Plot Twist! The Once Upon a Surgery Host Spills the Tea on Her Own Procedures

Kerry: Hello, welcome to Once Upon a Surgery. I’m your host, Kerry Berlet. This is a show where real people share their real life transformations. These stories start with a scalpel, but they never end there. Today I’m going to share my own story about my own procedures and surgeries that I’ve had since knowing Dr. Berlet.

Kerry: Each story, I mean, you don’t think about plastic surgery and the impact that it has. It’s not just a physical cosmetic change, but a lot of times it’s really an emotional change, and it impacts people’s confidence, and it’s transforming. And so again, being his wife, I’m just constantly exposed to these stories, and he really hasn’t documented them, and I find them so special. And so that sort of got my wheels turning.

Kerry: And that, coupled with the fact that Dr. Berlet, surprisingly (a lot of people don’t believe me, but this is actually true), is obsessed with the Hallmark Channel. Literally, he loves those predictable, happy ending stories. He cries at the end of each episode. I’m not joking. I’m spilling the tea, actually. But once one starts, we can’t leave the house because he’s so excited for the next episode.

Kerry: And I thought that actually has a direct parallel to his life. He’s literally creating his own little predictable happy ending Hallmark story with each of his patients. And I find it so inspiring, and I thought that the world would be interested in hearing some of these stories. And I think a lot of the patients that he has are truly excited to share their stories. And so I welcome you to Once Upon a Surgery. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Kerry: And I actually have my own story, and I’m going to share next the procedures that I’ve had done and the surgeries that I’ve done with Dr. Berlet and how they’ve changed my life, too. So, I’m 50. Just throwing that out there. And I’m going to talk about all the work that I’ve had done. And I still have more work to come, I know, in my future. But I’m happy with where I am right now.

Kerry: And the first basic maintenance that I do is Botox. And I do that about every 3 months. It’s just really above my eyebrows and the crow’s feet, and it just keeps me natural, refreshed. I remember when Botox first came out, I was kind of judgy of the people that were doing it, and they would have these frozen faces. But Dr. Berlet has a very artistic process. He’s down to an art, obviously, and he is actually an artist. He was an architecture major. But it’s very simple. My face still moves, and I love it.

Kerry: And it’s funny, sometimes he’ll come home: “Oh, you need Botox.” He notices. But it basically just keeps your face so you don’t get all those lines. And I know 20-year-olds right now are doing it preventatively so their face never moves. I didn’t start doing it till I was, I think, 38. And now it’s just part of my regular maintenance.

Kerry: So, the next procedure I want to talk about is something called fat grafting. And that is a process where Dr. Berlet takes my own fat. Yes, my own fat. He usually takes it from my back. I’ve done this three times now, actually. He takes the fat from my back, and then he spins it into something that he calls macro, micro, and nano fat. And basically then he has this perfectly spun little fat that he then injects into my temples and my cheeks.

Kerry: And that actually is amazing. The stem cells and exosomes from this regenerate, and they give your skin this actually natural glow. And you can see, basically, since he did that, it gave me volume in my cheeks, and really almost immediately, I had these kind of bags under my eyes that basically disappeared. And prior to doing this, before I even met Dr. Berlet, I had done a little bit of Juvederm, which I would inject my smile lines with. And since he put this fat in my face, I actually haven’t needed to do the Juvederm, and it’s more natural.

Kerry: I think about 60 to 70% stays; he would have to tell you for sure, but yeah, it does stay. And he’s actually perfected that procedure since he first did that with me. I think I first did that maybe four years ago, and then he’s done a little more since when I needed tweaks, because not everything is perfect right away. We just noticed a couple things we wanted to adjust, and it’s amazing now. And he’s also done this with my friends, and it just keeps getting better and better.

Kerry: That’s one of my favorite things, I have to say, that I’ve had done. He says you start losing volume in your 30s. Not everyone, this is not for everyone, but for me, just how I’ve aged, that was a huge change.

Kerry: The next procedure I want to talk about is something called upper blepharoplasty. And that basically just means getting your upper eyelids done. This is something a lot of people do in their 40s, some 50s, but that’s the typical age range. And for me, I had noticed I had drooping, kind of saggy eyelids. I couldn’t really open my eyes the whole way. And so then he just basically makes an incision and gets rid of the fat pad and lifts your eyes, and I’ve been very happy with that result.

Kerry: The procedure, you’re not under; you’re awake during it. And you are bruised after, so you want to do it during a time when you can wear sunglasses, probably. It varies by patient, because I know people that barely bruised, right? I was pretty bruised. It depends on your skin. But within 2 weeks, you’re pretty good to go. And that really made a difference for me, I felt, in giving me more youthful looking eyes.

Kerry: So, one more thing I just wanted to add. I only had my upper eyelids done. Often people do both at once. I didn’t actually need the lowers, and I credit the fat grafting for why I didn’t. But it all depends on your face, because not everyone’s a candidate for fat grafting. But for me, at this point, I keep asking Tony, do I need to do the lower? And he says no. So at this point, I’ve only done the upper eyelids.

Kerry: So, the next procedure I want to talk about is liposuction. And I know it’s surprising, and I don’t have body dysmorphia, and I know I’m thin, but I have had liposuction actually two times. And I’m going to tell you about it. And this is actually one of Dr. Berlet’s favorite things. He calls it skinny liposuction. Usually when you hear the word liposuction, you’re thinking about a heavier person who needs their fat reduced, but actually when you’re skinnier, you can really use it to contour your body.

Kerry: And so I’ve had it done, even though I’m thin. The place where my weight gathers has always been around my waist. I’m what I like to say an apple shape. I didn’t have a huge belly, but that was where I didn’t have definition. I didn’t have a waist. And that has really made a difference. Particularly that area he calls the flanks. I call it the muffin top, your love handles. That area, there’s just no exercise. And I’ve been doing core exercises my whole life, every day pretty much. And there’s just nothing that you can do like liposuction. And that really made such a difference, around my middle. So that was the first place.

Kerry: And then the second place, and this is just because he’s the master, I would never have thought to do this, because I have very skinny legs, but he actually did some liposuction on my outer thighs, and that kind of served to make my butt pop. So I guess basically it gave it more of a contrast between my leg and my butt. And so that was, it’s not what you think of, but that’s also a favorite procedure. I guess I’ve loved all of them.

Kerry: But really, I think that has given me such confidence. I know it’s a very subtle difference. Did it really change my life that much? But it kind of did, I guess, with my confidence, just having this waist, and just in a swimsuit, because I kind of just went straight down before, and there was all this fat gathered around my waist. And now it has this beautiful curve that never in my life did I have, no matter how skinny I was. That just didn’t exist, just based on my body. And so this is a way to actually directly change your body contour.

Kerry: The last procedure I want to talk about is something called miraDry. And essentially miraDry has to do with your armpits. And I may not look like I would be a stinky person, but I actually legitimately was. To the point, I remember my sister being in my closet looking to pick something out, and she was like, “Oh, what kind of deodorant do you use?” And I was like, “I use Secret.” And she was like, “Maybe you should use one that’s not so secret.” So anyway, I would wear deodorant, but I don’t know, I’m just a sweaty person.

Kerry: And so this is something where literally Dr. Berlet kind of cooks your armpits. It feels warm, and afterwards, I actually went to a wedding, I think, the night after I did this. It’s a weird sensation. It feels like you have kind of oranges under your armpits. I know, very strange. But after that, basically you don’t sweat. You don’t sweat, and you don’t grow hair, and you don’t smell. So you don’t have to use deodorant anymore. You can grow a little tiny hair, so maybe once a month just check that you don’t have some long hair that made its way out.

Kerry: But that was really transformational, the fact that I don’t even have to think about deodorant anymore. Whereas before, I had to have it with me at all times. And so that was something that was truly amazing, that you don’t really think about, and it’s very easy, and there’s really very little downtime. You just have a day where you feel like you have oranges under your armpits.

Kerry: So anyway, I wanted to share that last little procedure, and I hope you enjoyed hearing about my own personal story with Dr. Berlet and the work that I’ve had done. And I’m sure there’s more to come, by the way. Please feel free to write questions, write comments. I’d love to hear what else you’re interested in hearing about. And don’t forget to subscribe to Once Upon a Surgery.