A Fulfilling Plastic Surgery

"I started looking in the mirror and noticed that I had these dark circles under my eyes."

I was having lunch with some of my friends one day, and one of my friends looked at me and commented, "Karen, you look like you didn't get any sleep last night." I was thinking, "Gosh, I only got about 12 hours of sleep so you have got to be kidding me." Of course, I never admitted to them that I had never had any sleep. I started looking in the mirror and noticed that I did look tired. I didn't have that wide open youthful look about my face. I looked tired, but I didn't feel tired.

"I wanted to do something about my appearance."

I saw a program on television about several different procedures that we could do that were non-invasive, and that was my whole thing. A lot of my friends were doing radical facelifts, and the more I got to thinking about that I thought, "Oh, I just don't know if I want to go there. And the recovery period -- I have my own business and I didn't know if I wanted to be out that long. I was open to plastic surgery, and I made an appointment with Dr. Lamb, [a surgeon in Dallas]. He pinpointed exactly what I needed, which I never thought I needed -- a fat transfer. Could they have any worse name for it?

I didn't really know -- no one really knows -- what the outcome would be. I had seen some before and afters, and they all looked fabulous, but you never really know. I was worried -- what if I turn out looking like a freak, is my husband still going to love me?

"They harvested fat from my stomach."

There was no discomfort at all, no pain at all. They gave me plenty of warning that I might have a little discomfort in the stomach area, but I never took one pain pill. They process the fat and clean it up and make it sterile, and then they re-inject it. They put all these little injections in all over my face.

I looked pretty full right after I had it done. My face looked like I had gained ten pounds, but eventually, within four weeks, I really could see the difference in my face. It didn't look drawn or pulled back, it just looked more youthful. It was so non-invasive. I cannot stress what a plus that was for me to not have to go through all the surgery and the ice packs and whatever else my friends have gone through.

"My whole attitude changed."

My personality changed, I was more outgoing, if you can believe that. It has been a year since I had this procedure done, and Dr. Lamb told me that it was permanent so that was also the reason I decided to do it. I mean maybe in 10 years I might think about getting something else done, but I don't think I need anything else done right now. It is all about how you feel about yourself. Right now I feel good.

For some women, it is not their thing, it is not what they want to do, and that is fine. I never had a bad attitude about myself; I felt attractive when I went out, but there was something missing. When I had this procedure done, it was such a positive thing. I just knew that I would feel better.

"When Momma is happy, everybody else is happy."

I notice that every now and then my husband will introduce me as, "This is my beautiful bride." He hadn't said that in awhile, so that makes me feel good. When you think of bride, you think of youth. I am certainly not a trophy wife by any means, but I do feel when we go to meet new people, in a new social situation, I like to think that when my husband is introducing me that he is proud.

As women, we need to take care of our kids, families, husbands, and sometimes we put ourselves on the back burner. For the first time in a very long time, I wanted to do something for myself. I think all women at some point think they are being so vain if they get plastic surgery, but when it makes you feel good, that is going to filter down to your kids, your husband. You feel young again, your attitude changes. I think it is important for women to feel good about themselves.