Planning a wedding is hard. You need the right floral arrangements, an artfully harmonized seating chart, the perfect dress (just keep it hidden from Kylie Jenner), and…a brand-new face? Being a billionaire, or marrying one, certainly makes the complicated process easier, but while money goes a long way, there’s one thing it can’t buy: more time to heal that nose job.
In the lead-up to Lauren Sánchez’s Venice wedding to billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, speculation of eleventh-hour plastic surgery has swirled around the media personality, with outlets and Reddit sleuths assembling timelines of the supposed changes to Sánchez’s face and figure. And the guest list for the Bezos-Sánchez wedding, which is utterly packed with millionaires and billionaires, has only added fuel to the flames as famously nipped-and-tucked faces show up for the controversial fête. Vocal fans of injectables and plastic surgery have flocked to Venice, including several members of a certain television family, with Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian, and Kylie Jenner all making appearances.
Whether you believe the rumors surrounding Sánchez or not, this debacle raised questions for me as someone with a fondness for treatments that come in syringe form: If I wanted to change my appearance through plastic surgery or injectables ahead of my hypothetical wedding, how late would be too late?
It should go without saying that nobody should feel pressured into changing their appearance. (It should go without saying, but I’ve been on the internet long enough to know that someone will interpret this as a directive rather than as guidance.) But if you, like many brides- and grooms-to-be on Reddit and wedding messageboards, are wondering whether it’s too late to go under the knife or needle, you need as much information as possible to make a smart choice. To get an expert’s perspective, I tapped Dara Liotta, a double board-certified facial plastic surgeon and reconstructive surgeon in New York City.
How far ahead of a wedding should you schedule elective plastic surgery?
According to Dr. Liotta, the main risk of having surgery done close to your wedding date is that it simply does not give you enough time to heal and for the work to look its best. “In general, we say it takes a full year for the body to recover from surgery and to complete the healing process,” says Dr. Liotta, noting that this process includes healing the acute injury, swelling, resolving the swlling, forming scar tissue, and having that scar tissue mature into its final form.
Somewhere in the distance, I hear a few of you protesting: But Sam, you say, I’ve healed from surgeries way in way less time than that. Congratulations, Wolverine, your medal is in the mail. Not everyone will heal at the same pace, and some people will take less (or more) time to recover, but are you sure you want to bank on luck for one of the biggest days of your life? “If everything goes absolutely perfect and your body heals perfectly, you may be wedding-ready far before the year mark, but it’s a risky bet,” especially when you consider that the day will probably be memorialized in hundreds of photos, warns Dr. Liotta.
“For most people, their wedding is the most photographed moment of their lives, and even if you look good in pictures, I’d imagine that most people want to look like themselves in their wedding photos,” says Dr. Liotta. “They don’t want to be in a period of flux after surgery that will not look like ‘them’ in the long run.”
Dr. Liotta, a rhinoplasty expert, tells patients to “not have surgery less than six months before their wedding,” at the very least, though one year is best, and will allow for the least stressful timeline for both patients and surgeons. “I [tell patients] to time your surgery as ‘one month before attending a wedding you don’t care about, three months before a family wedding where you may be in photos, and six months before your own wedding—at a minimum,” she says. Facial surgeries are probably the most high-stakes types of procedures to have before your big day, says Dr. Liotta, while scars or “small healing imperfections” left from body surgeries may be more easily concealed, whether by your outfit, accessories, or even makeup.
How far ahead of your wedding should you get Botox or fillers?
Injectables are often treated very casually nowadays, but you should still approach getting them with care. “Similar to surgery, the risk of getting last-minute injectables ahead of your wedding is that they don’t look their best on the day,” says Dr. Liotta.
Planning ahead helps immensely in getting the results you desire. “Botox or filler, particularly if it’s new to you, may need a touch-up before looking its best,” Dr. Liotta says, suggesting trying new Botox five to six months before your wedding. This allows it enough time to wear off if you don’t like the look, and for “you and your injector to create a perfect plan for placement and dosing close to the event.” Once that’s determined, she recommends redoing that same Botox around six weeks before your wedding date.
For fillers, on the other hand, Dr. Liotta suggests giving yourself at least three months between your appointment and your wedding. This timeline will allow for any tweaks and adjustments that may be necessary.
Performing research is an essential step in the plastic surgery or injectable process to ensure you’re going to a properly trained, experienced injector. Seriously, folks: You get what you pay for, and if the price seems too good to be true, it probably is.
The post Why Plastic Surgery Before Your Wedding Is Always a Bad Idea, No Matter How Rich You Are appeared first on The Daily Beast.
