This year, Helen Keefe asked her husband to get her a facelift for Christmas.
"I needed my outside to match how I felt on the inside,” Keefe, 65, tells Yahoo. "I've always acted 10 to 15 years younger, and now I look it.”
That’s because Christmas came early for the community college event coordinator in Astoria, Ore. On Dec. 15, she underwent a facelift and deep plane neck lift, courtesy of her spouse. "I said, 'Hey, Pat, do we have an extra $30,000 for a facelift for Christmas?'" Keefe jokes.
Two years ago, Keefe received a medically necessary upper blepharoplasty (or eyelid surgery) and felt that after the procedure, her eyes looked younger than the rest of her face. "Getting the eye surgery was already a dramatic difference in my appearance, and then the rest of my face really looked old in comparison," she says.
The holiday timing also felt right, she adds. "It was like a perfect rainbow, because my grandkids were going to Japan for Christmas, and we're not going,” she says. “And our work ended up having an extended break this year.” That meant fewer responsibilities to deal with over the holiday season — and, very important, extra time to recover post-op.
Now, just a few weeks post-op from her facelift, Keefe says she couldn't be happier with her results and, aside from a little pain along her ear and throat, is recovering nicely. The cherry on top: Her husband is taking care of the house and their dogs while she heals. “That’s the real gift,” she says.
Plastic surgery isn't exactly a gift you can put under a tree, but it has become quite the coveted wish list item. And it’s not as impractical as you might think, according to Dr. Sean McNally , the plastic surgeon who performed Keefe's facelift.
"If that's what you, your significant other or family member really want, I can't think of a better present. Improving function, looking better or feeling more confident is a great gift," McNally tells Yahoo. He argues that cosmetic work could be considered a savvier buy compared to other luxury gifts. "A mommy makeover will certainly get more use than that Birkin bag you might be considering," he notes.
As cosmetic procedures become more mainstream and less taboo (or, at least disclosed more, with the Kardashian-Jenners leading the charge ), injectables and nip-tucks have emerged as one answer to the age-old question: What do you get for the person who has everything (including crow’s-feet)?