I’ve had a tremendous number of women ask about my surgeon. He’s on Insta & TikTok and has wonderfully informative content. If you’re researching a potential facelift, I encourage you to get educated by following him.
Here he is telling a bit about himself and his training.
I receive no compensation or incentive for sharing his content or singing his praises.
From the untamed beauty of the African bush to the effortless sophistication of Cape Town.
While on safari, my dynamo client, Henni, signed the biggest contract of her career. A moment like that deserved more than a toast. It deserved a celebration.
So we traded bush khakis for chic days in the Western Cape.
Penguins at Boulders Beach. The breathtaking summit of Table Mountain. A long, indulgent lunch at La Colombe. Delaire Graff & Oldenburg Winery. Golden sunsets. And evenings that unfolded over beautifully crafted cocktails, exceptional cuisine, seductive music, and the unmistakable energy of Cape Town after dark.
This is one of my favorite combinations to curate. The raw magic of a Big Five safari, followed by the refined luxury, culinary excellence, celebrated wines, and cosmopolitan elegance of the Western Cape.
Adventure and indulgence. Wild and sophisticated. Africa provides both.
Tucked away in South Africa’s beautiful Limpopo Province, Waterberg Valley Safari Lodge offers an authentic Big Five safari with all the comforts of a luxury bush retreat.
Wake up in a thoughtfully appointed safari tent, enjoy a quiet morning on your private deck bed, soak in the tub, and toast another unforgettable day with a glass of champagne as the African bush comes alive around you.
Then it’s time to head out in search of Africa’s icons. The Big Five and countless other species call this remarkable landscape home. Every drive is different, and every sighting tells a new story.
Week four was the first time I felt like I was truly turning a corner.
My surgeon gave me the green light for lymphatic drainage. I had healed enough to safely start moving the swelling out, and I was ready. About halfway through the treatment, I could literally feel drainage down the back of my throat. Not glamorous, but it made a huge difference.
Because my surgeon is too far for regular visits, I returned to my trusted team at Revitalize MD. Marissa, the head of aesthetics at Dr. Debra Durst’s office, and Dr. Durst herself had come from Knoxville, Tennessee to Louisville, Kentucky to care for me in my hotel immediately after surgery. There was no question who I trusted. It’s awfully nice having good friends as your go-to medical providers.
Driving home up the mountain after the facial, I had super sharp ear pains. I’d already been dealing with pain and pressure on my eardrums from swelling, but post facial, it was intense. I also heard a whooshing sound, like water trapped in my ears after diving.
By now, the CO₂ laser wasn’t nearly as raw as those early weeks. I was still dealing with breakouts, as you can clearly see.
I’d developed little scabbies on my scalp from a month of baby shampoo. Once they cleared, I could finally scrub my scalp and use my normal shampoo again. My hair got its bounce back! That alone had me feeling better.
I could finally bend over to shave my legs. Even a month out, that was still a challenge.
A few side effects that surprised me - I developed a temporary lisp. When I smiled, my lip would catch on my canine tooth. My family found that hilarious. This was due to the nerves that had been severed during the deep plane lift coming to life. Still couldn’t fully smush my lips together or smile fully, but I could finally use a straw.
I even ventured out to my grandson’s baby shower with light makeup and my hair down to camouflage the “racing stripes” at my temples. Sunglasses still didn’t fit. My temples were still wider than the frames.
The swelling was still there.
The patience was still required.
But it was progress.
I receive no incentive or compensation for my facelift updates.
I’ve had a number of messages, comments, and even video calls from women curious about submandibular gland reduction – which I had done and have spoken about openly.
Here is my surgeon, Dr. T. Gerald O’Daniel, in Louisville, Kentucky, explaining why sculpting the glands can be critical for long-term results.
Two-thirds of his practice is revision surgery. Glands that were never addressed, filler used to camouflage structure, work that simply didn’t age well.
If you’re considering facial surgery, do your homework, this is your FACE! And trust me, you don’t want to recover from what is a major surgery twice, fixing the same issue.
If you are considering plastic surgery, and researching procedures and techniques, do yourself a favor and find him on socials. He has wonderfully educational content.
I do not receive incentives or compensation for sharing his content. I do this simply to help others going down the facial plastic surgery rabbit hole.
I'm looking for recommendations from people with firsthand experience across Southern Africa.
I have clients whose top priority is seeing LOTS of lions. I've been fortunate to see some incredible sightings myself, including a pride of around 20 in Kruger, but that was only for about an hour. Beyond that, my lion sightings have tended to be smaller prides and/or less consistent. I'm hoping to find a destination where exceptional lion viewing is the norm rather than the exception.
I'm interested in reserves, parks, or concessions anywhere in Southern Africa where you've consistently had outstanding lion sightings in a truly wild setting.
A few questions:
Thanks in advance! I'd especially love to hear from people who've visited multiple destinations and can make meaningful comparisons.
By week three, I was still taking it very easy and sleeping upright in my recliner, but I had started introducing delicate fish and chunkier soups into my diet, so I wasn’t quite as ravenous anymore.
Swallowing was a little easier, but let’s be clear: the submandibular gland reduction was hands down the most painful part of this entire experience. Some days were better than others, but when it was bad, it was almost intolerable. My glands were very large, so a lot of sculpting was required for the long-term result, and I’ll share some of my surgeon’s videos on that topic later.
Eye fatigue was still rough, and I wasn’t getting much work done. I also developed scalp dermatitis. Yay. 🙃 I wanted nothing more than to scrub my head with my fingernails, but with fresh scars behind my ears and serious tenderness at the back and sides of my neck, that simply wasn’t happening.
Still using baby shampoo. Still slathering my face in Aquaphor.
I honestly wasn’t very enthusiastic about taking photos this week, so these are simply the progress pictures I sent to my surgeon. The amount of swelling I had was completely normal, but it was unbelievably uncomfortable. There wasn’t an hour of the day that went by that I wasn’t acutely aware of the pressure and tightness.
Healing is quiet work. It doesn’t always feel productive and it certainly isn’t glamorous, but week three was another reminder that recovery isn’t linear. You just keep putting one foot in front of the other and trust the process.
And yes… even through all the swelling, I could already see the jawline beginning to emerge. 🖤
Week 2 after my deep plane facelift, deep plane neck lift, lower blepharoplasty, submandibular gland reduction, buccal fat repositioning, parotid repositioning, perioral work, fat transfer, and CO₂ laser, I stayed home.
Incredibly swollen.
Not a little puffy swollen. Really fucking swollen. Swollen enough that my phone’s facial recognition didn’t work.
I was finally sleeping in four hour stretches, upright in a recliner. As a lifelong side sleeper, this was brutal. I constantly monitored my shoulders and neck to keep everything aligned.
Side sleepers, start paying attention now. Years of facial compression show up later.
The throat ache from the submandibular reduction still throbbed. I was still on a soft diet because chewing hurt. And if I took even a bite of something savory, my salivary glands seemed to go into overdrive. A sharp aching sensation would hit my jaw, followed by a rush of saliva that was unbelievably uncomfortable. All due to the submandibular gland reduction.
Saliva should not hurt. But it did.
I spent most of my time in my bedroom. Exhausted, swollen, and uninspired.
The swelling came in waves. It was always there, but some days it felt almost unbearable. My eyes still felt like sandpaper, likely from corneal abrasions combined with the lower blepharoplasty and nearly six hours under anesthesia. My ears felt clogged and occasionally ached from pressure caused by swelling.
The CO₂ laser redness was finally starting to calm down, but then my skin broke out. Of course it did. 😂
When I tried to smile, it looked more like a grimace. Everything was tremendously tight, awkward, and unnatural. At one point I actually Googled, “Can my skin rupture from swelling after a facelift?”
The buckling at my temples really worried me that something was wrong. I hadn’t seen any facelift influencers suffer from it. My surgeon assured me that it happens more often than people realize. This was nothing I’d heard off and was mortified. But
it will apparently resolve as the inflammation subsides
I called them my racing stripes.
If you’re in this stage right now and wondering whether you’ve made a terrible mistake, you’re not alone. The before and after photos online rarely show this part. They certainly don’t show the Face ID failures, the racing stripes, the sandpaper eyes, or the moment you find yourself searching the internet to see whether your skin can actually split from swelling.
But for me, this was week two. And looking back now, it was one of the most mentally challenging parts of the entire recovery.
Watching this video back now makes me laugh.
At seven days post-op, I was genuinely surprised that I was still swollen. 😂
Looking back, that’s ridiculous. My face and underlying tissues had been lifted, repositioned, and stitched back together a week earlier. Of course I was swollen.
What I didn’t appreciate at the time was how much the medications were influencing my perception of recovery. The first few days I was taking Percocet, Gabapentin, and steroids. Everything felt manageable. Almost easy.
Then around day five, the prescriptions rannout and reality arrived.
For me, the worst pain wasn’t the facelift itself, the incisions and underlying work hardly hurt at all. It was the submandibular gland reduction. By this point I had constant deep throat throbbing, painful pressure in my ears, significant eye fatigue, and I was becoming exhausted from sleeping upright.
I had also spent months following other people’s recovery journeys online. Many seemed to bounce back quickly. Much more quickly than I was. That’s a dangerous comparison because when you’re swollen, uncomfortable, and tired, it’s easy to convince yourself you’re somehow behind.
The truth is that recovery isn’t a competition.
At the time this video was taken, I thought I should have been looking and feeling much better than I did. Now, months later, I realize I was actually progressing normally for my own body.
One thing I’ve learned is that no amount of research can fully prepare you for what recovery feels like. Surgeons can explain it. Patients can describe it. But until you’re living it, you really don’t know.
And perhaps the biggest lesson: STOP COMPARING your timeline to everyone else’s.
Your body doesn’t care what happened to the woman on YouTube, Reddit, or Instagram. It will heal at its own damned pace.
For anyone currently in the thick of facelift recovery and wondering why you’re still swollen, uncomfortable, or emotional at one week post-op: you’re a lot more normal than you think. Trust the process, even if it sucks.
One of my favorite annual traditions is visiting Boulders Beach, in the Western Cape of South Africa.
Next week I’ll be back, followed by some wandering through Simon’s Town shops and ending the day with a food and wine pairing.
There is something special about spending time with these little birds. Watching them waddle across the sand, argue with one another, tend their nests, and dive into the ocean never gets old. Every visit is different, and I always leave with a camera full of photos, a smile on my face, and an even greater appreciation for one of South Africa’s most charming wildlife success stories. 🐧❤️🇿🇦
Procedures performed:
- deep plane facelift
- deep plane neck lift
- submandibular gland reduction
- parotid repositioning
- buccal fat pad repositioning
- lower blepharoplasty
- CO₂ laser resurfacing around the eyes
- fat transfer
- perioral work
Surgery was performed under TIVA (Total Intravenous Anesthesia) and utilized hemostatic surgical netting.
Day 6 post op was suture and staple removal day. I wasn’t nervous about the removal itself, I was anxious to get everything out of my skin because I had become itchy over the previous couple of days and clawing my incisions was not an option.
One thing that surprised me was that the staples were easier to remove than the stitches. I had wrongly assumed the staples would be a problem, but they ended up being a complete non-event. The stitches took more work and were much more noticeable coming out because of all the little snips and gentle tugging. The staples came out in seconds and didn’t bother me a bit.
This removal gave me a bit of relief. My intense swelling had begun causing tension on the stitches, especially, and it felt like tiny acute pulls around and inside my ears. A small win!
My husband wasn’t with me during the first several days after surgery. Looking back, that was definitely the right decision. At the beginning of the reel, he’s videoing my sutures and staples, and at one point he tells me I’m “giving him the willies” when I lift my hair to show him where the staples are. He was completely freaked out by the entire process, bless his heart.
One of the reasons I chose my surgeon was his incision placement. My incisions are hidden within my hairline, along the tragus, and behind my ears. I didn’t want the more visible vertical scar in front of the ear that is often a telltale sign of surgery. I tend to scar pink and stay that way for quite a while, so this was an important consideration for me.
You’ll also see the CO₂ laser treatment around my eyes had really bloomed. At this stage I looked like I had bright pink raccoon markings, but it didn’t hurt. The medications early on had helped, but I remember very little actual pain from the laser itself. It felt extremely tight and swollen, and it was definitely uncomfortable, but not particularly painful.
My eyes were red, very scratchy, and extremely dry for the first couple of weeks post op. The eye discomfort was actually more bothersome than the facelift incisions themselves.
Honestly, that’s been one of the biggest surprises of this entire journey. The discomfort has been real, swelling, tightness, numbness, tinnitus, itching, sleeping upright, and just feeling physically worn the fuck out, but the actual pain has been minimal. Before surgery, I expected incision and repositioning pain to be one of the biggest hurdles. Instead, discomfort and patience have been the bigger challenges.
With the exception of my throat pain! The submandibular gland reduction was almost excruciating at this stage and easily the most painful part of recovery. My lips were also huge, uneven, and sore from the fat transfer and my surgeon assures me they won’t look overfilled once swelling subsides.
After my appointment, we made the three hour drive back to our Tennessee home base near Nashville. In hindsight, that probably wasn’t my brightest idea. There was something wonderful about getting back into my own space, but the travel took a lot out of me.
By the time we got home, I hit a wall. Applesauce, ice cream, protein drink and lights out for the rest of the day. Recovery has been more challenging than I expected, and this was the point where I really started to understand what everyone meant when they said, “Trust the process.”
For those who have had a facelift or CO₂ laser, what part of recovery surprised you the most? When did you feel like you finally turned the corner? I feel like Frankenstein’s monster.
I awoke having slept like absolute crap.
“Awoke” is a generous word. There was no recliner in my room at my friend’s house, so I used the fancy after-surgery pillow system I bought because the internet loves it.
I did not love it. It seemed to only serve as an irritant. But to be fair, I probably wouldn’t have loved anything at that stage of recovery.
I woke up more swollen than the day before. I could literally feel my temples and eyes pulsing with every heartbeat. My face and neck were so tight they felt like a soccer ball.
When I emerged from my room mid-morning, my husband and our friend looked… concerned. I felt like a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade character.
I’m pretty sure I looked like one too.
I also learned just how much your neck participates in literally everything.
Walking. Sitting. Reaching. Swallowing. Slathering ointment. Existing.
Sleeping upright keeps the neck muscles working 24/7. Add massive swelling and you’ve got searing, shooting pain on a loop.
I messaged my private nurse because I was worried that something was wrong. Nothing was wrong. It was all 100% normal.
Small win: CO₂ laser around my eyes started calming down.
Not-small problem: throat pain from submandibular gland shaving. I’ll talk more about that later — but it matters for long-term jawline and neck results.
Aftercare instructions: soft AND bland foods. I understood soft. I did not understand bland.
Flavor = stimulation.
Stimulation = aggressive saliva production.
Aggressive saliva production = immediate regret.
My friend made pasta. I took one bite of marinara and thought my head was going to launch off my body. The jaw TWANG was CRAZY and I briefly considered the possibility that I might drown in my own saliva.
Dinner was plain buttered noodles and bland foods for many, many days.
I spent most of the day in my room — icing, hydrating, dozing when possible.
Honestly? It felt like the bottom dropped out. It was the worst day of the entire experience. A temporary hell for a permanent upgrade.
And yes… I’d still do it again. #Facelift #FaceliftRecovery #DeepPlaneFacelift #PlasticSurgery #AdventuresWithVirginia
Heading to the top of the mountain in Zululand for sundowners, but encountered a road block!
While exploring the coastal wineries of South Africa’s Western Cape, we spent one day tasting through two very different estates. Accompanied by good friends, spectacular scenery, and what felt like a soundtrack curated by my jazz-obsessed travel companions, it made for a memorable escape.
We started at Idiom with a wine and pasta pairing. Perched above False Bay, the site benefits from a warmer Mediterranean influence balanced by cooling ocean air. The wines felt structured, savory, food-focused, and substantial. Bigger reds, fuller whites, plenty of spice and depth.
Later we moved over to Benguela Cove, and the shift was immediately noticeable. Stronger maritime influence, cooler temperatures, and constant ocean breezes. The wines came across brighter, crisper, more mineral-driven, and more restrained. Their chocolate pairing sounded a little gimmicky on paper, but it worked surprisingly well.
Same corner of South Africa, completely different personalities in the glass. It was a great reminder of how much elevation, ocean proximity, and climate can shape a wine.
The day ended at a luxury Airbnb on the water featuring a hot pink hot tub and a giant unicorn statue.
South African wine country produces some seriously world-class wines, but every now and then it also feels like someone blended luxury travel with a fever dream, and somehow it works.
For those familiar with South African wines, which producers do you think best showcase the maritime influence of the Western Cape? Always looking for new stops on future visits. I’m heading back next month!
This was a rough one.
I’d just finished my steroids and WOW, the swelling came on strong.
By midday I was uncomfortable. By evening I felt like an overinflated balloon ready to burst.
My face felt tight, heavy, and painfully full. My lips were super swollen and sore.
I didn’t take many photos that day. My eyes were extremely irritated, the swelling was affecting my vision, and honestly, I just couldn’t muster the enthusiasm.
This is the part of recovery that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough. Not the dramatic before-and-after photos. Not the exciting reveal. Just the uncomfortable middle where you’re swollen, tired, questioning your decision, and wondering if you’ll ever look okay again.
People love to say, “healing isn’t linear,” but that barely scratches the surface. Recovery was a roller coaster for me.
One day I’d feel encouraged. The next day I’d look worse than the day before. Then I’d improve again. Then I’d swell again.
Looking back now, Day 4 was probably one of the lowest points physically. But it was also an important lesson in trusting the process. My surgeon had warned me this would happen. My recovery team assured me it was normal. They were right.
If you’re currently in the thick of facelift recovery, and feeling swollen, discouraged, or wondering what on earth you’ve done to yourself, you’re not alone.
Sometimes the hardest part of recovery isn’t the pain.
It’s the patience.
Getting there in a cable car suspended above a croc and hippo infested river is an adventure itself.
But once you arrive, the excitement shifts. I’ve never seen so many leopards concentrated in one place in my life. (And I spend 1/2 of every year on safari.) Of course, the Tuli Block is famous for its incredible elephant population too.
The photographic hides absolutely blew my skirt up, especially the overnight hide. Catered dinner, four beds, two bathrooms, and the option to snap photos or snooze whenever you felt like it. I barely slept at all because I was convinced I’d miss something incredible.
All these snaps are just IPhone pics, I’m still editing the ones from my camera, just so excited to share!
And the lodge itself? Probably one of the sexiest properties I’ve ever stayed at.
I can’t wait to take my photography crew back.
Day 3 had me feeling surprisingly more like myself again.
The anesthesia fog had mostly lifted, my head felt clearer, and I even had a little pep in my step. I was starting to think, Okay… maybe I’m one of those people who just breezes through recovery.
Had my first follow-up with my surgeon, progress photos, surgical netting removed, recovery instructions reinforced. (I previously posted info on surgical netting - no compression garments, no drains!)
The biggest challenge thus far was sleeping upright. I am a chronic flip-flopping side sleeper, so trying to sleep in a recliner felt like punishment. I somehow managed four solid hours the night before, which felt like winning the lottery.
One thing my nurse concierge absolutely drilled into my head was moving my neck with my torso and not twisting it independently. She had enough horror stories that I took it very seriously.
This entire process is very serious, actually. Medical professionals give instruction FOR A REASON. I wasn’t about to risk my investment or recovery, so I strived to be my usual overachieving self.
Still rocking compression socks to help reduce blood clot risk. Swelling was continuing to come and go as the steroids wore off, but I was starting to get more movement back in my mouth.
I was feeling really optimistic!
Little did I know, I had not even remotely met my swelling yet. The plot twist was coming… 😳
One thing nobody prepares you for after major facial surgery is the fact that your entire medical team suddenly becomes deeply invested in whether you’ve had a bowel movement. 😳
By noon on Post-Op Day 2, my caregivers were becoming increasingly concerned about constipation from the anesthesia, pain medications, and decreased activity, so I got up and started walking the hotel hallways.
This is admittedly a delicate topic for me. My children have never even heard me pass gas. Neither has my husband. But after hearing horror stories about people straining hard enough to pop stitches or staples after surgery, I quickly realized this was actually a very important, make or break part of recovery.
Thankfully, all went smoothly. Crisis avoided. Dignity partially intact.
For context, I had:
• deep plane facelift
• deep plane neck lift
• lower blepharoplasty
• parotid repositioning
• buccal fat pad repositioning
• submandibular gland reduction
• CO2 laser around the eyes
• perioral work
• fat transfers
Ironically, the fat transfer from the harvesting on my hips hurt far worse than my actual face, where it was transplanted. The bruising was tremendously worse on the harvest site, too.
I was feeling pretty fantastic on Day 2 and thought I was absolutely sailing through recovery. In hindsight, I was being carried entirely by steroids, nerve medication, pain medication, and optimism.
Ha. Ha. Ha.
One thing I’ve noticed after years working in the luxury safari space is that many first-time travelers do not realize how massive the difference is between a luxury travel marketer and an owner-operator actually working on the ground.
It’s one of the biggest reasons I built my business model the way I did.
I wanted to create something far more personal than simply selling trips from behind a computer screen. I wanted clients to feel like they had somebody in their corner who truly knew these places, understood the realities on the ground, and could guide them through the experience with confidence and firsthand knowledge.
My luxury clients love the high-touch experience, knowing I’m handling every detail behind the scenes and constantly thinking several steps ahead. In Africa, things occasionally go sideways. Flights change. Bush planes get delayed. Roads flood. Luggage disappears into Johannesburg. Properties occasionally have operational issues. Weather impacts wildlife movement and accessibility.
That’s exactly why I always have backup plans, contingency plans, and then backup plans for the backup plans.
When those moments happen, clients need more than somebody forwarding supplier emails from another continent. They need somebody with operational knowledge, real relationships, and firsthand understanding of what is actually happening in real time.
Being able to provide exceptional service while also living a life of adventure that I genuinely love is a dream come true for me. Nothing makes me happier than seeing thrilled clients return home with incredible memories, knowing they felt cared for, heard, and supported throughout the entire experience.
I spend months each year in Southern Africa, building real relationships, inspecting properties personally, understanding changing conditions firsthand, and staying actively involved in the logistics and realities of travel on the ground.
Luxury travel is not just beautiful lodges and a large price tag. It’s communication, responsiveness, attention to detail, feeling supported, and feeling heard.
At the luxury level, responsiveness should absolutely be part of the product.
And I truly believe that boots-on-the-ground involvement and genuine relationships make all the difference.
I may be late to the game on sonic toothbrushes… because I’ve always loved the feeling of actually scrubbing my teeth.
BUT, after facial surgery, scrubbing is not your friend.
Forget your normal toothbrush.
Forget your rotating head toothbrush.
You can barely open your mouth. And I mean barely. The night of surgery and day one post-op, I don’t think I could’ve fit a quarter through the slot I was working with.
A sonic toothbrush is the answer.
It does the work for you with minimal effort, minimal jaw movement, and minimal mouth opening – which is exactly what you need in those early days.
Sometimes it’s the unglamorous details that make a big difference in recovery.