Is the pounds 12,500 facelift worth it?

Once it was just a simple operation, now it can also take months of intensive treatments to restore your youthful looks. Here, in a candid diary, one woman reveals what it is really like to have the ultimate lift

AT the age of 53 I decided to go in for the Rolls-Royce of facelifts. It took two months, involved a nutritionist, facialist and massage therapist as well as the surgical team. It was rather like having a baby - I did all the preparation, the exercises, watched the videos, bought the books and talked the procedures over with the surgeon.

Looking back through my diary now it seems this all started such a long time ago

1 July: one month before the operation

WHAT makes having a facelift at the Hurlingham Clinic different from other clinics is the pre and post-surgery preparation. I had a programme tailor-made for my skin. I'm having treatments at the Spa and will keep on using the products at home. These include vitamin K cream daily to constrict the capillaries and help prevent bruising, enzyme peels to resurface the skin and get rid of fine lines, and six Endermologie (or lymphatic drainage) treatments which should improve circulation and aid speedier healing. I'm also using a light vitamin C oil at night. People are starting to comment on how good my skin looks. Wish I had started skin peels years ago.

Clare the nutritionist has put me on 4g vitamin C with bioflavonoids a day.

She demands I cut right back on tea, coffee and alcohol, and drink more water. I don't manage to eliminate alcohol entirely, but I do drink less of it.

She also gives me advice on soups to prepare for the freezer and how to get enough calories post-operation because I won't be able to chew for some time.

25 July: one week before

Meet with my surgeon Dan Goldberg who explains that facelifts are very successful for jaws and necks but that I would still have some lines at the corners of my eyes.

31 July: the day before

The night before the operation I go out for dinner. Suddenly it hits home - it's going to happen tomorrow. Experience a twinge of panic.

1 August: operation day

This is the procedure for my facelift. The surgeon will make incisions above the hairline at the temple, and extend them in a line in front of the ear and under the earlobe, up behind the ear in the crease, and straight back into the scalp. Another inch-long incision will be made under the chin. The surgeon separates the skin from the fat and muscle below. Fat has to be trimmed or suctioned from around the chin to improve the contour. The surgeon will tighten the underlying muscle and membrane, pull the skin back and remove the excess.

I'm also having blepharoplasty (work on my upper and lower eyelids) and an endoscopic brow-lift. For that, three small incisions are made behind the hairline and by using a endoscope, the surgeon can lift the brow. The layers of tissue are secured with metal clips on the scalp. To hold the brow in the new position, two small screws are put into the outer layer of bone on the skull and are removed after 10 days.

I'm not nervous but I have butterflies in anticipation. Dan, the surgeon, comes to see me with the anaesthetist. Eventually I am wheeled into the prep room and have the anaesthetic drip inserted in my hand. I'm out like a light.

Later, I wake up to find my head is bandaged, so I feel top- heavy. I can't see - there are pads on my eyes - and my eyes hurt as I try to open them. A nurse keeps soaking the pads in iced water which helps. I have a teeny voice as I can only move the front of my face. My throat hurts from the tube they used during the op.

2 August

I can't watch TV or read so start phoning people. My voice is high and tiny as I can only move the front part of my face. I drink milk.

Have made it to the bathroom. Decide not to look in the mirror but do so by mistake. Now I know where Hollywood designers got their inspiration for ET. I look like a cartoon character - my head is swollen and yellow, my eyelids are huge and my eyes slitty. My entire head is bandaged, mummy-style.

11am: I am being discharged, but first the bandages come off. My hair is crusty and crunchy with what must be chemicals and blood. I am given a stretchy item to wear which goes under my chin and across the top of my head.

Although I feel I must look like a corpse with its jaw strapped shut, it's wonderfully supportive.

My friend collects me, and I leave the clinic in a wheelchair. I've brought a lightweight grey lacy Donna Karan scarf to wind round over the bandages and dark glasses a la Grace Kelly. I can't see clearly yet as my eyes are very swollen.

Number one daughter rushes to my home.

Having said that she would have nothing to do with my self- inflicted operation, she proceeds to nurse me. Bless her. I had thought I would just have a friend look in occasionally.

Absolutely not. You need a slave 24 hours a day.

Daughter brings me protein shakes because it is still impossible to eat.

Chewing hurts.

3 August

The swelling is better, but my head aches. It is still difficult to write as my focusing is poor. I wash my hair every day around the scalp clips to prevent infection. It's a difficult job.

4 August

PM: First outing to the clinic to have eye stitches out. I'm very happy - my eyelids look amazing. Apparently I had a lot of fat taken out. The wound under my chin has already healed. My bruising is very odd - I am custard yellow, with a little purple bruising. All the staff at the clinic say I have made an exceptional recovery. The prep has certainly paid off.

5 August

8am: Today's face is light yellow but my eyelids are gorgeous - heavy and clearly defined, with no swag of skin on outer corners.

Face is changing hourly.

Pm: Overdid the eye activity reading emails and watching videos, so rest them. Woke at 2am with a jaw that felt like barbed wire, caused by trying to chew Chinese dumpling last night. Also too much talking.

Took heavy painkillers.

6 August

Morning: Clinic appointment. The nurse takes out clips, two screws and the big group of stitches behind my ears. Head movement still restricted. Retire home to bed to recover. Still no solid food - I'm getting rather desperate for a proper meal.

13 August

Dropped in to see friend. This is the beginning of the "Oh my God - you've had it done! It's unbelievable," which becomes a constant cry.

15 August

My jawline is still slightly swollen, but I never thought the lift would be this successful. I love telling everyone what I have done. My girlfriend in LA is stunned by the pictures I have emailed to her.

I have a wonderful restaurant dinner of soup, mash potato and pudding, but I soon get overtired.

1 September

Final stitches taken out. So now, a month after the op, I have a face that looks like me but the slack has gone. It looks so natural. I think I look 10 years younger but my jawline looks like it did when I was 14.

To keep my face looking this good, I'm having monthly face peels and facials and I'm keeping up the dietary changes. I've invested in this face - this time I'm going to work hard to keep looking this good!

The Hurlingham Clinic, 020 7348 6380, www.hurlinghamclinic.com

Super-lift costs

The operation and follow-up consultations: pounds 11,000 Pre-op treatments (three peels, four Endermologie lymphatic treatments): pounds 350 Products for home treatments: pounds 150

Postoperation treatments (initially one treatment a week for three weeks and then one facial every month, each @ pounds 80 a treatment) pounds 320 (first month).

(Subsequently it will cost her pounds 80 a month.)

Nutritionist and supplements: pounds 495

TOTAL: pounds 12,315

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