When Janine walked into the Beverly Hills workplace of facial plastic surgeon Kimberly Lee, MD, she was anticipating a beauty transformation. At 50, she had already tried Botox Beauty, fillers and laser therapies, however she was prepared for a decrease facelift and necklift to refresh her look for each her private life and her work as a stunt girl in entrance of the digital camera.
“I didn’t want the full massive pullback, but I definitely wanted to look for myself better than I felt that I looked on screen,” Janine says. “I’d done everything else. It was time to seek out a professional plastic surgeon, which is why after much research, I ended up with Dr. Lee because she only does from the neck up. So, I felt really comfortable with that.”
A Final-Minute Request Earlier than Surgical procedure
Earlier than surgical procedure, Janine talked about one thing that had been on her thoughts for years, a small lump on her neck. She had a historical past of fibroid tumors and, over the course of 4 to 5 years, had proven the lump to a number of docs. “Every single one of those doctors said, ‘You have a history of fibroids. It’s probably a fibroid.’ I wanted it to be a fibroid too,” she recollects.
A view of Janine’s tumor earlier than her surgical procedure.
Seeing the accolades for Dr. Lee’s work in head and neck surgical procedure, Janine determined to ask if it might be eliminated throughout her facelift. “That’s easy,” Dr. Lee advised her. “It’s about a half-hour surgery.”
Throughout surgical procedure, Dr. Lee noticed one thing very totally different from what she had been advised to count on. “It looked very different from what I had originally anticipated. When I saw this mass, it was stuck down to all of these really important structures in the neck, nerves, blood vessels. None of those things happened when I opened her neck,” Dr. Lee explains.
Recognizing the seriousness of what she was seeing, Dr. Lee determined to take away the mass with margins and ship it to pathology. “I already knew that I was dealing with something a little bit more concerning,” she says.
When Janine woke from surgical procedure, the left aspect of her face was paralyzed. She was advised the surgical procedure to take away the lump had taken three and a half hours, and that the character of the mass “didn’t look real good.”
A Uncommon Most cancers Prognosis
4 days later, Dr. Lee known as with the outcomes. “She proceeded to tell me findings I did not understand, except for the word carcinoma,” Janine says. It was a uncommon stage two head and neck most cancers.
Dr. Lee instantly linked Janine with one of many high oncologists in California, advocating to get her seen earlier than he left for trip. “Sometimes patients don’t really know who to go to,” Dr. Lee says. “I have those contacts. It was just a matter of making a few phone calls…The timeline was critical in getting the care quickly.”
Life-Saving Outcomes
A specialised CT scan confirmed the tumor had been absolutely eliminated and had not unfold to different glands or the mind. “She saved my life,” Janine says. “I do not have cancer anywhere in my head.”
Dr. Lee explains, “This had already had signs of invading the nerve. Nerves are like highways, they allow tumor or cancer cells to spread through the body. This cancer would have continued to grow and spread to other parts of the body. That would have been truly life-threatening.”
Janine’s earlier than and after pictures present the tumor alongside her jawline that was eliminated throughout her facelift and necklift surgical procedure. Why the Proper Surgeon Issues
For Dr. Lee, Janine’s story underscores why vetting your surgeon issues. “It’s really important to choose a surgeon who has both aesthetic expertise and head and neck training. A facelift is about aesthetics, but it also happens to be one of the most delicate parts of the body. When something unexpected, like a tumor, appears, you need a surgeon who can recognize it and act immediately.”
Dr. Kimberly Lee and Janine post-surgery
Janine’s facelift gave her the refreshed look she needed, nevertheless it additionally saved her life. “I just know that Dr. Lee and everything that she did for me completely saved my life and improved it,” Janine says. “She’s just an angel.”
