{Life Changing Plastic Surgery Story} “Before, When Someone Complimented Me, I’d Say, ‘Yeah Right.’” Now…

Face, neck, upper and lower eyelid lift & lip filler performed by Dr. Powers.

Sonya^*, 60, feels reborn. “I am so happy with my life, it’s the life I wanted.” It wasn’t an easy road for Sonya. She had custody of her ailing mother and became very depressed. “My mother had Parkinson’s and it was tough taking care of a parent who is very ill. She passed away two years ago. During that time, I was feeding my depression with food and gained a significant amount of weight,” she says. Sonya was medicated with antidepressants and desperately wanted to lose the weight. She found a chiropractor who put her on a diet and got her off the pills.

^*Name changed to protect privacy.

Tell us about your weight loss.

I lost 50 lbs. It was the first step. The reward would be the surgery.

Besides the weight loss was there any other reason or incident that made you want to pursue plastic surgery?

I was dating a guy a lot younger than me. We were having fun and I wanted to look better for him. I wanted him to be proud of me. Though, I broke it off with him prior to the surgery.

What type of surgery did you have?

I initially wanted a “boob job.”  After I lost the weight my breasts started to point downward and I wanted to lift them back up. After my first meeting with Dr. Powers we decided I should start with my face because that’s what everyone sees. You only get one chance for a great reaction.

Face and neck lift by Dr. Powers.

What exactly did you have done?

I had a lower facelift and neck lift, upper and lower eye lifts, filler to my lips, liposuction on my thighs and abdomen.

Did you have all of this done at one time?

Yes. It was a seven hour surgery and I was under general anesthesia.

What did you have to do to prepare for this type of surgery?

Two-weeks prior to the surgery I started a vitamin regimen and this helped to alleviate the bruising. In fact, I had very little swelling or bruising.

What was the recovery like for you?

I was in the hospital for one night and they took very good care of me. My ice packs were changed every four hours. At home, my daughter came to help me, but it took a couple days before I could walk around and three days before I left the house. The most uncomfortable part of the recovery was the girdle I had to wear. After the liposuction I had to wear this “compression girdle” for a couple weeks and could only take it off to shower. That’s a small price to pay since the results are fabulous. It has been seven months since my surgery and the lipo looks natural and my body is totally in proportion.

How much did this cost you?

It cost $14,000 including the overnight stay at the hospital.

Why did you choose Dr. Mary Powers?

I interviewed Dr. Powers because she was referred to me. When I went to her office I felt very comfortable and everyone there was so genuine and nice. I noticed right away her art work. It was all over the office. The meticulous details of her art is incredible. She also has books and books of testimonials and her work didn’t look fake to me. I didn’t interview anyone else. I can’t say enough good things about her. She called me every day for two weeks after my surgery to check up on me. That’s amazing.

What was the reaction from your family and friends?

My daughter thought I was nuts. She hates LA because of the fakeness, but after the surgery she loved the results and said she understood my reasons for doing it.  My daughter, my biggest critic, was really happy for me. As for the others, some asked if I had work done. This is LA, everyone has work done. Those who knew I was going to do it have been telling me  that I look fabulous. After I retired and got fat, people would look at me like ‘what happened to you, you got old, you got fat.’ Now I get the opposite reaction.

How has this changed your life?

I’m 60 but I look like I’m in my 40s. I have never seen my eyelids and now I can see them. I love not having sagging jowls. That’s something that you can’t cover up.  I’ve become a serial dater. I have a life now and a new identity and a new attitude. This is a new experience for me. To be thought of as beautiful and sexy. Before ,when someone complimented me I would say ‘yeah right,’ but now I can believe it.

A note from Dr. Powers:

Healthy women, and men, with signs of facial aging—such as heavy upper eyelid skin with lower eyelid bags and jaw line jowls along with neck skin laxity—are candidates for eyelifts and neck/lower facelifts. Liposuction is indicated for patients who have limited areas of fat deposits, with overlying good skin elasticity, and have tried unsuccessfully to reduce these fat deposits with diet and exercise.

The number of procedures are dependent on the patient’s goals, overall health, recovery time, and “pocketbook.” The length of a single procedure versus multiple procedures also depends on the patient’s anatomy and the extent of rejuvenation to be undertaken. Most of my patients have multiple procedures, with liposuction being the most common “add-on” procedure.

After the surgery Sonya’s confidence level went through the roof! She projected what she felt about herself: positively great! It seemed to change her perspective on the world and subsequently, her relationships—both professionally and personally. From a plastic surgeon’s perspective, that’s as good as it gets!

Interview by Ramona Duoba