Face/Neck Lift and Arm Lift -- Looking for input

Okay... it's been 18 months, and I've been at a stable weight for about three months.  (I am at 110 pounds down, although I never updated my ticker).  My excess skin is purely cosmetic and I do not have health insurance that will cover plastic surgery.

I've decided to limit my surgery to my face/neck and upper arms.  I have about $12,000 that I can spend.  I live in Minneapolis, but I'm willing to go anywhere to have the surgery done.  I had a great experience with my weight loss surgery with Dr. Aceves in Mexico, so I'm willing to go to Mexico.

Where do I start?  LOL

Jennifer  

Hi,

I can advice Dr Sauseda in Mexico or my surgeon, Dr Capella in NJ.

Both are very experienced and have good prices.

Good luck and congratulation on you weight loss.

Alla

As Alla said, Dr. Capella, who is my surgeon as well, has the best prices that I have seen in the US. You will be around that $12k price point for face/neck/arms. I know this because I have a price quote for him for doing the face/neck. You can probably call his office and speak to Terry over the phone to ask her a ball park figure. She gave me the price for doing my TT over the phone before my appointment with Dr. Capella. 

If you can afford to do it with Dr. Capella, I would recommend that highly over going to Mexico or a US residency program (which is also another option to save money). Surgeries are fine when everything goes well. However, when something goes wrong afterwards and your have had your surgery in Mexico (or any country) then you will have great difficulty finding a plastic surgeon here to treat you. They do not want the liability. They do not want to take care of someone who is not their patient. I have heard horror stories about complications after plastic surgeries done outside the US - I am not referring to any particular surgeon here, just to be clear.

You have heard the sage advice to buy a home in the best neighborhood that you can afford, right? My advice is that you buy the best surgeon that you can afford. You aren't really buying a procedure. You are buying the surgeon. That was an important thing to that I came to realize.

Since you have had surgery in Mexico and had a good experience with it, you may be more comfortable in taking the risk. As for me, I am very risk adverse when it comes to something as important as entrusting my life and well-being to someone. I hope that I am not offending anyone who has gone to Mexico for their surgeries. I believe that each woman has the right to be fully informed and then make the decision that she feels is right for herself and her body. I just wanted to share my perspective "against" going outside the US for any surgery. You certainly will hear from the patients on this board who have been very happy with their results from Dr. Sauceda. 

Whomever you choose, it is important that you make sure the plastic surgeon has experience in doing facelifts on massive weight loss patients. Our structures are very different. 

I hope this helps and hope that you get everything you want from your surgery.

Thanks for your suggestions!  I will say that when I chose Dr. Aceves for my weight loss surgery, I felt like I was choosing someone superior to my local surgeons.   I had an amazing experience at Almater Hospital with an extremely experienced surgeon.  I  really appreciated the aftercare I received (four days' more than I would have gotten with my local doctors).  That I could afford it was just a huge bonus!

I am finding that there are so many options, right now, I'm just a little overwhelmed.  Plastic surgery seems to be much more affordable than the weight loss surgery, and the prices seem to be extremely variable.  What's important to me is that my money buys me the best surgeon and the best facility possible, and if that's in Mexico, I'd go back in a heartbeat!  But I also have no problem going to New Jersey or staying in the Twin Cities.

I'll look into Dr. Capella.  He seems to be very well recommended!

I'd pay for Sauceda even if he cost more. I tell anyone who asks about PS how happy I am with him. I don't do that for any other doctor or service provider. That doctor just has an artistic sense when it comes to plastics. I really have no idea how he sculpted the body I have now out of what he started with- and scar placement - amazing. Pics are on my profile.

I was very fortunate that my insurance paid for my weight loss surgery. So it was not at all expensive for me... maybe $800 back in 2003. I think that I was in the hospital for 3 days... 4 at most. My plastics are self pay.

I commend you for doing your research to find the best surgeon for yourself. Also, I am glad that you had a great experience with your bariatric surgery in Mexico. One patient on this board told me the same thing about the aftercare that she received from Dr. Sauceda in Mexico. I saw Dr. Capella a few times in person across the last three months, but he virtually held my hand from across those 700 miles, either by phone or email. So his aftercare is wonderful.

I was told today of a woman who had her plastic surgery in another country (not Mexico). She began hemorrhaging and the surgeon threw her inside his personal car and drove her to the hospital. She nearly died. Can you imagine that?!?!

Good luck on your journey. I was glad to have found Dr. Capella. I interviewed a number of plastic surgeons and immediately knew he was the right one for me. I will be going back to him to complete all of my body work.

I am having second thoughts on doing the facelift/necklift... just not sure what I am going to do about that because I have lost weight and right now I have a tan so my face looks really good. I think that I have to wait until my complexion fades to decide if now is the right time. I think it is, but I want to be sure. 

Then once I decide that, I am torn between choosing the plastic surgeon whom I have come to know very well and have the utmost respect for (I have had many interactions with him in the time since my tummy tuck) or choosing a new plastic surgeon who specializes in facelifts on WLS patients. Like I said, I am risk adverse when it comes to surgery. Dr. Capella has done more than 5000 body contouring surgeries. He does the best body work of any plastic surgeon that I have seen. His facelifts look as good as any others that I have seen so far, and he feels he would do a good job on me (otherwise he would refer me to a surgeon in NYC for my face) but the thing is, he has done 70 facelifts compared to the vast number of bodywork surgeries. So I am scared to move forward. I would love to hear your perspective if you consult with him for your face.

I have not found a surgeon who blows me away with their facelifts... but why this is so hard for me is not necessarily a reflection of any surgeon's work but rather that the patient's they feature on their websites are not beautiful women (I am sorry, I know that is harsh, but I am just trying to work through this barrier that I am having). 

Good luck in your exploration! I'd love to know who you select. 

 

Hi Jennifer, did you ever have your face, neck, and  arms done? I ended up using a facial plastic surgeon back in December for my work. That was 2-mos aft my second stage body contouring with Dr. Capella. Dr. Catherine Winslow did everything from the neck up and Dr. Capella did everything from the shoulders down. Each did a wonderful job. Later this year I will get my breast implants and I am done, and broke! 

I love reading your feedback on PS!  

I have 22 lbs to goal and then 6 months of being stable weight...but I'd sure love to have them this year around Thanksgiving and just be off wor****il Epiphany for recovery. 

Thank you! I am very excited for you!!! This forum is very helpful as is RealSelf for exploring plastic surgery. You can even post questions to plastic surgeons and have them answered. Good luck on meeting goal and continuing onto the next phase of your weight loss journey. I am ever so glad that I did this!

Dr Sauceda did my body and face.  Take close up pics of your face and both sides showing your neck, then stand with your either straight out or up like you are making a right turn, take front, side, back, side pics and then send to [email protected]  He'll get back to you with a quote and what he would recommend.  If you are interested in a breast lift or tummy tuck make sure he can see your body. 

You can click on Dr Sauceda in my siggy line and it'll take you over to our group here on OH.  There are a few ladies down in Monterrey now.  If you go back to Jan 2011, I posted daily about my Sauceda experience.  There's a Sauceda Experience in photos that Tom did.  I also went back Jan 2013 for my upper body lift.  Dr Sauceda really is an artist. 

Do a friend request and I'll send you my password and you can check out my pics in the Photo section.  Some folks don't have passwords.    My face isn't pulled so tight that I don't have lines around my eyes, but it looks natural and I don't look like I'm 61.  I think I posted my side by side on a thread by MyBariatricLife about face lifts within the last couple of weeks.