Plastic surgery puts glam gran on path to modelling career
64-YEAR-OLD HAS BOOSTED HER BODY CONFIDENCE BY GOING UNDER SURGEON’S KNIFE FOUR TIMES
A GRAN who went under the knife four times to boost her body confidence is to launch a career in modelling – at the age of 64.
Barbara Lewis, from Radcliffe, has had plastic surgery four times –including a tummy tuck and arm lift – to give the figure and face she wanted.
And now the hairdresser of 50 years, says she’s now excited to see what the future holds after being approached by talent scouts who celebrate the more mature woman.
The grandma-of-three had her first cosmetic operation - a lower facelift - 10 years ago after being told her neck “looked a mess” on wedding pictures by her son.
“Out of the mouth of babes, and all that,” Barbara said. “You can always count on children to be honest.
“Truth be told, I have always been quite confident and looked after myself and my skin.
“I have been a hairdresser for donkeys years and you learn to play a role when you’re standing behind the chair.
“It’s the beauty industry and you have people looking at you all day, so you’ve got to take care of how you look.
“So when things started to go I just thought ‘To hell with it, I’m getting something done about it.’ It made me feel better.”
Barbara’s next procedure was an arm lift to lose her ‘bingo wings,’ which she says had bothered her for a number of years.
The mum-of-one then turned her attention to her stomach, which had been left misshapen following a number of abdominal surgeries over the years. They included an emergency operation to remove six inches of her bowel which had become twisted during an attack of irritable bowel syndrome seven years ago.
She said: “I’ve had a caesarean section, my appendix out, hernias on and off for the last seven years, and six inches of my bowel taken out. It was lumpy and bumpy and I didn’t like it.
Barbara opted for a Fleur De Lis abdominoplasty – a specialism of her plastic surgeon Dr Gary Ross – and the same procedure recently carried out on TV star Lisa Riley.
“My tummy is really flat now, it’s great,” Barbara added.
Barbara then had a procedure known as a blepharoplasty, which rejuvenated her eyelids, which had drooped over time.
She said: “They had gone all wrinkled, like crepe paper, but the surgery was fantastic.
“I was conscious throughout and I thought it might be painful but the only pain I had was when they injected anaesthetic around the eyebrows. Afterwards I was thrilled with the results. “It just made me look fresher. Most people didn’t even know I had it done, they just kept telling me how well I looked.” Dr Ross, an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Manchester, said: “The Fleur De Lis abdominoplasty in particular is becoming very popular with women who have either lost a lot of weight and a standard tummy tuck will not address the upper abdomen, or where they wish to address scars from previous surgeries.
“With each operation, we always put the patient and their interests first. I’m thrilled Barbara is so pleased with the results of her procedures.”