|  Published
by Viking in November 1998
Penguin paperback, in January 2000
LIFT: Wanting, Fearing
- and Having - a Face-Lift
Not Just Another Book About Someone's Face-Lift. Informative,
Gossipy, Thought-Provoking and a Good Read.
by Joan Kron
Hardcover: ISBN 0-670-87060-9
264 pages; U.S. $23.95
Paperback: ISBN 0-14-027803-6
272 pages; U.S.$13.95
 About
LIFT
About
the author
LIFT
Table of Contents
Read
an excerpt from LIFT
Reviews
of LIFT
Order
LIFT from Amazon.com
Send
e-mail to the author: joankron@facelift.com
Face
it. For many of us, the hardest thing to confess is that
we care enough about our appearance to go under the knife.
Joan Kron understands. Until she saw a stranger in the mirror,
she never thought she would have a face-lift. But she did.
Kron is the most respected journalist in the field of cosmetic
surgery today, and she is the perfect guide through the
deliberation process: the identity crisis suffered when
your face no longer fits your self-image; issues of vanity
(and economics); and the myriad questions. How do you identify
appropriate doctors? Should your procedure be done in a
hospital or office? Are celebrity surgeons better or worse?
What about the new techniques written up each day in magazines?
What are the danger zones they don't tell you about? How
do you tell your mother-in-law?
Kron uses dozens of real cases, interviews with doctors
and nurses, historical information, and years of frontline
reporting to make sure you have the whole story. Most important,
Kron teaches you the difference between taking care of yourself
and taking stupid risks. She will arm you with all the right
sources, questions, and approaches so that you can safely
navigate around the mystery, the hype, the gossip, and the
old wives' tales about face-lifts.
Wanting a face-lift is between you and your mirror. Opting
for one is a personal decision often fraught with guilt
an embarrassment, which stop too many people from seeking
the right advice. LIFT isn't just for those who
are having a face-lift. If you have ever contemplated one,
you need to read this book.
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ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
Joan Kron is an award-winning journalist who has covered
plastic surgery for Allure magazine for the last
seventeen years. She has been a staff reporter for the New
York Times, New York magazine, and the Wall
Street Journal. Her previous books include Home-Psych
and High-Tech.
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AN EXCERPT
FROM "LIFT"
CHAPTER ONE: "HOW I GOT THIS FACE":
I am older than Gloria Steinem and younger than Helen Gurley
Brown. Until recently, when cameras became my enemy, I was
certain I would never do it -- have a face-lift, that is.
Like many women, I defused my feelings about aging by alternately
joking about plastic surgery and condemning it. Deep down,
though, everything about this rite of passage fascinated
me -- surgeon-shamans, secret-society membership, the scarification
ceremony, cult of bravery, period of social withdrawal,
and dramatic reentry with a younger visage.
But after visiting a pretty-in-pink cosmetic-surgery recovery
house in Beverly Hills while on assignment in 1991, and
seeing one after another bruised, swollen-faced, tranquilized
women, I turned to the photographer working with me, rolled
my eyes, and vowed, 'Not me, ever.' Two years later, I am
in New York's premiere plastic surgery facility, as a patient.
How do I explain this about-face?
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TABLE
OF CONTENTS OF "LIFT"
Before
1. HOW I GOT THIS FACE
2. IT'S NOT NICE TO FOOL MOTHER NATURE
3. LOSING FACE
4. FINDING DR. RIGHT
During
5. LIFE AND DEATH DETAILS
6. ANATOMY OF A FACE-LIFT
7. PRESSING OUT THE WRINKLES
After
8. PARDON MY APPEARANCE; I'VE JUST HAD A RUN-IN WITH A PLASTIC
SURGEON
9. METAMORPHOSIS--THE BUTTERFLY EMERGES
10. IT'S YOUR DECISION
Check it Out
Acknowledgements
Notes
Index
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REVIEWS
OF "LIFT"
From the New York Times, November 15, 1998, Section
14, page 1: "WITTY, INFORMATIVE, SMARTLY WRITTEN AND UNFLINCHING
IN ITS DETAILS..." -- Robert Lipsyte
From the Los Angeles Times, Wednesday December
9, 1998: "We couldn't put this book down ... Who knew that
a book about plastic surgery could be a page-turner? Kron
provides information useful for those considering plastic
surgery, not to mention the dish on how some stars got those
great looks. [Says Kron,] even Marilyn Monroe [had] a little
help from her doctors. A chin implant kicked off Monroe's
career ... and the funny Fanny Brice had a nose job at 31
... The book also has ... a blow-by-blow description of
Kron's second face-lift of two, debates about techniques
and anesthesia, sources for checking credentials."
From the East Hampton Star, April 8, 1999, by Anne
Hazard Aldrich: "For the many women and men who feel that
cosmetic surgery will make them happier and old age less
onerous, Joan Kron's new book "Lift" offers important guidelines....Face-lifting
would not be my choice, but, if it were, this book certainly
is the one to read....Chapter six...is a kind of litmus
test of whether one could face cosmetic surgery or not.
My feeling was definitely not, but I am a coward....The
reader is informed of various types of incisions, the scarring
factor, and, finally, aftercare....Ms. Kron deals with ways
in which the 'wind-tunnel' effect can be, hopefully, avoided
and some other classic pitfalls of cosmetic surgery. [She
points out that]'the latest line-tamer' for frown lines
between the eyes is Botox, better known as BTX, or botulinum
toxin, which until the 1970s was a quick, cheap weapon of
mass destruction....She discusses peeling, which is more
of a procedure than I had imagined, and laser surgery....[She]
gives the reader a short biography of one of the first and
surely major figures in 20th-century plastic surgery, the
well known (for his sporting jet-set life as much as for
his medical track record) Dr. Ivo Pitanguy. Ms. Kron obviously
knows of what she writes and she does not paint in any pink
clouds in spite of being an enthusiastic face-lift 'survivor'....Since
she has spent the past seven years covering plastic surgery
for Allure magazine and having two face-lifts of
her own, she is certainly qualified to write [this book.]"
From Publishers Weekly, October 5, 1998: "HIGHLY
INFORMATIVE...SOUND PRACTICAL ADVICE...COMPELLINGLY [WRITTEN]."
"Kron has written a highly informative guide for men and
women considering whether to 'prune the tree -- stop the
skin, fat, and muscle from heading south'....Kron offers
sound practical advice on how to find 'Dr. Right,' choose
types of anesthetic and navigate the hospital, as well as
emotional guidance on how to decide if one is really ready
for a lift, dealing with disapproving family and friends
and coping with the post-op carnage. She paints a full picture,
incorporating a limited historical and sociological overview
of aesthetic surgery, interviews with noted plastic surgeons,
sociological studies and, most compellingly, her own experiences
under the knife."
From Library Journal, October 5, 1998: "FORMIDABLE
RESEARCH...HIGHLY RECOMMENDED"
"This title follows an author who's been through the process
of finding a doctor, deciding what to have done, the surgery
itself, and recuperation. Kron goes further than [other
recent books] in discussing the history of plastic surgery,
outlining the methodology of various procedures, and providing
a directory of accreditation agencies. A journalist who
covers plastic surgery for Allure magazine, Kron
underwent two surgeries herself, and her experiences, buttressed
by formidable research, make this book essential for libraries
needing material on the subject. Highly recommended."
From People Magazine "Q & A," December 21, 1998:
"'Once upon a time, author Joan Kron hated the idea of a
face-lift. Ah the arrogance of youth. Now she's had two'
... Cosmetic surgery isn't about vanity, Kron believes.
'It's an act of refusal to look older than you feel. Focusing
on appearance can be fun if it's not the only focus in your
life.'"
From Form & Figure Magazine, Winter 1999: "A candid,
firsthand dissection of ... well, let's rephrase that, a
firsthand account of her facelift ... a fact-filled look
at plastic surgery as it is currently practiced ... provides
historical perspective on the pursuit of beauty from Cleopatra
to Cher ... Kron's tome is an entertaining, valuable resource
for those seriously, or just vicariously, considering a
little lift."
From TV Guide Entertainment Network, Daily
Dish, December 2, 1998, "Plastic Surgery Secrets of
the Stars," by Maitland McDonagh:
"Witty and passionately researched ... mixes history, a
cut-by-cut account of her own plastic surgery and a juicy
helping of celebrity gossip [including] a close look at
Marilyn Monroe's surgical tweaks and tucks [and] tibits
[about] Sarah Bernhardt ... Fanny Brice ... Fred Astaire
... John Wayne ... Princess Grace of Monaco ... and the
brave pioneers who underwent 15th-century rhinoplasties."
To read more reviews of "LIFT," written by readers,
please visit Amazon.com
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