Did I Have Eyelid Lift Surgery?

I have hooded eyelids. They’ve been that way my whole life. I always liked them until the hoods started to sag in my early 40s. By 45 I’d made a pact with a “hoodie” friend to have eyelid lift surgery when we turned 50. Well, I turned 50 and was getting ready to start interviewing plastic surgeons because my hoods were completely deflated and literally laying on my eyelashes! I couldn’t even figure out how to put on eyeshadow anymore.

Around the same time, I started my blog and youtube channel and started getting serious about my anti-aging skincare. I researched the most effective topical ingredients, injectables, laser treatments, and yes, plastic surgery. I started experimenting more with makeup and practicing until I was able to put on eyeshadow better than before. I even tried eyelid tapes and some kooky experiments with gluing my eyelids up.

Then about 6 months ago, my viewers started asking if I’d had eyelid surgery… and to answer the question in the title, no, I haven’t had eyelid lift surgery. Initially I thought it must be from the Retin-A that I’d been using for 9 months. Then 3 months later, I released a video after I’d gotten Botox and Juvederm and the questions about surgery really started coming in! When I said I hadn’t had surgery, everyone wanted to know if it was the Botox that made the difference, but I wasn’t sure. So I decided to wait until the Botox was worn off and then look at pictures from before and after to try to figure it out.

Here are 4 pictures from different times during the past year and a half:

 

November 2012 is when I first started my blog and YouTube channel, so at this point I wasn’t using any anti-aging products at all. I was just getting my “11’s” botoxed.

 

 

February 2013 is about a month into my use of Retin-A and Vitamin C serum, same botox.

 

 

January 2014 is from 2 weeks after that Botox & Juvederm video, and I’ve been on Retin-A for a full year.

 

 

April 2014 was just last week when the Botox from January is all worn off and I’ve been using Retin-A for 15 months.

 

 

Here are pictures from the same videos, but with makeup:

After looking at the pictures and watching myself on video, my conclusion is that it’s a combination of 3 things: Retin-A, Botox, and makeup.

Looking at the 1st and last pictures, I see an overall improvement in the firmness of the skin around my eyes from the Tretinoin, and an actual improvement in my crow’s feet!

I also see the extra little lift from the Botox (between the February 2013 and January 2014 pics).

But for me, the major differences are seen between the “no makeup” and “with makeup” pictures. The look is good on the stills, but you can really see the difference makeup makes on video. When we talk we all blink, raise our eyebrows etc. and that’s when others can see the makeup doing it’s magic!

To watch the video version of this post, click the link below.