A woman, 38, who paid $78,000 on a facelift has shared a brutally honest look into the aftermath of the procedure.
Realtor Erica Wolfe, from Jupiter, Florida, first started to think about going under the knife after she noticed her under-eyes had become 'tired and saggy' looking.
She would often film content to promote her real estate business online and explained that she started to use 'filters' or 'soft retouching' to fix the area.
'Over time, I realized I wanted to look in real life the way I did with a light filter on: natural, lifted, and smoother. That was the goal, and I feel like I achieved exactly that,' she explained during an exclusive chat with the Daily Mail.
Instead of just fixing her under-eyes she decided to get multiple procedures done at once, as she explained: 'Doing everything together creates a more natural, cohesive result instead of fixing one area and leaving others untouched.'
She went under the knife on September 24, 2025, forking over $78,000 on the surgery and another $3,500 for nurse aftercare.
The lengthy procedure, which lasted roughly four hours, included a lower extended deep plane face and neck lift with PRP and platysmaplasty, a lower blepharoplasty, eCO2 fractional laser with exosomes, an upper lip lift, Lipografting of the midface and an endoscopic brow lift.
But what came next would be a lengthy and strenuous recovery period that included severe discomfort, swelling and tightness.
In addition, it had a serious impact on her mental health as she had a hard time recognizing herself in the mirror at first and began to wonder, 'What did I do?'
'Recovery was tough at first,' she admitted. 'It wasn't unbearable pain; it was more discomfort, swelling and tightness.
'I would look at myself in the mirror around weeks two and three and I looked like if Stifler's mom and Mickey Rourke had a baby.
'That was my "What did I do?" phase. Nobody prepares you for how strange you look during the first few weeks.'
She admitted that she was incredibly 'overwhelmed by the healing process' but thankfully, she's now extremely happy with the results.
'It passed around day 26. I really started liking it then. Once the swelling went down, I realized I still look like me, just fresher, lifted and more youthful. It actually feels very natural,' she gushed.
'Mentally, I went from doubt to acceptance to genuine excitement.'
And while she doesn't regret getting the surgery now, she does wish her doctor had warned her more about the mental impacts the surgery could have.
'I think the emotional piece, the "post-surgery blues" should always be talked about more,' she said. 'It's a mental adjustment before the final results reveal themselves.'
That's why Wolfe has been documenting her recovery on TikTok, sharing an unfiltered look at her face each day of the healing process.
'I've always been an oversharer online, documenting every part of my life even when I didn't fully understand why I felt compelled to,' she reflected.
'In hindsight, every single vulnerable thing I've ever shared has helped someone or opened a door or built a connection. That honesty is a huge part of why I'm where I am today.'
'So of course I shared this. I didn't want to disappear, come back with a new face and act like it was genetics. I wanted to show the real journey because someone else might need to see it.'
While the support has been 'overwhelmingly positive,' she has unfortunately received some backlash over her decision.
'There's always going to be opinions online,' she said in response to her haters.
In the end, she hopes that being honest about it online will remind others that there's 'zero shame in wanting to look refreshed.'
'I'm confident in my decision and my results so negativity doesn't affect me... Your opinion of my face will never matter more than my opinion of my face. I love how I look and its my life so nothing else really sticks.'
In the end, she hopes that being honest about it online will remind others that there's 'zero shame in wanting to look refreshed.'
'Women are allowed to take care of themselves. There's zero shame in wanting to look refreshed,' she stressed.
'Recovery is emotional and normal, not something to hide. And you can be honest about it without apologizing.'