AESTHETICS GUIDE
THEATRE STUDIES
Writer Emma North watched as a surgeon performed a deep-plane facelift on his patient – and says it wouldn’t put her off having the procedure
REPORT: EMMA NORTH
Surgery was scheduled for 8am and the patient was anaesthetised by the time I was allowed into theatre. Dressed head-to-toe in cerulean scrubs, I made my way into the room where Mr Georgios “George” Orfaniotis, a London-based consultant plastic surgeon specialising in facial aesthetic surgery, would carry out a deep-plane facelift on a 46-year-old woman who had kindly given permission for me to observe.
Mindful not to get in the way, I hovered five feet away from the patient. Like a scene from Grey’s Anatomy, beeping machinery surrounded the patient, music played in the background and six surgical staff carried out preparations while George, calm and collected, made his first incision. I’m not squeamish, but the sight of skin peeling away, along with a whiff of disinfectant – all on an empty stomach – made me woozy and I stepped out momentarily to get some air.