<p>S2 was born when I was almost 49 - surprise pregnancy.</p>
<p>Some relevant $$ numbers:</p>
<p>[The</a> High Costs of Turning Back the Clock - Yahoo! Finance](<a href=“http://finance.yahoo.com/news/high-costs-turning-back-clock-070057055.html]The”>The high costs of turning back the clock)</p>
<p>I’m assuming these women who undergo procedures to look younger are otherwise healthy. That in itself will make you feel young!</p>
<p>But they may want to look at their spending, odds will have it that they wont be healthy forever & even good insurance often pays just a small amount of some medical procedures and medications.</p>
<p>I don’t feel too beautiful of late. Super duper allergies. Nothing seems to work except staying inside. Puffy eyes. Red nose. Fatigue. Congestion. Yuck!</p>
<p>Maybe living in a climate that agrees with you is the best way to look good?</p>
<p>I recently saw a friend I hadn’t seen IRL for a number of years. She looked younger…besides the hair coloring (new) I think maybe she had some lines erased.</p>
<p>Sigh.</p>
<p>I am glad & grateful that our family ages gracefully and continues to look fine (thanks) as we get older. My folks are in their 80s and still look quite youthful–much moreso than their agemates. They tend to hang out with folks at least a decade or more younger than them because the others can’t keep up!</p>
<p>I love this thread.
<bump></bump></p>
<p>I think coloring my hair makes a huge difference. My naturally mousy brown hair has a lot of gray, but thanks to my hairstylist my hair is a pretty golden brown. I wanted to compliment her on how natural and tone-on-tone it looks, and she replied, “It’s because grey hair takes color differently than brown hair, that’s why your hair looks like it has natural highlights.” Oh well. </p>
<p>Also I always said I’d never do plastic surgery, but when I turned 50 last year I had my eyelids done. Both of my parents and every older relative on my mom’s side has had to have surgery during their 60’s for ptosis (eyelids that droop to the point of impairing vision). I could see that my eyes were headed that way as well, and I decided to just go ahead and do it now instead of waiting for it to get REALLY bad. As it turned out, insurance covered it. I had it done last summer, while I was in the midst of losing 20+ lbs. I work year-round at a school, and when the teachers came back in the fall they all commented on how fantastic I looked. Most seemed to think it was the weight loss, but at least one said, “No, it’s more than that.” She attributed it to me being happy and self-confident. I smiled and said, “Thank you,” but I really think it’s that my eyes look more awake and alert! I have two friends that I think would look at least 10 years younger if they would have their eyelids done… but I would NEVER suggest it to them.</p>
<p>I’ve discovered that I often think I look pretty good… until my 21 year old daughter comes home and I catch sight of the 2 of us side-by-side. I wish she could appreciate how beautiful she is now, her smooth skin and toned arms, legs and abs. It won’t last, and most of us don’t appreciate how good we look until we look back in photos years later.</p>
<p>Should the men start their own thread? I think I look great! (LOL) Who needs hair?</p>
<p>It’s important to take lots of pictures in the younger years. It’s a lot easier now with digital cameras.</p>
<p>Update - I had my eyelift last November. I’m happy with the results and yes, I would do it again. I still look like “myself”, just more awake. By coincidence, I lost about 10 pounds around the same time period. I get a lot of compliments on the weight loss but none on the eyes.</p>
<p>interesting to hear about eyelid lift. H’s eyes are nearly closed to the point he looks asleep. I’ve suggested the surgery but he’s reluctant.</p>
<p>The cool thing about the eyelid surgery is that you don’t look “different” - just better. It’s not especially painful, but the eye is bandaged closed for about 24 hours and you have to ice it off and on for 48 hours. You look like you’ve been punched in the eye for about 10 days or so, and swelling of the eyelids is a common complication that can occasionally last up to 6 months. But overall everyone I know who has done it has been happy with it in the long run. nj2011mom, if his eyelids are that droopy insurance will usually pay for it, as it starts to impinge on your peripheral vision.</p>
<p>I was wondering what the eyelid surgery did. I would have sworn that I had no extra skin over my eyes, and I went to the mirror and confirmed this. Then I looked at before and after images of eyelid surgery. Some people had obvious drooping lids, sometimes they were Asian, and the surgery changed their looks a lot. For some people, the changes were very subtle. I looked again in the mirror, and saw that I do have a tiny bit of drooping at the outer edges, and I could benefit from this surgery. But not much, and I have no intention of doing it. I have some general sagging, and those awful lines between my brows, but I don’t have a lot of wrinkles, and the dermatologist said last month that I did not have sun damage. </p>
<p>I think that aging has taken its greatest toll on my hair and teeth. I color my hair, and the roots are now really visible because they are so gray, and my hair is darkish brown. And my teeth are more yellow than they used to be. I used to be known for my “Ultra-Brite smile.” I am afraid to whiten them because I’ve heard that it removes enamel and makes teeth sensitive.</p>
<p>I’m planning on having eye lid surgery sometime soon. Did anyone do the lower lids as well? I’ve read mixed reviews on that.</p>
<p>I was a very late bloomer and very shy as a teen. I definitely went through an ugly duckling phase in my early teens. Even my loving H, who thinks I am now very attractive, agrees. I never thought looks were the most important thing about a person, but I still felt some doubts about my appearance. I thought I had outgrown the ugly duckling phase by the time I started 10th grade in a new city. But, boys never gave me a 2nd glance in H.S. I was never asked on a date. I thought at the time and still think now that I got ignored by the opposite sex because I was too serious about school - I was class valedictorian - and I was a classical music nerd. Looking back at pictures of myself in H.S., I see an average-looking, slender, young person. </p>
<p>I’m now 58 1/2. I feel much more attractive now than I did in my teens and twenties. I know how to dress to flatter my figure and I know how to style my hair to flatter my facial features. I still consider my looks to be average, but I have aged much better than many of my peers and I present myself well. Both of my parents aged very well and my 5 siblings and I have all inherited the slow-aging trait. </p>
<p>Though I’m pleased that I look attractive, looking young for my age has a downside. There are an amazing number of tactless people out there who tease my husband about robbing the cradle! He’s four years older than I, but the age difference looks greater. His hair is white and he’s very heavy. I’ve kept my grey at bay and I’m still slim. He tells me he’s proud to have a beautiful wife, but I know it hurts his feelings to know that so many people think he’s much older than I. I wish I had a smart comeback for the people who ask if he’s my father or say that he’s robbed the cradle!</p>
<p>People can be so rude. Even if you were significantly younger than he, it still wouldn’t be an appropriate thing to say!</p>
<p>Only upper lids here, MomLive. I think my dad might have had both, he has significant bags under his eyes.</p>
<p>I have not had surgery, botox or collegen, but do work at it. Eat healthy, exercise at least 5 days a week, slather my skin with all sorts of stuff (mostly non-prescription but some prescription), dye my hair, pluck my brows, etc. My D’s keep saying “You’re looking pretty good Mom,” or You look much younger than Dad." (I’m actually two years older.) My D’s are usually pretty critical in a fun, teasing way. So it is amazing to hear this from them.</p>
<p>But I have a fear that I will end up in the hospital for some reason and I will start to look like a hairy raccoon. Hairy because the prescription I get is to prevent hair growth. I have hair growth on my face on my chin and below my nose–also known as a mustache. Raccoon because I am very grey. So I will have a white/grey stripe down the middle of my head. I’ve told my H no visitors or get my face and hair done even if I am in a coma.</p>
<p>OMG! I never thought of that! that’s when the truth comes out, I guess! Lol.</p>
<p>Although, if you’re in the hospital, chances are you have bigger worries than being hairy.</p>
<p>Or do you? Hahaha!</p>