Jennifer’s Facelift with Dr Bryan Mendelson

Jennifer’s Facelift with Dr Bryan Mendelson

I love love loved speaking with Jen today! It can be difficult to get people to share their facelift experiences with others – because really most of us don’t want anyone to know when we’ve had a facelift – it’s pretty personal. Today Jen gives us all the in’s and out’s of the process, what’s involved, the recovery, the good, the bad, and the uglies! I loved this podcast because my plan is to one day have a facelift – and seriously – you want to know what’s going to happen. Have fun with this one!

Trish Hammond: Hello podcasters. I’m here on this beautiful Saturday morning, where most people are having the luxury of the day off. I’m having a chat with Jen today, who has also been at work this morning, but Jen just recently had a facelift with world renowned famous Australian plastic surgeon, Dr. Bryan Mendelson, who is just one of the gurus of the world for facelift surgery. I’m very jealous of Jen, so I’m really excited to be talking to her today because Jen’s gonna tell us about her experience and what it was like and a little bit about it. We don’t often get someone being open about their facelift surgery, so I’m really excited to talk to Jen today. Welcome Jen.

Jennifer: Thanks Trish. Lovely to chat with you.

Trish Hammond: Yeah, thank you so much for taking the time today.

Jennifer: Oh, you’re welcome.

Trish Hammond: So Jen, you just recently had facelift surgery, I’m so jealous. I’ve seen photos of you, you look fricking great. I’m so envious. When I grow up I wanna be you. Tell me first of all, how old are you?

Jennifer: I’m 59, but I’m turning 60 next month, which is a bit hard to say.

Trish Hammond: Okay. I have to say I actually didn’t know how old you were until now, and I’m actually really shocked. I’m 54, I’m about five years younger, but I just thought you were maybe my age, maybe five years younger, because you just don’t know these days.

Jennifer: Exactly yes. I always looked young for my age.

Trish Hammond: Yeah. Awesome.

Jennifer: Thank you.

Trish Hammond: Why did you decide to have a facelift?

Jennifer: Well, I think one of the things when you have sort of looked younger most of your life, is when you do start to see that ageing, it’s rather confronting. I think it doesn’t really matter at what age that is, when you look at yourself and you feel that you’re looking a little bit haggard, or if you have a couple of nights with not a good sleep you look really tired. I just didn’t like seeing myself looking like that, because then I started to feel like that, and I expect, perhaps perceived like that. As we get older people that do look older are treated, unfortunately, a little bit differently.

Trish Hammond: Yeah. It’s so funny, because sometimes it’s true. I look at myself in the mirror and sometimes I think, “Oh, you look alright today.” But sometime I look at myself in the mirror and what I see looking back at me doesn’t … I had thought, “Oh my God, how did that happen? Where did all those years go? Why do I feel … That’s not me, even though it’s me.”

Jennifer: Yeah, and it doesn’t reflect how you feel, because these days we all feel young, or a lot of us feel young, because we are young minded. It’s sort of this catching a glimpse in the mirror or you’re walking along the street and you see a little glimpse in the window and you think, “Gosh. When did that laxity start?” Because it sort of does just come on fairly quickly at a certain age.

Trish Hammond: Yeah.

Jennifer: And 50s is probably when you notice it the most, but for some people, I think, it happens in their 40s, and others it’s different times. My main concern was my neck. I remember one thing clearly. I’d have my hair done, and if it was sort of down in front of my face, I used to look and think, “Oh, I look haggard.” I’d push it back to try and change the angles a little bit. Not that it drove me, you know what I mean? But it was how I felt when I saw that.

Trish Hammond: Yeah. Did you always think, “Oh yeah, when I get to this age I’m gonna have a facelift.” Or did it just kind of crept up on you, and then it’s like, “Yeah, no. I’m gonna do this at some point.” How long before you decided till when you had it? Was it a long process?

Jennifer: Yeah. Good question. I probably started thinking about it a couple of years ago, I’d say. Then I was just sort of looking for a window of opportunity really, because I knew that to have surgery you really needed to find the time for recovery. A time when it fitted in with your life basically. I sort of was thinking or manifesting, will I have it at this particularly time, which was in January this year. I thought about it for a couple of years, but I really started to think about it six months out, and then started planning for that time.

Trish Hammond: Okay. Can you tell us about the … I’ll jump back and forward because just as I remember things. Of course, you had a consultation with Dr. Mendelson.

Jennifer: Yes.

Trish Hammond: Did he make suggestions, or did you just go and say, “I don’t like the way I look.” What did you say to him?

Jennifer: It was more that I thought, I just said that I felt I was starting to age and I wanted to just look a little bit younger, but more importantly, more than anything I wanted to look natural. I just wanted to look fresh. I didn’t want to look like I’d had plastic surgery. I wanted to look natural. That was my main point about the surgery. I know because of the way he operates, it’s all about the internal muscle support. I knew that it would look natural and fresh because there’s no … The skin’s not pulled tight and you’re not over filled and all of that sort of things. I knew that he would perform surgery that would be exactly what I wanted.

Trish Hammond: You didn’t want people to know that you were having something done, but you wanted to just look good. That’s how I feel. I don’t want anyone to know if I’m … Actually I don’t care who knows, but do you know what I mean?

Jennifer: Yeah.

Trish Hammond: I don’t want to walk around saying, “Hey, look at me. I’ve had a facelift.” I wanna look natural.

Jennifer: Yeah, and look, there’s some people that you tell and there’s some people you don’t share it with. But I’ve bumped into people since my surgery and I get comments like, “Is your hair changed colour, or is your hair shorter? Because it looks great. It makes you look so much younger.” I haven’t changed anything, but they’re seeing a difference in the freshness and a naturalness. I don’t have anyone that said, “Have you had a facelift?”

Trish Hammond: Yeah. Wow. Because your issue is the same as mine. What bothers me is my neck and my jowls. Did you have a whole facelift or did you just have a neck lift, or what did he do and how did he-

Jennifer: Yeah. I had a neck lift with facelift. Along the jaw line, along the cheeks. He uses hydroxyapatite. Which is a mineral based … It’s coral, but it’s mineral based, so it’s not artificial at all. It’s applied to the cheeks, sometimes it’s to the jaw, different areas of the face, but I had a little bit of enhancement along my cheeks. Which has just given them a really nice line, but it doesn’t look like I had filler, just a nice line.

Trish Hammond: Is the coral, or what’s it called?

Jennifer: Hydroxyapatite.

Trish Hammond: Hydroxyapatite. He just puts it in certain spots to kind of give you some bone definition like-

Jennifer: Yeah.

Trish Hammond: Okay. Like in the jaw?

Jennifer: Yes. Some people would relate it to, years ago, cheek implants. Cheek implants, I know that they’re okay, but the thing about hydroxy apetite is, it’s added to the bone for what you need, and that’s what I loved. It wasn’t just a custom made thing. He just applied it to the areas to give that lovely enhancement.

Trish Hammond: Okay.

Jennifer: Because he is such a master, like he’s an artist as well really, it just looks really really natural, and it feels natural. I don’t feel like I’ve got anything in my cheeks.

Trish Hammond: Yeah right. Where’s your cut? Because I was thinking, “I better grow my hair because when I wanna have a facelift I don’t want people to see the scar and all that.” Where are the cuts on you?

Jennifer: Yes. I showed you, I sent my photos to you. You look hard, you won’t be able to see any incision.

Trish Hammond: Yeah. I can’t see a thing.

Jennifer: You can’t see it.

Trish Hammond: That’s why I wanna know, yeah.

Jennifer: Because you can’t. Reason for that, again, because the work is done on the underlying muscle you’re not relying on any skin tension to get your result. There’s a cut around my ears, but there’s no tension, so it just heals like there’s no incision.

Trish Hammond: Is the cut around the ears the front or the back?

Jennifer: It’s at the top of my ear, and then it goes inside the ear, that little lumpy bit called the tragus. It goes into that. Then it goes down around the earlobe and then back up around the ear.

Trish Hammond: Okay. Then did you have to use anything to put on that scar for it to go away, or is it just-

Jennifer: No.

Trish Hammond: Why is that scar not so obviously? Why can you not tell?

Jennifer: Yeah. When you make an incision, if there’s no tension on the skin it’ll heal … As you can see, you can’t see it at all. Because there’s no tension on the skin, and the way that it’s sutured, and they’re only in for a few days. The stitched come out, I think, three to five days. The stitched aren’t even in a long time, because the skin doesn’t need it. It just heals like a crease.

Trish Hammond: Oh okay. So when the skin is stretched and pulled, and you’ve got stitches, of course it’s gonna … Because is that tension on it, it’s probably gonna scar worse because it’s not pulled. It’s more-

Jennifer: Yeah.

Trish Hammond: Okay. Got it.

Jennifer: Yeah. I know a lot of people they’ll say, “Oh, I’d never have a facelift like you. You look really artificial, and you’ve got big scars around your ears.” Well, there are probably still facelifts performed today that are like that, but to me to have a facelift, you don’t want to have any evidence of incisions. I know that Bryan doesn’t … The surgery he does, means you’ll have imperceptible incisions.

Trish Hammond: Yeah. I think that’s the difference between a good and a, I won’t say bad, but a not so good facelift. You want that natural look. You don’t want that old fashioned type pulled face that used to be around, that’s really scary.

Jennifer: To me then, there’s no point in having any surgery, because it’s so obviously, and you would never really enjoy it, I don’t think. Because you’ll always be worrying about how you’re gonna wear your hair so nobody can see the scars.

Trish Hammond: Of course. Take me back to the pre-preparation. You booked in, you had to have your surgery. Was there anything that you needed to prepare for pre-surgery?

Jennifer: Well, I think like with any procedure. If it’s an orthopaedic procedure or anything, I think you should really be in the best health you can be in.

Trish Hammond: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jennifer: I am quite small, so I didn’t need to lose any weight. But for people who are carrying weight, I guess you lose weight beforehand, so that you get the best possible result. Because you know how when we’re older and you lose a little bit of weight it just shows so badly in your face.

Trish Hammond: Yeah.

Jennifer: For me it was just getting healthy. He also suggest taking some supplements leading into surgery. Some vitamin B, C and zinc.

Trish Hammond: That’s good. I like that, because not everyone suggests that, but I actually really like it. It just makes sense to me.

Jennifer: Yeah. Also having some skin treatment beforehand, just so your skin is healthy and hydrated and all those things, because for me, I’ve always been prestigious. I wash my face, put my moisturiser on every day and every morning and every night. After my surgery I didn’t even wanna touch my face. It was numb, it was swollen, obviously. For a couple of weeks I didn’t apply anything to my face, and then it just felt really dry and thick. The other thing he does then is, you have a treatment with a dermal therapist to do an exfoliation. That really gets you back feeling better about your skin anyway, but all the preparation, I think, makes an enormous difference to the end result, but also during your recovery.

Trish Hammond: Of course. When you say out of action. You prepare before. Make sure you’re healthy, and look after your skin. Which I’m a bit like you. I’m obsessed with my skin condition. Make sure you hydrate and all of that sort of thing. Then you have your surgery. What do you feel like when you wake up? Do you feel like someone’s just hit you about the head with a hammer?

Jennifer: Well, that’s a big day, you know.

Trish Hammond: Yeah.

Jennifer: I think everybody has a certain anxiety leading into surgery, because it’s a big thing. But I felt very safe knowing that Bryan was operating on me and he’s the best. That was very comforting for me. First couple of days you don’t really remember very much at all. You’re in quite a bit of pain. I spent three nights in hospital. And again, because of all that underlying muscle support, your face feels really tight, and it is uncomfortable. I’ve spent three nights in hospital, and just took the pain relief that I needed. Which was some Pethidine for the first two days, but after that it was more just Panadol Osteo and a little bit of stronger pain medication. It’s a little nerve wracking when you first wake up, because the first thing you wanna see is if your face looks alright. But of course it doesn’t, because the bruising’s started and the swelling started and you really don’t recognise yourself at that point. But he provides lots of healing notes, so I read those fastidiously. So that you could expect what was going to happen.

I’d seen people who had facelifts before, so I sort of had an idea what it might look like. Again, I wasn’t too overwhelmed with all of that, but there’s a process. In the first two weeks you are bruised, you are swollen. It feels really weird. My ears were completely numb. My earlobes were numb for three months. I couldn’t feel myself putting in my earrings. That’s really weird feeling. The first two weeks is the real healing, Trish, I’d say. It’s really important. For me, during that time I was very prepared. My daughter lives with me and she’d gone away for a couple of weeks. I basically had two weeks on my own where I just rested. I watched the Australian Open, and some Netflix things. I really didn’t do anything, because I know when you’re resting your body’s healing.

Trish Hammond: Yeah.

Jennifer: If you’ve got too much going on you just can’t heal properly.

Trish Hammond: It’s true. Were you home alone? Because you said your daughter went away. Were you home alone and you were okay?

Jennifer: Yeah. But then again, I did have three days in hospital.

Trish Hammond: Okay.

Jennifer: After that time you visit the rooms every second day. I got myself into the surgery. I couldn’t drive. I didn’t drive for about two and a half weeks, because my neck was quite stiff. Until you can move your neck properly you’re a bit of a hazard on the road anyway.

Trish Hammond: Okay. When you say you go to the room every second day. Is that for how long?

Jennifer: For the first 12 days.

Trish Hammond: Okay.

Jennifer: The stitches come out slowly. The ones in front of the ear come out every couple of days. Then every time you go to the rooms for that, there’s also ultrasound treatments. A physio does that. That helps with the swelling, and then you’re put under the LED heal light every visit.

Trish Hammond: Lovely.

Jennifer: It’s fantastic. I wanna do it all the time.

Trish Hammond: Yeah. I want one at home.

Jennifer: Oh do you?

Trish Hammond: No no, I’m joking. I wish.

Jennifer: Yeah. Therapeutically the end, scientifically they’re proven to help for your skin. Every visit to the room is heal light treatments as well. Again, you wanna get healed as quickly as possible. Everything’s put in place, and that’s all included in the upfront fee as well. All of that is part of your recovery. It’s great.

Trish Hammond: Two weeks, or 12 days you gotta go back. Three days in hospital, and then 12 days, in addition to that, you are going in every second day?

Jennifer: Yeah. Pretty much.

Trish Hammond: Then how long before you were comfortable … Because I’m going to hide. When I have mine done I’m gonna hide for however long it takes. How long do you reckon before you start to look normal? If that’s are right word.

Jennifer: You look normal if you’re wearing a pair of sunglasses and a scarf around your neck.

Trish Hammond: Ah.

Jennifer: And a hat. I just moved into a new area. Which was actually very fortunate. So even after five days, I’d put my glasses on, a scarf and go up the road for a coffee. Now, if I’d bumped into somebody that I knew quite well they would know that something had gone on. But you can sort of hide behind all of that. A lot of people just, I guess, would go to a different area to do that. Look, it’s a good sort of … After the two weeks I would say that people probably wouldn’t stare, like startled if they saw me, but before that they probably would. Because you are bruised. You’ve got bruising on your neck, and you look really tight. Which is all normal. Then I think in the next two weeks, like in the third and fourth week, is when I started to look okay. Where people probably wouldn’t take a second glance.

Trish Hammond: Okay. So you gotta write yourself off for a couple of weeks. You gotta be prepared to, not necessarily hide, but you kind of wanna … I just wondered how long I’d have to be away from home for. Because that’s what I’ll do, I’ll come to Melbourne.

Jennifer: Yeah. Two weeks medically, because you have to be around for the first two weeks to have your stitches removed.

Trish Hammond: Yeah.

Jennifer: If you don’t want people at work to know about it, it’s probably four to six weeks.

Trish Hammond: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Okay.

Jennifer: But you can still function. After two weeks, I guess with your business you can still look at some emails and do a little bit.

Trish Hammond: Of course.

Jennifer: But I just think committing to a solid recovery period gets you recovered quicker.

Trish Hammond: Yeah. That makes sense. What I’ll do is, because I wanna hide from all my girlfriend and just come back looking hot as.

Jennifer: They’ll know, because you’ve been talking about it.

Trish Hammond: Yeah. No, I’ll just be like, “Yeah, I’ve gone to have a detox. I’m so healthy now. I feel so much better.” I’ll tell them it’s yoga.

Jennifer: Yeah of course. Interestingly I met a group of girlfriends who I hadn’t told about the surgery, and it was five weeks after my operation. I remember thinking, “Well, I won’t go.” Anyway, I went and I didn’t say anything to them, and nobody said anything to me. Then just recently I bumped into one of them, who I did tell I had surgery. I said, “Did you notice when you saw me last that I looked any different?” No, she said, “I know you’re always having skin treatments, I just thought you had a skin treatment. You looked really good.”

Trish Hammond: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jennifer: Because people don’t take that much notice of each other.

Trish Hammond: No. And look, even when I look at your before and afters, you don’t look different. You look exactly the same. You just look refreshed, rejuvenated, whatever the word is. No one would ever know that you’ve had surgery. There’s no way.

Jennifer: Yeah I agree. That’s how I feel too.

Trish Hammond: Yeah.

Jennifer: And actually someone said to me once, “I’m really sorry I didn’t notice.” I said, “No, don’t be sorry. That’s actually a compliment.”

Trish Hammond: Yeah. Be happy.

Jennifer: Don’t apologise.

Trish Hammond: Exactly.

Jennifer: Because that’s the result you want, I think.

Trish Hammond: When did you actually go back to work?

Jennifer: I went back at four weeks, and just did a couple of half days. Because baring in mind, the surgery is a very long procedure, and physically it does take a little while to recover.

Trish Hammond: How long is it? How long is the procedure?

Jennifer: Well, mine was about eight hours.

Trish Hammond: Wow.

Jennifer: I know that sounds like a lot, but I remember thinking the same thing. The anesthetic’s light, and you’re not having deep abdominal surgery or something like that, where an eight hour procedure would take such a toll on you. It’s much lighter anaesthetic, so recovery is much quicker. It’s probably like a two to three hour procedure.

Trish Hammond: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Okay.

Jennifer: I’d say.

Trish Hammond: Okay. Great. And the hospital?

Jennifer: Fantastic. I went to Epworth Cliveden. It’s a little small hospital in East Melbourne, and it was just great. They’re used to looking after cosmetic surgery patients. You didn’t feel any stigma about it. Because I know some people feel like, “Everybody will think I’m being … I shouldn’t be there being looked after.” But not at all. It’s a procedure that they are very used to looking after the patients. Very well treated. It was fantastic.

Trish Hammond: Yeah.

Jennifer: The food was, [inaudible 00:21:24] because you could only eat mushy foods. The mushy food was very good. But that’s what you were eating. The other thing is, which was, you can’t eat, you can’t move your mouth very much in the early stages. The first five days it’s really mushy food. Then after that you just slowly start to eat softer things. You can still eat some fish and pasta that’s well cooked, yoghourts, scrambled eggs. I was eating scrambled eggs all the time, but you need to keep your protein up as well, because you need that for healing.

Trish Hammond: Yeah of course. After the surgery, is there any sort of … Is there any post surgery care? Of course, I presume, stay out of the sun. What were the rules that you had to follow after you’ve had the surgery?

Jennifer: Yeah. You really can’t start … If you exercise a lot you can’t really start exercising to your full capacity for at least six weeks. The first two weeks, seriously, I didn’t feel like doing much at all. I would get up off the couch and walk down and have a coffee and come back and have to lie down again, because I was really tired. The first two weeks for me wasn’t difficult for me at all, because I’m a fairly active person. On the third week I just started having walks and extending the length of my walks, but I wasn’t getting my heart rate up. Then each day I would just increase it a little bit. Then at six weeks I just went back to all my normal activities. I don’t jog or do anything that’s too intense anyway, but I went back to yoga. I went back to doing my stretches and increased my walking to exactly to what I was doing before. Getting the heart rate up a little bit, and feeling quite normal again.

Trish Hammond: Yeah.

Jennifer: All the people probably think, “Oh my God, if I can’t exercise I’d feel terrible.” It didn’t feel like that for me. I just started walking and my energy levels came back really quickly, because that’s what I was always doing beforehand anyway.

Trish Hammond: Yeah. I suppose that’s part of the get yourself fit and healthy before, and have your couple of weeks off, and then you’re gonna be stronger when you start back again anyway.

Jennifer: Yeah. Again, and I think that all helps the healing, I was really compliant because I wanted to have perfect healing.

Trish Hammond: Yeah.

Jennifer: I think what I did was exactly what I needed to do and was everything that was in the notes as well.

Trish Hammond: Yeah. No, that’s so true. So, of course I know what you’re gonna answer, but if you had the time again, would you do it again?

Jennifer: Absolutely.

Trish Hammond: Yeah.

Jennifer: Yeah. Absolutely.

Trish Hammond: Yeah.

Jennifer: You know, in the first couple of weeks you think, “Oh gosh, did I really need to do this? I’m stuck at home a little bit. I can’t drive.” You do feel a little bit like that, but that time passes so quickly. I don’t even remember that time anymore.

Trish Hammond: Yeah. You know, it’s so funny because I remember being in a hospital once and seeing a woman who just had a facelift. She was sitting in the, not the waiting area, but she was sitting on a relaxing chair. I think she’d just come out of surgery. You sit upright after surgery, don’t you?

Jennifer: Oh yes, I didn’t mention that. The other thing that you have to do is, for six weeks sleep on a couple of pillows, with a surgical collar. The reason for the surgical collar is to keep the head just slightly elevated. Because once you start dropping your head down, or even being on your phone and texting. If you’ve got your head down that increases the amount of swelling.

Trish Hammond: Yeah right.

Jennifer: Again, I sleep on my back, so I’m very fortunate. I didn’t have a real problem. But I’m guessing if you’re a tummy sleeper or a really side sleeper, that can be a little bit tricky to start with.

Trish Hammond: You know what? It’s actually pretty similar with all surgeries on your boobs, your tummy. You still gotta sit upright. It is just something you get used to, that’s what I find. It’s just for such a short time.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Trish Hammond: I remember seeing this woman and thinking, “Oh my God. I must never ever do that.”

Jennifer: Yeah.

Trish Hammond: Probably the secret is to be prepared. For me, I was like, “Right.” Because now I know, it looks fricking scary when you first … You look like you’ve just been in a car accident or something like that, because you’ve got your collar on your neck, and your face is swollen.

Jennifer: Yes.

Trish Hammond: But having said that, I recently, about a year ago, I actually had a non surgical treatment done on my neck. And I swear to God, my neck swelled up like a blowfish, and it took nearly three weeks to get over that.

Jennifer: Oh right. Yeah.

Trish Hammond: As it turned out, there wasn’t much … I look at the pictures now, and it’s like, “Oh my god. Really? I went through that for that?” There was actually no difference. I made my mind up then to just save up everything and actually go the full haul, and actually go for the face and necklift when I’m a bit older, rather than just keep having these things. Yeah they might work a little bit, but they don’t. The recovery’s the same.

Jennifer: Yeah. Yes, if that took three weeks you’re absolutely right.

Trish Hammond: Oh it did. I went overseas with a headscarf around my neck, because I was so swollen. I was just like, “Wow.”

Jennifer: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Trish Hammond: Awesome.

Jennifer: You see, the thing is though, with ageing we all think it’s about the skin, but it’s not. It’s about the muscle.

Trish Hammond: Yeah.

Jennifer: In order to get a long lasting result, and I know this surgery will serve me for, or really forever, because I’m always gonna have the benefits of having had the surgery.

Trish Hammond: Yeah.

Jennifer: Because the muscle’s being corrected. If we’re just having anything done on our skin, it’s not going to last.

Trish Hammond: Yeah. Yeah well, I’ve been to a few conferences, and in fact a couple where Dr. Mendelson has spoken. As a consumer, as a patient you just think that a facelift is about pulling the skin and stretching it out, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Jennifer: Exactly.

Trish Hammond: It’s all about getting the underlying muscles in the right positions. I don’t even know what they do with them.

Jennifer: Put them back where they belong.

Trish Hammond: Yeah. They sort them out, put them back where they belong. It’s not about getting rid of skin to get a facelift. Far from it.

Jennifer: Exactly.

Trish Hammond: That’s the perk that happens.

Jennifer: Yes.

Trish Hammond: Yeah. Awesome.

Jennifer: And that gives it a natural result.

Trish Hammond: Yeah. No, that’s so true. It’s been so interesting. I swear I cannot wait to do it.

Jennifer: So, when are you coming down to Melbourne?

Trish Hammond: I know. Exactly. I’ve got to find out how I’m gonna lock myself up for a few weeks. My husband always says to me, “Whatever you do, don’t touch the face. Don’t touch the face.”

Jennifer: Yeah.

Trish Hammond: So of course, he can’t know. Unless he [inaudible 00:27:53].

Jennifer: That’s a really good point, Trish. Because the people that I have told about my surgery since I’ve had it, have said, “I didn’t think that was what a facelift looked like.”

Trish Hammond: Yeah.

Jennifer: That’s what I find, really, sort of sad in a way. The perception of facelift surgery is that it’s pulled tight, it’s overdone, you look ridiculous and why would you do it?

Trish Hammond: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jennifer: They said they didn’t think that I would look like myself, and that it would look so natural.

Trish Hammond: Yeah.

Jennifer: You know, that makes me really happy that people think that.

Trish Hammond: Yeah. Oh totally. That’s what it’s all about. I watched some of those shows, I’m a bit obsessed with The Real Housewives series. I’m always looking, because the women, they are like 50 to 50, and you think, “Your neck doesn’t have what my neck’s got.” And of course it’s because they’ve obviously had procedures that look … I mean you get some of them that don’t look natural, but they look quite natural. You wouldn’t know that they’ve had something done. Really.

Jennifer: Yeah, and I think it’s the overdone, the ones that are really overdone and they’re full of fillers. They’re the ones that give plastic surgery a bad name.

Trish Hammond: Yeah.

Jennifer: Because good plastic surgery really, I suppose at the end of it, is you shouldn’t actually even notice that they’ve had the surgery.

Trish Hammond: Exactly. No, you’re so right. You’re so right. Oh well, that’s been great Jennifer. I’ve absolutely loved it. Apart from the fact that, because I’m so nosy, I want to know all for myself. I just loved it because I’ve enjoyed watching your journey, and I love looking at your pictures, and I couldn’t wait to talk to you. Thank you so much.

Jennifer: Oh thank you. Thank you for the chance to have a chat, Trish.

Trish Hammond: You’re welcome.

Jennifer: I’d recommend it to everybody, because it just … The feeling is not superficial. The feeling just gives you a sense of peace in a way, that you feel. Look, that may come with or without surgery, but if it absolutely can give you that then it’s a great procedure.

Trish Hammond: Yes, some people … It’s not for some people, and that’s fine. It’s all about choices. If it’s what you want it’s your choice. More power to anyone who does whatever their choice is.

Jennifer: Yeah, and I can personally recommend it.

Trish Hammond: Lovely. Thank you so much Jen. Thank you for taking the time today.

Jennifer: Oh, thank you. It’s been lovely chatting to you Trish.

Trish Hammond: No worries.

Jennifer: Okay.

Trish Hammond: Listeners, if you’re looking to find out where Dr. Bryan Mendelson is, it’s Dr. Bryan Mendelson, with a y within the Bryan. You can google him or you can just click below, if you’re reading the podcast, click below podcast. You can send us an email to [email protected]. Or you can actually check out their website, which is bmendelson.com.au. Thank you so much Jen.

Jennifer: Your welcome. Thanks Trish.

Trish Hammond: No worries. Bye.

Jennifer: Bye.

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