The Facelift Diaries: what it's REALLY like to have a facelift [Paperback]

Jill Scharff (Author), Jaedene Levy (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 22, 2004

Short description: In The Facelift Diaries, clinician friends Jill Scharff and Jaedene Levy offer forthright, professional advice and intimate personal experience, revealing what it's really like to have a facelift. This guide explores all the angles with personal diaries chronicling the authors' own facelifts. In entries ranging from "Sunshine and reflection" to "Screw this!" and "Still a weirdo," the two friends give a faithful account of their post-op highs and lows. 500,000 Americans have facial cosmetic surgery every year, and each week, countless makeover shows glamorize such surgeries. Scharff and Levy's personal and professional approach to all aspects of cosmetic surgery - emotional and physical - demystifies the experience and offers tips and truths on everything from selecting a surgeon to facing family and friends. Honest and insightful, informative and conversational, The Facelift Diaries is a must-read for everyone who is wondering "Should I or shouldn't I?"

Editorial Reviews

Review

Full of psychological insight into the motivations and aftermath of an event both consider transforming -- (The Washington Post, January 11, 2005)

I found your excerpts really, really interesting. I suggest any woman thinking of having work done read them -- (Linda Vester, Dayside, Fox News, January 19, 2005)

Two psychotherapists get real from beginning to end -- (Diane Sawyer, Good Morning America, ABC, March 14, 2005)

About the Author

Jaedene Roberts Levy is a clinical socialworker and psychotherapist. Jill Scharff MD, is a psychoanalyst.

Product Details

• Paperback: 170 pages
• Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (September 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594576173
• ISBN-13: 978-1594576171
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,941,868 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put this book down, December 7, 2004

By 

N. Prendergast (Chevy Chase, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Facelift Diaries: what it's REALLY like to have a facelift (Paperback)

I sat up that first night and read half way through. I loved the idea and the execution is terrific. It's good to hear both voices, Jill's and Jaedene's, and to know of the differing experiences. And they made me laugh as if we were friends talking together.
Bravo to Jill and Jaedene for being so honest and for sharing their facelift experiences with us. This would be a great book to give to anyone who is even thinking of having facial surgery, a very practical guide to the bumps along the way.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Just Skin Deep, January 12, 2005

By 

R. Kaplan - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Facelift Diaries: what it's REALLY like to have a facelift (Paperback)

This slim book offers much more than it's title suggests. The two writers who have two distinct voices offer any reader who has ever thought about having a facelift an unvarnished vivid account of their experiences of having facelifts at the same time. They are close friends who also happen to be well respected psychotherapist. They questioned their own motives,in light of their dedication to helping patients get to know their inner lives. Ultimately, their reasons for having cosmetic surgery are not unusual.

What is unique is their honesty. This book is very different than the glossy and so seductive adds that I admit to having read on more than one occasion. They offer a closeup of the gory aftermath and recovery, including the their very different recovery times and the impact of that on their feelings about each other.
While the book is lively as well as practical some information was difficult to think about. Most poignant for me was the long 14 month period of Jill Scarff's recovery. She had to face the reactions of her own children, peers who didn't recognize her, not least that she didn't look like the self she recognized when she looked at herself in the mirror.

The the book is direct, accessible and they write with wit and humor. They also offer a lot of tips which are well organized for the reader who is about to have a face lift aand for their loved ones.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required Reading for Women over Fifty, January 23, 2005

By 

Elizabeth Mayers (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Facelift Diaries: what it's REALLY like to have a facelift (Paperback)

In America, where a youthful appearance is so highly valued, it is nice to read a book written by two women who have obviously worked on their "insides", and helped many others to do the same, before deciding to work on their "outsides." This book offers an absorbing honest account of their experience, with no vested interest in the reader's decision. It is a timely topic, and anyone who is thinking about having a facelift would benefit from reading The Facelift Diaries.