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Jennifer Belen, 52, went viral on TikTok when commenters told her she was too young to get a facelift
Belen has been documenting the recovery from her face, neck and brow lift
“It is happening younger,” the med spa employee tells PEOPLE of her views on plastic surgery trends. “It’s just that people are private”
Jennifer Belen’s facelift transformation shocked viewers on TikTok — but not for the reason you may think.
In June, the 52-year-old New Jersey resident showed off the results of her surgery in a before-and-after video, but the “before” clip left many questioning why she would even go through with the procedure.
“What? You looked AMAZING before the facelift!” one commenter wrote.
“Not enough of a difference to be worth it imho,” another shared.
A third insisted, “You looked so young and had plenty of mileage remaining before the big lift.”
For Belen, these reactions prove yet again that things are more complex than they appear on social media.
“I was always told that I didn’t look my age,” she tells PEOPLE. “I have been taking care of my skin since my 30s.”
While Belen admits her skin probably looks “healthier” than some women her age, her concerns were about the heaviness around her eyes and a sagging neck, which she was able to conceal on social media by recording herself at strategic angles.
“Once I shared the medical before and afters, I think more people understood,” she said. “Because that’s not what I’m showing [on social media]. I’m not going to be like, ‘Look at my sagging neck’ all day.”
Belen underwent a deep plane face and neck lift as well as an endoscopic brow lift, courtesy of Dr. Meryam Shikara in New York City.
With a decade-long career as a director of a med spa and previous work as a medical esthetician, the world of aesthetics was not new to Belen. In fact, her work experience prompted her to seek out the procedures when she did.
Jennifer Belen
Jennifer Belen before her plastic surgery (top) and after (bottom)
“Being in the industry, I know that the best time [to get a facelift] really is in your 50s so you can enjoy the work,” she explains. “I think it’s a prime time in your life. Your kids are grown and you want to feel good about yourself.”
Prior to her surgery, Belen had done lasers, microneedling and EmFace (a non-invasive treatment meant to help tone facial muscles and tighten skin), but she eventually decided she was ready to “pull the trigger” on a facelift.
She explains that her goal was not to transform into someone else, but “feel like a younger version of myself,” and Dr. Shikara helped her do just that. The pair even decided against an upper blepharoplasty because they thought it would alter her appearance too much.
“I’ve always had hooded eyes, and I really felt that strongly that if I had a bleph, it was really going to change what I looked like,” Belen says.
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“I felt so safe with her,” she says of Dr. Shikara. “Some people will be like, ‘I don’t care about bedside manner,’ but being in the industry, to me, it is very important because if something did go wrong, that’s the bedside manner you get.”
Jennifer Belen
Jennifer Belen after plastic surgery
Luckily, Belen’s surgery went smoothly and recovery has been equally seamless. She’s had virtually no pain, only a little bit of swelling and no noticeable scars (the incisions were made in her hairline).
“I get people telling me I’m lying,” she says about documenting the ease of her recovery online. “I’m like, ‘What reason do I have to lie?'”
Despite comments on TikTok, Belen doesn’t consider herself “on the younger side” to have a facelift.
“It is happening younger,” she says. “It’s just that people are private… they’re not sharing on social media. You’re not seeing the 50- and 60-year-olds sharing on social media as much.”
Though she admits that that is changing, with more women in their 60s — such as Kris Jenner — opening up about their facelifts.
“I think that it’s a perfect time to get it because you are young enough and hopefully healthier,” Belen says.
She continues, “I don’t think that there’s truth in ‘Wait until you’re a certain age’, because I’m hoping if it lasts me 10, 15 years, by the time I’m 65, 68, that I won’t care as much if I need a redo.”
Does she plan to have another facelift when the time comes?
“No,” says Belen. “I think I’m a one-and-done.”
Read the original article on People
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source ca.style.yahoo.com ’
