year? I will be right behind you too 😊

My second consultation and preop assessment are booked together which is really convenient,I need to check for rooms nearby, I think they ask you to stay nearby for one night… planning the logistics is making it v real 🫥

@Stuckoncrossroads Yes I plan to do it this year, in fact in the summer if possible. Whilst people unveil their new faces for summer, I am hiding mine whilst I recover. Hopefully with more people away from the office over summer, fewer will notice I have been WFH for 3-4 weeks and turning off my camera.

I have tentatively booked in with A.Goodwin for summer without commitment just to reserve the date. I am going to decide whether to firm up in May after my face-to-face consultations. So yeah, it is pretty real for me too. I have already mentally booked out the first week from work and looked at apartments nearby and worked out how best to get there.

Do you plan to tell people about your face lift? I am keeping it under wraps for now. Only dh knows IRL. I have not told anyone other than on mn 😁

@blueshoes Hi! Sounds like a bit of a plan 🙂 Are you still seeing C West as well ?

I also opted for summer! (Controversial!). I’ll arm myself with air conditioning, huge sunglasses and a big sunhat and spend the summer chilling with my cat mostly - mine is booked for the 8th of July. May date was too soon 😬
I am wondering if there is a software to sort of blurr the picture during videocalls, as a temporary ‘glitch’ if required … 😆- hopefully people will be in jolly summer/ holiday mode,while you recover peacefully at home.

To me,it’s a private/ personal matter,only my daughter and a close friend know& are instructed it’s for me only whether or not to share. But while I’m really private IRL, I do have a history of being “unable to keep a secret” 😆.... (like I enthusiastically did with jabs!). ..at this stage I feel more lucky than ‘embarrassed’ to be able to access modern day life-improvement tools . What a time to be alive I think 😊
I totally see why it would be good to keep it mostly private though…even on MN, some people can’t help but be judgmental & annoying about it 🙄

@Stuckoncrossroads Yes, I am seeing CWest for the first consultation the day before I see AGoodwin in May. So will be choosing between one or the other after that. I put myself on the waitlist for cancellations at Cgate since last year to try and get an earlier consultation date with CWest but no one has cancelled so far. I tried calling the clinic but people are hanging on to their consultation appointments because they are so hard to get!

The problem is I am now pretty impatient and in fact already starting to schedule my work appointments around A.Goodwin's tentative surgical date. Unless there is a compelling reason to go with C.West, all things being equal, I will go with the pre-booked date with A.Goodwin. Do you think that if I saw C.West in late May that I could get a surgical date in July?

The surgeons go away for their own summer holidays I presume. If I had to wait until September or later to book in, that's just too late 😆

@Stuckoncrossroads Well done on the weight loss. I am loving the image of the airconditioning, sunnies and big hat with cat companion. I had forgotten that it could get hot over summer as the last few summers in London were a bit of a damp squib. Wonder if this is the year I finally invest in a portable airconditioner for 4 days of heat ...

Part of the reason I am keeping the facelift under wraps is because as you say people are judgmental or might think I am shallow. If the recovery takes longer or I scar badly or there are complications or I end up looking weird, don't want people to say I told you so or you brought it on yourself. The last time I consulted a surgeon about a facelift was 8 and 1 year ago and so this is not an impulse. The facelift technology has improved a lot since then and I am glad to have waited. Interesting times indeed.

It is funny that people don't think twice about having braces or dental implants which are also cosmetic procedures but facelifts are still relatively out there. I lost weight to see it would improve my face and avoid a facelift. Nope. I am also taking collagen and using actual skincare like Tret, The Ordinary actives and sunscreen to get my facial skin in good condition. Hence this facelift has spurred me to improve myself in other areas to optimise the result which cannot be a bad thing in itself.

All the best for July. Really excited for you!

@blueshoes That’s so true ..I’ve never been so responsible with sun protection etc..and generally living healthy& aware as I am now, the journey itself is one of growth & self improvement. .And thank you, after a lifetime of yo-yo-ing, it was really hard and slow to lose weight even with jabs, but it’s a game changer for sure, I’m forever grateful!

You’ve been on a long journey, leading you to your 2 finalists - you will know the right decision for you v soon 🙂.

I initially wanted more a mini/ lower face lift, but will go for full deep plane in hope of “one& done”, since it’s considered the best / most natural looking,and Dr West is v experienced and confident doing it and after meeting him ,I felt I’ll be in good hands … price-wise the difference wasn’t huge… I know that no matter how long I research and whom I choose, the risks are there 😭😬

I wouldn’t want to tell anyone else about it until afterwards, and depending how I feel .….It is very personal, it being our face .. identity .. big scary/brave decision.... following quite a journey .. i honestly think it’s v shallow people who find it shallow 😂 ( no, not after the latest hot designer look, nor pretend to be young, and have nothing better to do with my money tree 🙄).

@blueshoes Re July…dr West said while there are long waits for first consultations, second c and surgery are normally available within 8 weeks, and summer surgery is less desirable (exposure to sun/heat/ sweat not ideal for wound healing, hence A/C..), so possibly more availability. (If you want, you can inquire when the soonest surgery availability would potentially be, if May consultation goes to plan, as you need to plan ahead, and will help decide between 2 clinics..they might give you an incline about holidays etc..best to email the manager, not the reception- I can DM you..)

It is funny that people don't think twice about having braces or dental implants which are also cosmetic procedures but facelifts are still relatively out there.

I agree, there are definitely certain procedures are deemed more acceptable than others.

I dated a guy years ago who had surgery when he was younger to pin his ears back as they stuck out. Even though it was for a totally cosmetic reason, most people seem to think this somehow more acceptable than something more ‘frivolous’ like a facelit.

Ditto if someone has an abnormally large nose or something - it’s seen as corrective surgery rather than vanity.