Neda andAmir Karammet in medical school.
They had been delivered by the same doctor in the same hospital in Iran.
They went to the same college.
Courtesy of subjects
But they didn’t meet until they were both studying at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine.
They were engaged in three months.
Neda became a family medicine doctor; Amir is a plastic surgeon.
Neda says goodbye to her husband as she heads home after her three-hour surgery.
And there was no question in her mind who would perform the surgery.
I dont think I wouldve had the guts to do it with someone else.
Amir agreed there wasnt a better surgeon for the job.
Neda before (left) and 12 weeks after a facelift performed by her husband, Amir Karam, MD.
I would not want her to come out of a facelift and look like a different person.
The aging process is relatively short.
I dont want a new version of her.
The day after surgery, Neda sees her incisions for the first time.
I just want the old version.
(He doesnt do body surgeries, or evennose jobs.)
(Dr. Karam has nearly 600,000 followerson Instagram, and another 150,000 or soon TikTok.)
Another view: Before (left) and 12 weeks after Neda’s facelift.
I become hyper-focused and then its almost flow-like.
Its a sort of visualization, he says.
I would operate the case in my mind over and over and over and over again.
A recent photo of the couple, who will soon celebrate their 26th wedding anniversary.
By the time I actually did it, it felt routine.
I did that before Nedas surgery to get over the potential of any anxiety.
Here, both patient and surgeon, wife and husband, explain every step of the process.
The bare-faced early-morning selfie Neda took before her surgery…
Neda Karam:Around 48 or 49 I noticed that the shape of my face was changing.
I started thinking about a facelift.
I just had to get up the guts to do it, and be ready for the downtime.
…and the one she snapped 10 weeks post-op. Same time, same place.
So that was 48: Maybe after Christmas Ill do it.
After a facelift you have to sleep on your back for six weeks.
About three years passed and I started really disliking every single picture.
And I still wouldn’t like the pictures.
Id go back to look at photos from just seven or eight years ago and they looked so different.
I know I wouldnt have.
But it was just too early.
I tell patients that there are two criteria for readiness: 1.
Is your aging face really bothering you?
Are there enough physical changes, enough laxity, to justify surgery?
Age isnt even a part of it.
This is my face.
But I just couldnt see myself getting a facelift with someone else.
I wouldnt feel 100% guaranteed that I’m going to really look my best and look natural.
The way Amir does a facelift, the patient just looks rejuvenated.
They dont look the same age, but with a different neck and jawline.
They look like their younger selves.
Neda says goodbye to her husband as she heads home after her three-hour surgery.
I also know that he will tell me no if something isnt a good idea.
When I was young, of course I didnt notice volume loss or laxity, it was my nose.
Id always wanted a small nose.
We went back and forth on my nose, and he wouldnt do it.
I knew she would end up regretting the decision down the road.
Neda:I’m a family medicine doctor, but I stopped practicing when we had our four boys.
Since Amir opened his practice in 2008, Ive been going in to help out with administrative work.
And hes always said, When you come in the office, come watch me.
you could look in the window and see me operating.
And I’ve never wanted to because I knew I was going to be his facelift patient one day.
So I didnt want to see what’s happening.
Even after my facelift was finally scheduled, there were moments of doubt.
And it does kind of suck when people keep telling you, You don’t need to do this.
Well, why the hellamI doing it?
Why would I want to go through all this pain and downtime when nobody thinks I need it?
Then you go look in the mirror and say, wait, but I do need it.
I’m not happy with what I see.
But then everybody is so discouraging: You look so great.
Why would you do this?
It’s very conflicting.
You kind of have to shut out those voices completely and just go with what’s bothering you.
On the morning of the surgery, my biggest thing was for Amir to let me do my workouts.
At first he said, No.
You want to walk for two hours and then do your F45 workout.
But he finally agreed when he understood that exercise would help me feel calm.
I was very naive.
I had no idea what was going to happen in the operating room.
And, really, it was easier than a dental procedure.
They give you an Ativan and then put an IV in you and you just go to bed.
Then you wake up.
My surgery took about three hours.
Crepiness under the eyes can be exaggerated by the vertical lifting of the cheeks so this helps.
She also did a fat transfer.
Then they took me straight to the car.
I had made snacks for myselfsliced up pears and bone brothso I started eating and I was really happy.
It was behind me.
We had friends over that night because it was a big Final Four game.
I had a full dinner.
The pain after the surgery was minimal, I just took Tylenol for about three days.
I had follow-ups every day that week and after that first day, I drove myself.
The day after surgery, Neda sees her incisions for the first time.
Until the stitches come out, you have to clean your incisions twice a day.
I was lucky to have Amir at home to do it.
I didnt go back to the gym just yet because its dirty.
Week three, I was back to my F45 workoutswith some weight modifications.
Amir:Before Nedas surgery, I was very hardcore with patients about no working out before four weeks.
If they feel better mentally when they work out, then I’m going to be much more lenient.
Another view: Before (left) and 12 weeks after Neda’s facelift.
Neda:The first six weeks, my face felt like a rock, very numb.
It didnt look swollen, but it felt swollen.
I didnt really like touching it, to put sunscreen on for example.
It just didnt feel like normal skin.
But after six weeks, that weird uncomfortable feeling went away.
Theres still a little numbness now, at about 10 weeks, but its not very noticeable.
Neda:Beforehand, my kids were just like Oh, okay, when are you doing it?
The two older ones, who are in college, said Just dont do it when were home.
And I didnt want to do it when they were home.
I did look a little scary those first few days.
Amir and I never talked about what would happen if something went wrong, if there was a complication.
Even in the best hands, some people will get an infection, for example.
A recent photo of the couple, who will soon celebrate their 26th wedding anniversary.
Amir:After a facelift, I usually dont see the patient until the end of week one.
But I dont see them.
I sent it to my girlfriends saying, Thisis why I’m doing the surgery.
Then yesterday morningalmost 10 weeks after the surgeryI took the same selfie.
Same bathroom, same time, same angle of my face.
The bare-faced early-morning selfie Neda took before her surgery…
…and the one she snapped 10 weeks post-op.
Same time, same place.
Theres so much interesting energy around women who get a facelift.
Its still kind of taboo.
People think youre going to get an unnatural result.
Like those husbands who came up to me at the dinner party.
Now my friends are truly in awe.
They cannot believe the change I got.
And I still look like myself.
Theyre like, Im beyond jealous.
Im the first person in my friend group to get a facelift and I think I started something.
That’s definitely more than most other local surgeons.
Im so used to going, going, going.
Now, even when Im exhausted, I look in the mirror, and I look refreshed.
Read more about what it’s like to get a facelift:
Watch the history of plastic surgery:
