There’s no doubt about it: Shannon Storms Beador looks (and feels!) better than ever. The Real Housewives of Orange County Mom has made a lot of changes in the past year, including a very impressive 40 pound weight loss and a little change at the plastic surgeon’s office. In tonight’s season 14 premiere, we saw Shannon undergo a cosmetic procedure that leaves her skin looking tighter and brighter than ever — but it wasn’t a facelift. In fact, there was no scalpel and he was not going to sleep. What exactly did Shannon do to her face?
The Lookbook went straight to the source – renowned board certified plastic surgeon Dr. Brian Reaganwho performed Shannon’s procedure — to get all the details.
“Skin tightening without plastic surgery is the holy grail,” explained Dr. Reagan. “Shannon said to me, ‘No scalpel and I’m not going to sleep.’ So you could say Shannon has the facelift without the scalpel.”
So how does one achieve the appearance of a facelift without surgery? “It’s really the combination of a few different techniques that have allowed Shannon to look as good as she does,” says Dr. Regan. Scroll down to see all the details about the “synergistic” procedures Shannon had.
What procedures did you perform at Shannon and what problem areas did they encounter?
Dr Brian Regan: Shannon had many wrinkles and vertical lines around her mouth. I treated it with a very old technique that is so effective it’s called dermabrasion — not microdermabrasion, but real dermabrasion. Dermabrasion is almost like rubbing the skin down. It’s a rotating steel brush that’s as rough as sandpaper so you really scrub [the skin].
Why is it more effective than a laser? Because I can specifically address each line. Lasers go to the same depth, but if you have contour irregularities like vertical lines or acne scars, dermabrasion is very effective.
The second thing I looked at — this is really important — is volume loss. When you lose weight like Shannon did, you really deflate. I had fat grafting done under local [anesthesia]. I used a tool called AcquiCell from the company Cellmyx. It vibrates and allows me to pick up the fat in a painless way. I can do all of this in the office — patients don’t have to go to bed. With this technology I can harvest beautiful fat and re-inject it.
The third thing is laxity – where we see most laxity is the lower face, but there is also laxity in the elbows and knees. What woman doesn’t want tighter skin in those areas? [The FaceTite procedure involves] a small cannula that goes under the skin so you can do this while you’re awake. You put this probe, which is almost like a stick, under the skin, then there’s a slightly larger probe that goes over the top and gathers the energy. So you can focus that energy in a safer way. More energy hopefully leads to more tightening.
Can you explain the benefit of taking multiple procedures?
BR: In 99 percent of women, you have to deal with texture, you have to deal with volume, and you have to deal with looseness. So at the end when you look at Shannon [post-procedures] everyone would agree, oh my god, she looks great. But if we hadn’t done anything, I’d tell you that Shannon’s face would look deflated because she lost weight. And if we hadn’t done the dermabrasion around the mouth, one could say it has wrinkles. It’s a gestalt, so you have to address all three. I don’t want people to think, all i need is FaceTite.
What is the approximate cost of all this?
BR: In the $12,000-$15,000 range to do all three. We took care of Shannon in the OR, but the cost can be reduced if you don’t have OR costs. Everything we did could be done in the procedure room and you can approach the cost to $12,000.
How does Shannon feel after the procedure?
BR: Shannon has a great attitude. Our procedures helped her, and then she got all the comments about how great she looked, and it just snowballed. She is confident and happy. Best case scenario, plastic surgery is simply something that enhances and empowers women. He is a great example of this.
