I Didn’t Recognize My Face After Plastic Surgery

Audrey Zona/Instagram Health and wellness coach Audrey Zona first noticed changes in her face and décolletage five years ago—spots, loose skin, discoloration.

Her experience in the beauty sphere led her to believe that it would take more than Botox and lasers to counter these common signs of aging.

“Parts of my face were just not matching the rest of me in terms of just how I felt,” Zona, 60, told The Looker.

“I felt very youthful, and I felt like parts of my face were youthful, but then other parts were really aging, like rapidly.” During her initial hour-long consultation with Dr.

Anthony Berlet, a double board-certified plastic and general surgeon based in New Jersey, they decided on a deep plane facelift, a neck lift, upper and lower blepharoplasty, earlobe revision, and superficial musculoaponeurotic system (SMAS) in her lips.

“We were basically on the same page with everything.

My neck needed it, and my jowl area needed it,” said Zona, who decided to document the process for her more than 25,000 Instagram followers.

The actual procedure, which took about three and a half hours, was done under anesthesia and typically costs between $35,000 and $50,000.

Although Zona is happy with her results so far, her post-op experience wasn’t as smooth as she had hoped, she said.

“I had truly excruciating pain for about 48 hours.

I was ‘round the clock with Percocet and Valium,” Zona said.

“I was in bad shape.” When the pain finally lifted, she was left with a frustrating, unexpected side effect: not being able to recognize herself.

“I look at myself in the mirror, and I do see me, but I don’t see me completely,” Zona said.

By sharing her experience on social media, the health and wellness coach realized her experience wasn’t isolated.