I spent £50,000 on a FACELIFT before my thirtieth birthday – people think I’m mad but it was worth every penny

Many young adults have a wishlist of what they’d like to achieve by the time they turn 30—and for Jade Mandongwe, it was getting a facelift. 

The Manchester lawyer, who also works as a model, is one of the thousands of Britons who have jetted to Turkey for plastic surgery, revealing that she spent around £50,000 on a plethora of procedures.

But what makes Ms Madongwe’s case unique is that she was only 28 when she went under the knife, which is roughly half the age of the typical facelift patient. 

She said: ‘It was worth every penny. 

‘I’ve always loved beauty and I’m very conscious about how I look.

‘This isn’t about insecurity, it’s about looking in the mirror and seeing the version of myself that I imagine inside.’ 

As well as having a mid-facelift—when the muscle and skin is cut and stretched from the jawline to the temples—she also had a temporal brow lift and fox-eye lift, plus a breast lift with implants, and ‘Turkey teeth’.

The first part of the surgery, which is also known as a cheek lift, lifts the sagging in the mid-cheek area to tighten the skin from the upper mouth to eye area.

The temporal brow lift saw surgeons lift the outer part of her eyebrow and forehead through a small incision hidden within the hairline.

She said: ‘I am happy with the result. I feel like myself – just the best version of who I’ve always been.’

The model decided to share pictures of her journey at each stage of the process to be transparent and highlight the pressures around beauty standards.

‘There’s a lot of pressure to be perfect. I wanted to remind people that beauty also comes with courage and vulnerability,’ she said.

‘This kind of transformation demands respect for the process. It’s a delicate procedure and should never be taken lightly.

‘I studied, researched and made sure I was emotionally and physically ready for it. I wanted to be completely transparent.

‘People often see the final result, but often forget it involves a long recovery, discomfort and patience.

‘I wanted to show that it’s not easy, but it’s worth it when done for the right reasons. It was a life-changing experience—not just physically, but emotionally, too.’ 

She joins an increasingly large group of people under 50 going under the knife to get the ‘snatched’ look, with the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) reporting an eight per cent increase in facelifts over the past year within the UK.

But is it worth paying the hefty sum to get a face lift when arguably you’re still in your prime? 

Leading British plastic surgeon Dr Marc Pacifico, the former president of BAAPS, told the Daily Mail it ‘would be very unusual’ to need one ‘so young [unless] there was an underlying connective tissue disorder or significant facial differences.’

He said: ‘My strong advice is – do not have a facelift under 30.’

Another surgeon, Dr Kshem Yapa, explained that he once treated a 38-year-old woman who was left with extreme amounts of loose skin after weight loss. 

He said:  ‘She had significant facial laxity in her 30s, so she had heavy neck, jowls and folds.

‘In that context the fact she’s in her 30s shouldn’t preclude her from having face-lift surgery.

‘When it comes to facelift surgery, I think it’s not that productive to think about age itself but rather facial laxity.’

Facial laxity is a loss of skin firmness and elasticity which results in visible sagging, drooping and wrinkles.

‘I think it is possible someone in their 30s could benefit from a facelift if they’ve had significant weight loss and have developed facial laxity.

‘The majority of people won’t have developed laxity sufficiently to warrant this surgery until their 40s, 50s and 60s.’