Nayak Plastic Surgery Joanie before her necklift and 8 years afterJoanie, an employee of Nayak Plastic Surgery, got a neck lift to celebrate her 40th birthdayShe then lost 40 pounds, which made her transformation even more incredibleDr. Nayak, who performed the surgery, tells PEOPLE that he recommends these isolated neck lifts on younger patients because then you don’t have to get them later with a faceliftJoanie had assisted with hundreds of plastic surgeries alongside Dr. Mike Nayak when she decided she’d let him operate on her.As a treat to herself ahead of her 40th birthday in 2017, Joanie, a surgical tech at Nayak Plastic Surgery in St. Louis, Mo., for the past 11 years, asked Dr. Nayak if he thought her neck could use a little liposuction to shape it.He wasn’t so sure that would really give her the look she wanted for her milestone birthday. He thought the birthday girl deserved better.”He was like, ‘No, you really need to carve out the structures,'” she tells PEOPLE exclusively, referring to a full, isolated neck lift. She says that her neck lift, which landed her on the local news as well, was actually what launched Dr. Nayak and his practice into popularity years ago. It also made her a bit of a celebrity.”In Brazil, I’m super famous,” she says with a laugh. “We go to these conferences and I have the ‘famous neck.’ People just want to touch my neck.”Nayak Plastic Surgery Joanie before her necklift (above) and 8 years later (below)The PEOPLE App is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more!Joanie trusted Dr. Nayak with her birthday transformation, which he did with a deep neck lift and buccal fat reduction, which took a little over two hours in surgery, he tells PEOPLE. The surgery required just one incision behind the chin, making it minimally invasive.”It’s one, basically, invisible incision,” he says. “No incision around the ears. That’s the nice thing about these isolated neck lifts. When you tip your chin down, where the double chin would bend, that’s where it’s hidden. And actually, no skin was removed in her surgery. All that shape change is just from shaping what’s under the skin, and the skin just comes along with it.”He explains that this was why he advised against her getting liposuction — you cannot get her result from simply doing that procedure. Because there are so many layers to the neck, you need to actually go farther under the layers with surgery than liposuction can manage, because liposuction can only really address the fats that are near the surface.”But that’s also why [neck lifts] age normally,” he says. “What we’re doing is changing [a patient’s] anatomy as if they were genetically born with different-shaped necks. We’re reshaping it to what would’ve been more ‘ideal’ anatomy.”Joanie’s initial recovery took about 10 days, but her results were immediate after just one day, as seen in an Instagram carousel Dr. Nayak shared of her full progression over the months and years.Related: Mom, 47, Gets Breast Augmentation and Tummy Tuck. Now, She’s ‘Overwhelmed’ by Her ‘Mommy Makeover’ (Exclusive)Related: Woman, 52, Wins Free Facelift from Social Media Ad. Her Surgery Was Done Live in Front of 500 Medical Students (Exclusive)Joanie, who is now 47, admits that the surgery ended up being a little more “uncomfortable” than she expected it to be, but she has no regrets about doing it, and she always tells Dr. Nayak’s patients that she would do it “all over again.” She also says that her family and coworkers were super supportive throughout her whole journey and helped her recognize the subtle changes in her appearance as she healed — because it was harder for her to notice as she stared in the mirror every day.”You lose perspective when you look at yourself every day,” she says.She also lost about 40 pounds over the past year, she tells PEOPLE, which made her neck lift results shine even more.”I can see a little bit of laxity, but it’s still tight,” she says of what her neck looks like now, noting that she likes that she was able to see the weight loss without it feeling like it was too dramatic of a change in her appearance.Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Nayak Plastic Surgery Joanie before her necklift (above) and 8 years later (below)Related: Woman, 66, Gets 9 Cosmetic Procedures During 6-Hour Plastic Surgery. Her Transformation Is Jaw-Dropping (Exclusive)Dr. Nayak says he recommends these isolated neck lifts for patients up to their late 30s, because once they’re past that age, patients more often require a lower facelift along with the neck lift. “It’s this small window where, once the procedure is done, it’s done,” he says of the neck lift.If a patient decides to get a facelift later on, the neck lift (which often goes hand-in-hand with the facelift) wouldn’t be necessary at that point — and the patient has enjoyed their sculpted neck already.”Whether or not you do anything else, your neck always looks great. So that’s the beauty of these isolated neck lifts at that younger age,” Dr. Nayak shares.Currently, a deep neck lift with Dr. Nayak starts at $70,000, though prices vary based on case complexity and are determined before surgery. Dr. Nayak’s prices are all posted for transparency on his website (though employees do get discounted prices). Prospective patients will go through a consultation before surgeries are booked, and there is currently a waiting list of over a year.Read the original article on People
