{"id":50302,"date":"2026-05-11T21:21:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T21:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/usa\/i-paid-102000-for-a-facelift-at-71-i-wish-i-could-have-done-it-a-decade-ago-but-i-couldnt-afford-it\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T21:21:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T21:21:12","slug":"i-paid-102000-for-a-facelift-at-71-i-wish-i-could-have-done-it-a-decade-ago-but-i-couldnt-afford-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/usa\/i-paid-102000-for-a-facelift-at-71-i-wish-i-could-have-done-it-a-decade-ago-but-i-couldnt-afford-it\/","title":{"rendered":"I paid $102,000 for a facelift at 71. I wish I could have done it a decade ago, but I couldn&#8217;t afford it."},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/6a0224f7ba7ef34b41f3716c?format=jpeg\" alt=\"A woman before and after a facelift.\"\/><figcaption>Carolyn Rudolph in clinic pictures before and after her facelift.<\/p>\n<p>Courtesy of Dr. Carl Truesdale.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Carolyn Rudolph waited until she was 71 to have a full facelift that cost over $100,000.<\/li>\n<li>She said she couldn&#039;t have paid for it in her 60s, but wishes she&#039;d been able to have it earlier.<\/li>\n<li>The great-grandmother is pleased with the results, but said some of her friendships had changed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>This interview is based on a conversation with Carolyn Rudoph, 73, retired Army personnel and postal supervisor, from Louisville, Kentucky. It has been edited for length and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I always kept myself in shape by going to the gym, maintaining a size 6, and having a pretty good figure.<\/p>\n<p>However, when I reached 63, people would walk behind me on the street, walk past, and look back. There was no mistaking the look of surprise when they saw my face.<\/p>\n<h2>I looked after other people<\/h2>\n<p>Co-workers would often ask if I was OK, as if I seemed sad. I&#039;d go into the bathroom, look in the mirror, and think, &quot;You know what? I do seem sad when I&#039;m not smiling.&quot;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Did you have cosmetic surgery in later life? Please email Jane Ridley at jridley@insider.com if you&#039;d like to share your experience.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I had drooping marionette lines and undereye bags. You couldn&#039;t see my upper teeth because everything was sagging. They made me look like I was ready to cry any moment, though I wasn&#039;t.<\/p>\n<p>Then, in 2022, my husband, Max, died of brain cancer. I was in a state of mourning for two years, but kept myself busy doing stuff on the house and helping with my family.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/6a02386ce1443b8dc48e400b?format=jpeg\" alt=\"A woman in a yellow dress holding a baby boy.\"\/><figcaption>Randoph with her youngest grandchild before she had surgery.<\/p>\n<p>Courtesy of Carolyn Randolph.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>My daughter remarked that I was always doing stuff for other people, not myself. &quot;When are you going to do something for yourself?&quot; she asked.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;You know what?&quot; I said. &quot;Ever since I was 63, I&#039;ve wanted a facelift.&quot; The problem was that I hadn&#039;t been able to afford it. But now that I&#039;d gotten some money from Max&#039;s life insurance, I reconsidered.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;What the heck?&quot; I thought. &quot;Maybe I should do it.&quot; I had a few consultations in my home city of Louisville, but didn&#039;t think the surgeons were quite right.<\/p>\n<h2>I had a deep plane facial<\/h2>\n<p>In November 2024, I got in touch with Dr. Carl Truesdale in Los Angeles. We immediately clicked. By luck, he happened to have a cancellation, and I had surgery on December 4.<\/p>\n<p>I had a forehead lift, a deep-plane facelift, a neck lift, upper and lower blepharoplasty, and a little fat injected at the bridge of my nose, where it had flattened.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Truesdale reassured me that I wouldn&#039;t look artificial. He said he could take 30 years off me. It made me laugh because he put a photograph of me, at 44, above a piece of equipment in the operating room so he could check against it.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/6a0238ede1443b8dc48e4014?format=jpeg\" alt=\"A woman wearing bandages after a facelift.\"\/><figcaption>Randolph immediately after her operation.<\/p>\n<p>Courtesy of Carolyn Randolph<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The seven-and-a-half-hour procedure wasn&#039;t cheap at $102,000, but I wanted to be one-and-done as I was in my 70s, for goodness sake&#039;s<\/p>\n<p>I didn&#039;t know what kind of surgeries I may need for my health in the future, so I didn&#039;t want to have the cosmetic ones spread out over several years.<\/p>\n<p>The difference was noticeable almost immediately. I looked in the mirror and felt more confident about my reflection. Some people commented that I look in my 40s, but I&#039;d say mid-50s, which is perfect.<\/p>\n<h2>I might get married again<\/h2>\n<p>I cared about my appearance before, but now I wear more stylish clothes and makeup when I&#039;m going to the store. It&#039;s a sign of the society we live in, but I feel like people treat me with more respect.<\/p>\n<p>A few men have asked me out for dinner, but I&#039;ve always said no. But now, I&#039;m thinking of dating. You never know, I might get married again.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/6a0239baba7ef34b41f37269?format=jpeg\" alt=\"A woman taking a selfie.\"\/><figcaption>Randolph feels more confident now that she has had the procedure.<\/p>\n<p>Courtesy of Carolyn Randolph<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I&#039;ve been through a spiritual awakening during the last 18 months since I had the surgery. I&#039;ve learned a lot and wish I could have afforded it a decade ago.<\/p>\n<p>But it&#039;s not a regret. I feel like I&#039;m the best Carolyn that I could be at my age.<\/p>\n<p>Read the original article on Business Insider<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carolyn Rudolph in clinic pictures before and after her facelift. Courtesy of Dr. Carl Truesdale. Carolyn Rudolph waited until she was 71 to have a full facelift that cost over $100,000. She said she couldn&#039;t have paid for it in her 60s, but wishes she&#039;d been able to have it earlier. The great-grandmother is pleased [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-50302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50302\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}