Okay, it is becoming a cliché, and maybe I am just getting older and my viewpoint is changing – but 70 could be the new 50 for many people.
This morning I was the invited guest on the morning TV talk show of our local ABC affiliate, “AM Northwest”. I appeared with a patient, who is also a close friend – Pam. After years of complaining about her “turkey neck”, she had a facelift this summer, right before her 70th birthday party. Her mother is 96 and active, and Pam is following right in her mother’s footsteps. She continues to work part-time as a nurse, is an avid reader, gardener, gourmet cook …. Basically, she is nothing like the “70 year olds” I knew when I was a child. She is someone I often see socially, and has become an honorary “auntie” to my children. I often forget when we are together that we are actually generations apart. After her surgery, she didn’t look much different to me – she looked like I always visualized her, even if the before and after photos document the aging neck I improved with a facelift.
Okay, it is becoming a cliché, and maybe I am just getting older and my viewpoint is changing – but 70 could be the new 50 for many people. Wheel chairs, walkers, and handicap parking spots do not have to be your future. If you escape injury and disease, retirement years can be full of activities once thought to be reserved for younger adults. In my practice as a cosmetic surgeon, I have the good fortune to meet many people who have aged well and want to look as good as they feel. Facelifts don’t make people “younger”, it just “uncovers” those who truly are “younger” – the surgery just adjusts their appearance to match their true “ inner age”.
So maybe society in general is aging better, or I am just lucky to be surrounded by the young at heart. Whatever the situation, I am not giving away my snow skis until I am 90 years old – and even then, I hope it will be because I am buying a new pair.
