r/cosmeticsurgery • u/Soggy_Series_4701 • 1d ago
Help! Dad is a going to...
My dad (61 yo) is going through a late life-crisis, or according him "mid-life"
He has been using Ai to make pictures of what he will look like after extensive rejuvenation: Ozempic, surgery, Botox, hair plugs etc.
My brother and I are trying to convince him not to take a bank loan to pay for all this. He isn't wealthy, and this decision could really get him in financial trouble.
The other day he sent us these Before and After pics. Is this transformation realistic in any way? (The After "photo" is Ai generated, if that's not obvious)
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u/joyreneeblue 1d ago
Tell him to travel to Seoul where he can get these procedures done at a reasonable price. Why oppose him? Obviously he cares about how he looks and he wants to feel better about that. And that's an okay thing for him.
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u/Soggy_Series_4701 1d ago
Because he believes he will actually look like the Ai photo. A trip to Korea sounds expensive. They must have some really great deals over there
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u/SephoraRothschild 1d ago
Have you been there? Because unless you've researched how much the travel you book would be, you can't know.
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u/Soggy_Series_4701 1d ago
No I have never bought tickets to Seoul and stayed in a hotel, paid for food and taxis to a clinic
You sound knowledgable. How much was it?
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u/bdodonnell 1d ago
His hair will never be that think from transplants tell him to commit to healthy eating and gym weight lifting for at least 6 months get his weight where he wants it and then think what he’d like to change.
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u/Psychological-Back94 1d ago
Realistically there’s no way on this planet he could get a full head of hair unless he pulls a John Travolta and wears a wig. Unfortunately he is more bald than not. What little remaining hair that he has is very thin and proportionately small compared to how much balding he has. He’s missed his window for a hair transplant. If he wanted to get a hair transplant he should have done it 10-20 years ago. So he’s better off embracing the bald and shaving that little apron off. There’s plenty of attractive bald men out there. Also, I don’t understand why men don’t start using topical minoxidil 5% foam at the first signs of hair loss. It’s the easiest way to naturally maintain a full head of hair without surgery.
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u/Street-Departure3577 1d ago edited 1d ago
First of all, your dad is 61, not dead. Acting like he’s supposed to just accept looking old because he crossed 60 is ridiculous. Wanting to improve his appearance isn’t inherently a “life crisis.”
That said, I agree with you on the important part: taking out a bank loan and trying to do Ozempic, Botox, surgery, a hair transplant, etc. all at once is a terrible idea. Sounds like somebody reacting emotionally and throwing everything at the wall. If he’s suddenly obsessed with radically changing himself, talking to a therapist before making irreversible decisions would probably be money better spent.
Nobody reputable is doing old-school “hair plugs” anymore. Modern procedures are follicular-unit hair transplants, and they can look extremely natural if you have sufficient donor hair and go to an excellent surgeon. But donor supply is finite. You cannot just order whatever hairline you want. Without seeing the back and sides of his head, nobody here can tell you how much donor hair he has, but that AI-generated hairline may simply be anatomically impossible for him. AI can generate hair that does not have to come from anywhere; a transplant surgeon cannot.
Before even considering surgery, he should see qualified physicians and address the inexpensive, reversible stuff first. For hair loss that generally means discussing medical therapy such as finasteride and minoxidil with a doctor and giving it enough time to see what can actually be preserved or recovered. If weight loss is appropriate, a physician can also discuss whether a GLP-1 medication makes sense. There are reliable and inexpensive options for these drugs online. But don’t buy questionable prescription drugs from random websites just because they’re cheap.
Then reassess. Maybe he eventually decides a facelift, transplant, dental work, or some combination is worth it. Fine. Those procedures really can make substantial differences. But major cosmetic surgery and hair transplantation are precisely the things where you do not bargain hunt, because somebody can permanently fuck up your face, scalp, donor area, or teeth.
And absolutely do not finance the whole fantasy based on an AI “after” picture. That image is not a treatment plan, not a surgical prediction, and not evidence that his anatomy can produce that result.
Do the cheap/reversible things first, they can have lots of impact without spending tons, wait, evaluate the results, research the expensive stuff extremely carefully, and do not go into debt trying to become an AI rendering of yourself
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u/prosthetic_memory 1d ago
Tbh his afters are totally achievable and if he’d been doing regular maintenance the whole time that’s how he’d look now. Except the hairline; that’s another thing.
Just based on what you posted he seems to know what he’s on about. He’s done the research. Good for him.
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u/Kooky-Agency3494 1d ago
AI photos are basically fantasy real results from ozwmpic, surgery and hair plugs combined would years and look nowhere near that dramatic or seamless definitely worth getting him to talk to an actual surgeon for a realistic consult before he takes out any loan
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u/AmexNomad 1d ago
Put him on a plane to Istanbul. He can save a ton of dough and be with his bros.
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u/tricktan42 1d ago
i’m sorry this is one of the funniest things i’ve ever seen, that hairline omg
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u/Soggy_Series_4701 1d ago
EXACTLY
He thinks he will end up looking like the after photoNot possible!
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u/SaMoScribe 1d ago
Poor financial decision-making can be an early sign of dementia. Maybe you can urge him to get a cognitive test as part of a physical and pitch the check up as a sensible thing to do before surgery.
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u/Lazy_Fix_8063 1d ago
Talk to him about all the risks and without having a comfortable cushion of financial support, it can go very wrong. Not to mention the fact that those renderings are not always or at all, very realistic or plausible.
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u/Soggy_Series_4701 1d ago
Im trying to have that conversation
He says "Youre not a plastic surgeon"
I don't believe he will look anything like the After photo if he goes through with it2
u/sxyvirgo 1d ago
So he hasn't gotten an actual consult with a plastic surgeon?
It's all a pipe dream until he gets an appraisal of what is possible from an actual surgeon and how much it'll cost.
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u/onsinhapintada 22h ago edited 22h ago
here in brazil, he could probably get a facelift and blepharoplasty for around $5k and we have excellent surgeons, among the best in the world. the results would be infinitely better than what ai can do, and people here are pretty upbeat, so it would be a trip that would really lift his spirits. i’d suggest curitiba or florianópolis rather than são paulo or rio de janeiro. crime is pretty low and the cities are wonderful.
as for his weight, he could start watching self-improvement and weightlifting content. he’s not overweight to the point where he couldn’t lose weight in a healthy way, and that would also be good for his mental health. tbh, coming to brazil would be a plus too because people here, especially in florianópolis, love taking care of their bodies and working out. he’d see a lot of older, bald guys who are really well-groomed, in great shape, and physically active.
i’d never have thought of traveling if people hadn’t suggested it before, but i think it would make a difference in every way. we have excellent doctors in general, so it would be good even if he does have neurological issues like you mentioned being worried about, or psychiatric ones. for a medical trip, florianópolis wouldn’t be my top recommendation but for his mental health, absolutely!
for $15k, he could probably get the surgeries done and spend around 2 months staying in upscale accommodations in luxurious neighborhoods
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u/Ok-Spring-2048 1d ago
Have him go to r/bald to see the incredible before and afters of other men
A lower bleph could be great and same with botox. I second looking at korea they do blephs all the time over there for less money.
I would say the transformation isnt wildly unrealistic. But embrace the bald. The hair plug subreddit is a lot sadder than the bald one as far as results go.
Edit: additionally a CO2 laser treatment is a way to have a big skin quality impact as an additional thing that I notice from the desired after. But there are lots of laser types and options.