Before coming to my first consultation with Dr. Chance, I had already had consultations with several very competent, renowned and personally kind plastic surgeons, several of whom I would have chosen immediately for my plans for face and neck lift surgery. After the consultation with Dr. Chance, however, it was clear to me that I definitely would have her operate on me.
With no other surgeon did I have the feeling that I could ask all my questions (and I had a lot of them (lol) as I like to be informed) so extensively and calmly, as Dr. Chance took an incredible amount of time for several long pre-consultations (don’t get me wrong – each of the others also answered all my questions competently and kindly – but Dr. Chance has a special way of providing (technical) details to her patients illustrating the options you have most precisely and therefore putting you into a position to be able to choose your procedures well informed and confidently). I was completely convinced that she wanted to understand my wishes, needs and fears down to the last detail and this gave me the confidence to take this big step of a face and neck lift with a good feeling. Also, her pre-op “get-you-ready”-documents for surgery preparing you step by step for your procedure are composed with great emphasize on details and thereby helped me tremendously to have everything in place well in advance.
At this point it must be mentioned that not only Dr. Chance herself, but also her entire team involved in the planning of the surgery is incredibly kind, competent, thoughtful and courteous - a big thank you goes to Kimmy and Kitty!
Above all, I felt that I was in incredibly good hands during the aftercare, as Dr. Chance and Kimmy took the time to see me many times in person after the surgery and to discuss the various worries and fears that naturally arise after such a surgery dispelling them with a great deal of empathy. In addition, I always had the possibility to contact Dr. Chance and Kimmy by phone or text message and that gave me the security and peace of mind I needed for my healing process.
It must be said that apart from her professionalism and admirable work ethic, I also really appreciate Dr. Chance as a person, as she is a very intelligent and inspiring woman absolutely passionate about her work as well as about her patients (and she has a good sense of humor too lol).
Now to the result - I had Dr. Chance perform a deep plane facelift with deep structural neck lift, facial fat transfer, endoscopic brow lift, buccal fat pad removal/repositioning and facial slimming with liposuction as well as placing a chin implant.
In the first few days after surgery, despite the usual pronounced swelling of the face, I could already see that one of the most important points for me, namely the removal of a slight double chin, the sharpening of my rather weak jaw line and the general slimming of the lower half of my face (in order to create a more V-shaped face), had been achieved perfectly. By the way, I did not experience any pain after surgery – what you generally experience is some degree of discomfort caused by the swelling (and I swelled a lot, lol), the brow lift as well as by the overall tension. But this was absolutely tolerable – in fact, I was surprised how good I felt overall.
My medical history includes Hashimoto's, autoimmunity in general and various intestinal diseases, leading to several intestinal surgeries prior to my appointment with Dr. Chance. One of these surgeries even caused a heavy, rapid weight loss within one week after that surgery leaving me with perceptible hormone imbalances/drops, which in turn took a toll on my soft tissue, especially breasts and face leaving them deflated/sagged. This was more ageing in a very short time than anything I experienced ever before, but still the stress associated with my conditions and other personal/family stuff from before had also already progressed my ageing/sagging further than what was appropriate for my actual age. I therefore always tried to conceal those parts of my face I did not like by wearing my hair open (framing my face) and distracting from it by emphasizing my eye makeup (without it I did not feel confident going outside), which took a lot of time and nerves.
Now it’s been almost 6 months since the surgery with Dr. Chance and all those things have changed a lot – I look and feel like the healthiest version of myself that I am now, I leave the house with minimal make-up without hesitation and have become much more flexible in everyday life and also when it comes to traveling. I now don’t feel embarrassed/uncomfortable anymore when taking pictures of myself or wearing a ponytail as the traces/marks of stress and pre-ageing due to disease/surgeries from the past have been attenuated.
Overall, I am not saying that everybody needs plastic surgery (as surgery always comes with risks) to accept her or himself more (in fact I guess it would be better to be able to do so without surgery, but that’s just not me), but for me personally it was the best decision and I am very grateful that I had the privilege and resources to proceed this way.
Dr. Chance has transformed my appearance into a better, younger version of myself. I will be forever grateful to her and her entire team for this and for the warm, understanding, professional and devoted pre- and post-surgery care.
This sounds a bit like a love letter, and somehow it is, as you really have to trust and rely on the surgeon you choose, since this is a very personal process/connection (it’s your face!) and especially for me, as a skeptical/not very trusting person, it was key to find a surgeon that I trust 100% (professionally & personally). You have to be aware that you won’t see anything near the final results a long time after surgery, as the healing with such an invasive procedure takes a lot of time – so you have to be patient and believe that from underneath all that swelling (except for the neck – there you can see the improvement very fast), the result you signed up for will come through after weeks & months of healing. Thus, you really have to trust the process until then – this was the hardest part for me, but Dr. Chance gave me the confidence needed by answering all of my questions (some of them asked multiple times lol) and being there/available throughout that whole process. Thank you, again, Dr. Chance!