Latest news with #PaulLabrecque
New York Post
06-05-2025
- Health
- New York Post
New Yorkers are getting second and third facelifts in quest for eternal youth: ‘Life expectancy is going up … I don't know if we can say four is too many'
They're repeat customers. More and more New Yorkers are opting for follow-up facelifts to maintain a youthful appearance several years after first going under the knife. 'I am seeing a lot of patients in their late 50s and early 60s coming in for second facelifts,' Upper East Side facial plastic surgeon Dr. Sean Alemi told The Post. 'I would say this is up 30% since a year ago.'' Advertisement 5 Paul Labrecque, 64, is scheduled to have his second facelift this summer. Olga Ginzburg for NY Post Famed New York hairdresser Paul Labrecque, 64, is scheduled for the procedure in August. He had a neck and lower facelift 13 years ago, at age 51, and was extremely happy with the results. But gravity has taken its toll and, after not recognizing himself in photographs from a charity event, he made an appointment with facial plastic surgeon Dr. Edward Davidson in Palm Beach, where he also has a salon. Advertisement 'I am in a young person's profession and I want to look current and not tired,' Labrecque told The Post, adding. 'Some of my clients are now doing three [facelifts], but I think by the time I'm in my '70s, I won't worry about it.' One major driver of the trend is the fact that people are increasingly getting facelifts at younger ages than before, and, a decade or so later, wanting to keep up the youthful look. The popularity of Ozempic and similar medications is also a factor, as the dramatic weight loss they bring about can lead to loose skin and a face that appears deflated. Also, the surgeries themselves have gotten better. 'I see more people coming in at 40 to 45 for primary lifts, rather than at 50 to 55, and those that already had them done are no longer waiting 15 or 20 years [to get another], because they are aware of newer techniques, and they want to jump on them,'' noted Dr. Robert Schwarcz, an Upper East Side oculoplastic surgeon. 5 Labrecque has his first facelift 13 years ago and was thrilled with the results (pictured). Courtesy of Paula Labrecque Advertisement Dr. Babak Azizzadeh, a Beverly Hills facial plastic surgeon with many New York patients, said his second-facelift patients aren't expecting to appear as they did the first time around. 'They don't want to look like they are in their 20s; just healthy and good,'' he observed. 'They want to look like they are in their 30s or 40s into their 60s and 70s.'' Linda Simmons, a 78-year old attorney, recently came to him for a refresher — 17 years after having him do her initial facelift. 'I was thrilled the first time around and I decided, like with a computer system, it was time for an upgrade,' she said. 'This is is part of self care.'' Recovery was easy, thanks to innovations like hyperbaric oxygen therapy before and after to increase the rate of healing, as well as smart laser on her face and neck. Advertisement 5 Linda Simons had her first facelift 17 years ago, when she was in her early 60s. Here she is before and after the procedure. Courtesy of Dr. Babak Azizzadeh 'I had no pain, and within six or seven days, the bruising was resolving,'' she said. She's so happy, she's not ruling out coming back for a third. 'I would do it again in a minute and I will do it when I am ready,' she told The Post. 'I am just so pleased with how it restored me and my confidence. '' Denise T., 61, has been also thrilled with her second facelift and can see having a third down the line. The Palm Beach resident had her first facelift at age 42 with Park Avenue plastic surgeon Dr. Sherell Aston and a second lift with Aston at age 54. 'I actually look better now than when I started in my 40s, because he strengthened my jawline and gave my face more symmetry,' said Denise, who works in advertising. 'I hope I live long enough to get a third with him.'' Aston said Denise would hardly be an outlier if she opted for a third. Advertisement 5 Simmons recently had her second facelift. Here she is before and after that procedure. Courtesy of Dr. Babak Azizzadeh 'I now have a significant number of patients who I have done three facelifts on,'' the doctor said. 'Today people are skiing and golfing into their seventies and they want to look as good as they feel. Surgery can also be done more safely; we use the same anesthesia as they do for a colonoscopy.'' The second or third time around can be less frightening, because patients know the ropes. Paula D., 70, who lives in Great Neck and works in real estate, just had a second facelift with Dr. Lyle Leipziger, Chief of Plastic Surgery at North Shore University Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center — 13 years after he did her first. 'I knew the process, and everything has gotten better,'' she said. 'I didn't have any pain and only used Tylenol. I am five weeks out and everyone is telling me how great I look.'' Advertisement Azizzadeh notes that repeat facelifts are slightly more complicated, and some doctors may charge more than they would for an initial. (The general cost of facelifts varies widely, with prices ranging from $25,000 to $150,000.) 5 Dr. Babak Azizzadeh, a Beverly Hills facial plastic surgeon with many New York patients, performed both of Simmons' facelifts. Courtesy of Dr. Babak Azizzadeh 'It's no longer virgin anatomy, so the surgeon needs to have a high level of anatomic and facial nerve expertise,'' Azizzadeh said. Advertisement Alemi said he could see some people going beyond a third facelift. 'Life expectancy is going up,' he said. 'I don't see a lot of people seeking a fourth one yet, but I don't know if we can say four is too many.''
New York Times
28-03-2025
- New York Times
For a Bus Driver and a Salon Manager, a Detour on the Path to Parenthood
One of the things Jason Robert Santiago loves about his job as a New York City bus driver is that behind the wheel, he can get a lot of thinking done. Last fall he figured out how he was going to propose to Tiffany Antoinette Roller, for example. Years before that, he worked through a fleeting concern that she might be obsessed with him. Lately he has been mulling over tips from regular passengers about how to make a marriage last. 'One of them was telling me that if you want it to survive, you have to learn to let go of the little things or you'll end up resenting the person,' he said. He and Ms. Roller already have experience tackling a big thing. Since 2023, they have been trying, unsuccessfully, to conceive a child. Ms. Roller and Mr. Santiago, both 36, are native New Yorkers. In early January 2020, he saw her picture on Instagram and agreed with the app: She was someone he might want to connect with. 'I saw she was a nice-looking girl and thought, I'll take a shot,' he said. He messaged her to introduce himself. For a week, they ping-ponged messages. When he started lobbying for a date, he made sure she knew he would need at least a day's notice to get himself ready. 'I remember him saying, 'Let me know if you're free on a Friday night because I'll have to get a haircut,'' Ms. Roller said. Her job as a general manager at the Paul Labrecque Salon & Skincare Spa, on East 57th Street in Manhattan, had made him self-conscious about his looks. The daughter of a retired N.Y.P.D. policeman, Ms. Roller grew up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, with a younger brother, Jason Roller. Their parents, Louise Bruno-Roller and Thomas Roller, moved in with her maternal grandmother, Antoinette Bruno, when she was a baby. In 2002, Ms. Roller's mother died suddenly on Christmas Day from an infection brought on by strep throat. Ms. Roller was 14; Jason, now a New York City policeman like their father, was 7. Shared grief brought the family closer. 'At home there were always a lot of laughs,' she said. 'Jason and I were both good kids and we all respected each other.' In 2014, grief over the loss of a family member came for her again when Ms. Roller's grandmother, who had become more like a mother, died after a stroke. 'That was even more of a trauma than when my mom died,' she said. 'It was the hardest time of my life.' A year later, she was hired as a receptionist at Paul Labrecque. By then, she had completed an associate degree in psychology from the College of Staten Island and was looking for a change of scenery. 'I had always worked local jobs,' often at the front desk of spas and salons, she said. 'I needed to get out of Brooklyn.' Commuting to Manhattan to Paul Labrecque carried with it a sense of sophistication: 'It felt like a big-girl job,' she said. In 2017, Ms. Roller moved out of the house in Bensonhurst and bought a condominium on Staten Island. Binge more Vows columns here and read all our wedding, relationship and divorce coverage here. Mr. Santiago was born in Bensonhurst and grew up in Great Kills, Staten Island. He and his two sisters, one older and one younger, were raised partially by their grandparents after his mother and father, Alison Heilweil-Santiago and Rogelio Santiago, divorced. When he graduated from Susan E. Wagner High School, he took a few online college courses, but nothing compelled him toward a degree. For years, he bounced from job to job. 'You name it, I tried it: I cleaned carpets, I did flood restoration, I delivered pizzas.' He credits his mother with helping him land what he called 'a solid city job' in 2015 with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority; she had signed him up for the tests that would eventually qualify him as a bus driver. On Jan. 9, 2020, Ms. Roller told Mr. Santiago to book himself a haircut, setting in motion their first date the next day at the Hop Shoppe, a Staten Island gastro pub. Because he drives the rush-hour express bus from Staten Island to Manhattan and back every weekday, she felt safe letting him pick her up at her condo in his Jeep. Her confidence in him not being the reckless type was not initially a two-way street. 'She got in the car with a drink in her hand,' Mr. Santiago said. 'I thought, maybe she's a little too wild for me.' Later that night, she told him the drink was a way to keep her nerves at bay. Once they started talking, she knew she didn't need it. Mr. Santiago was then living with his grandmother, Eileen Gaffan-MacArthur, on Staten Island. 'Some women might be turned off by a man in his 30s living with his grandma,' Ms. Roller said. 'But he was caring for her after a fall, and I respected him for that. I had cared for my grandma before she passed. It felt like a nice connection.' Because Ms. Roller's job was at a salon with an upscale reputation, Mr. Santiago hadn't counted on Ms. Roller being someone he felt he could joke with. 'You would think she would be snobby or high maintenance,' he said. 'She wasn't that at all.' That night, they kissed at a red light on the drive home. His haircut, in a style Ms. Roller called a 'tape-up' — short on the sides and longer on top — had been met with her approval. Before the onset of Covid that March, they were spending so much time together — including on Mr. Santiago's bus, which Ms. Roller started going out of her way to catch on 55th Street after work — that Mr. Santiago worried things were moving too fast. 'He sat me down and said, 'I really like you, but I think we should pump the brakes,'' Ms. Roller said. 'For a week or so there was this weirdness. I didn't know how to act.' 'I didn't want to get sick of her,' he said. 'I thought, maybe it's a bit much. Maybe she's obsessed with me.' When he contracted Covid later that spring and moved into her condo to quarantine away from his grandmother, his ambivalence shifted. 'Tiffany took care of me,' he said, and they got along great. 'That was it for pumping the brakes.' Mr. Santiago made his move to Ms. Roller's condo permanent last summer. By then, he knew he wanted to marry her. But he also knew marriage wasn't her top relationship priority. 'Tiffany wants to be a mother more than she wants to be a wife,' he said. Soon after becoming a couple, they agreed they wanted a baby. 'From the beginning, Jason and I were very open to the idea of whatever happens, happens,' she said. By early 2023, after a series of fertility tests, they were beginning to accept that, for them, conceiving might require medical intervention. 'I was never anti-marriage,' she said. 'I just always thought Jason and I will probably have kids, then go down to City Hall with wedding bands and legalize everything.' Mr. Santiago upended that plan on Oct. 26, with a surprise proposal. He had been planning the moment on his bus route. During a vacation in the Bahamas, he wrote, 'Will you marry me?' in the sand. 'I never thought Jason could be that thoughtful,' Ms. Roller said. She also didn't expect getting engaged to lift the fog of disappointment over their trouble conceiving. But it did, at least partially. 'I started thinking, maybe God has a different plan for us, and we're supposed to get married first. It's been such a happy time for me.' On March 20, Ms. Roller and Mr. Santiago were married by Shunya Togashi, an officiant at the Staten Island Marriage Bureau, on what would have been Ms. Bruno's 100 birthday. Fifteen guests attended, including Ms. Roller's brother and father and Mr. Santiago's mother and grandmother. Ms. Roller wore a short white dress with black stockings and an elbow-length custom veil inspired by an old photo of Priscilla Presley, a favorite celebrity. Mr. Santiago wore a gray suit he had shopped for at JCPenney with his mother. 'It felt intimate but fun,' Ms. Roller said shortly after the wedding, which was capped by guests showering them in bubbles in lieu of the traditional rice. Mr. Santiago was happy to be able to call her his wife. 'Just seeing her smile the way she did — she's the best,' he said. Both left the marriage bureau hopeful about the future. 'We're excited to be moving on to the next phase together,' Ms. Roller said. 'Becoming parents, I think, will be just around the corner.' When March 20, 2025 Where The Staten Island Marriage Bureau Cheers and Chopsticks After the ceremony, the couple and their guests went out for Chinese food at Oriental Plaza, a favorite Staten Island restaurant. 'I wanted lo mein, dumplings and a Diet Coke,' Ms. Roller said. 'As New York as it gets.' On May 9, they will hold a larger reception for 50 guests at the Staten Island location of Patrizia's, an Italian restaurant. Benefits The couple hopes being on the same insurance policy as a married couple will help their fertility journey. Mr. Santiago's state health benefits may cover a majority of the costs of intrauterine insemination or in vitro fertilization costs, Ms. Roller said. Jewel of a Passenger One of Mr. Santiago's regular passengers is a jeweler. Days before the wedding, 'he met me at his stop with a ring sizer so I could figure out what size my wedding ring will be,' he said. 'It was pretty special.'
