A businesswoman in her mid sixties who says she faced ageism as she returned to work following a four-year break says a non-surgical facelift has helped kick start her career.
Caroline Wood, 65, a marketing manager from Sussex, claims she lost pitches to younger applicants and began struggling with confidence.
Feeling that her face looked ‘sad’ and ‘pulled down’ and didn’t reflect how she felt, she decided to undergo the new ‘Happy Face Lift’, created by Apprentice 2013 winner Dr Leah Totton.
Dr Leah, 35, who is originally from Londonderry, has emerged as one of The Apprentice’s success stories after she won Sir Alan Sugar‘s £250,000 investment in 2013, and says her clinics continue to go from strength to strength.
The procedure combines her signature thread lift with sessions of radiofrequency microneedling, and left Caroline – who had suffered a burnout before taking her career break – feeling transformed.
Caroline Wood, 65, from Sussex, underwent a £4,700 non-surgical ‘Happy Face Lift’ with Dr Leah Clinics after suffering with low confidence when she returned from a career break
The marketing manager as she looked before the procedure (pictured left) and how she looked after it, right
Sharing her results with FEMAIL, Caroline revealed that she is more confident than ever and no longer feels as though she is being sidelined.
Describing how she felt when she first returned to work, she said: ‘The ageing process snuck up on me during a period of four years when I was out of work as a result of burnout.
‘It was preventing me from getting the roles I was interviewing for – I was being written off as soon as I entered the room due to my appearance.
‘My face looked «sad», I had jowls and neck sagging and I looked older than I felt. My looks didn’t reflect my personality or my energy level. My personality wasn’t coming through in my appearance and I was being judged by my appearance, not my personality or ability.
Dr Leah, 35, who is originally from Londonderry, has emerged as one of the Apprentice’s success stories after she won Sir Alan Sugar’s £250,000 investment in 2013
‘I knew I needed to refresh my appearance to be able to compete in the current job market, where I was being pitched against much more «youthful» looking applicants.’
Determined to take fate into her own hands, Caroline decided to look at cosmetic procedures.
She continued: ‘I didn’t want to look like I was in my twenties or drastically different. I just wanted my face to reflect how I feel – someone who has lots of energy and lots to offer a workplace.
‘A surgical facelift felt much too extreme and I needed to return to work quickly without the recovery time. I didn’t want to have a general anaesthetic or risk surgical complications.
‘I also didn’t want to be pumped full of fillers like some celebrities – I wanted to look like my naturally best self, and still have facial movement.’
Caroline decided to visit Dr Leah, who specialises in subtle, non-surgical treatments. The former Apprentice winner, who counts Lord Alan Sugar as her business partner, recommended the ‘Happy Face Lift’, costing £4,700.
I just wanted my face to reflect how I feel – someone who has lots of energy and lots to offer a workplace…
The personalised procedure starts with three thirty-minute sessions of radiofrequency microneedling, where the skin is pierced with tiny needles which carry heat to stimulate collagen and elastin, and culminates in a final thread lift session.
There, dissolvable collagen-stimulating threads are strategically placed beneath the skin’s surface under local anaesthetic, which reposition facial tissues to mechanically lift the face upwards and backwards in an L-shaped direction.
‘Dr Leah was very honest and curated a personal treatment plan for me,’ Caroline said. ‘I felt this treatment was something I could do, as the microneedling has no recovery time and you recover from the thread lift in a couple of days.’
Speaking about the results, which last up to two years, she continued: ‘The lift is very good and my jowls and neck look so much tighter and defined.
‘The results are subtle and natural looking just as I was hoping for. The quality of the skin looks much better – I look refreshed and not ‘sad’ anymore.’
And Caroline feels the procedure has given her the confidence she was missing to reignite her career.
Dr Leah said: ‘Age-based discrimination in the workplace remains an issue and it is one which I believe affects men as well as women’
‘I look much fresher and I felt so much more confident getting back into the working world’, she said.
‘I see the financial investment simply as an investment into my career and one that will be paid back tenfold in how I feel and my employability.
‘I don’t believe women should have to undergo cosmetic treatments in order to retain their jobs or remain employed beyond 65, but I am glad I could do so without needing to have surgery and this is the best investment I could have made into myself and my career.’
In 2019, Dr Leah admitted an increasing number of women have been coming to her in similar situations.
She said: ‘Unfortunately this is not uncommon. Age-based discrimination in the workplace remains an issue and it is one which I believe affects men as well as women.
‘The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found over 55s were now bracing themselves to continue working to the age of 70.
‘I am seeing an increasing number of clients who are over the age of 55 seeking out cosmetic treatments in order to feel they can compete in the workplace.’
Dr Leah studied Medicine at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich, and qualified top of her year and with a distinction in medicine.
Alongside turning over £2.7M a year at her clinics in London and Essex, Dr Leah raises one-year-old daughter Lilah with her golfer partner Justin Harding.
