Shannon Beador's Plastic Surgeon Dr. Brian Reagan Explains Her "Scalpel-less Facelift"

There’s no denying it: Shannon Storms Beador is looking (and feeling!) better than ever. The Real Housewives of Orange County mom has made a lot of changes in the past year, which includes a very impressive 40-pound weight loss, and a little tweaking at the plastic surgeon’s office. On tonight’s Season 14 premiere, we saw Shannon undergo a cosmetic procedure that has her skin looking tighter and more radiant than ever — but it wasn’t a facelift. In fact, there was no scalpel involved and no going to sleep. So what exactly did Shannon get done to her face?

The Lookbook went straight to the source — renowned board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Brian Reagan, who performed Shannon’s procedure — to get all the details. 

“Skin-tightening without plastic surgery is the holy grail,” explained Dr. Reagan. “Shannon said to me, ‘No scalpel, and I’m not going to sleep.' So you could say Shannon has the scalpel-less facelift.”  

So how does one achieve the look of a facelift without performing surgery? “It’s really the combination of a couple of different techniques that allowed Shannon to look as good as she looks,” says Dr. Reagan. Scroll down to get all the details on the “synergistic” procedures Shannon had done.

Which procedures did you perform on Shannon, and which problem areas did they address? 
 

Dr. Brian Reagan: Shannon had a lot of wrinkles and vertical lines around her mouth. I addressed that with a very old technique that’s just so effective called dermabrasion — not microdermabrasion, but true dermabrasion. Dermabrasion is almost like sanding the skin down. It’s a spinning steel brush that is rough like sandpaper, so you’re really sanding [the skin].

Why is that more effective than a laser? Because I can specifically address each line. Lasers go at the same depth, but if you’ve got contour irregularities like vertical lines or acne scarring, dermabrasion is such an effective thing. 

The second thing I looked at — this is really important — is loss of volume. When you lose weight like Shannon did, you really deflate. I did fat grafting under local [anesthesia]. I used a tool called AcquiCell by the company Cellmyx. It vibrates and it allows me to harvest the fat in a painless way. I can do all this in the office — patients don’t need to go to sleep. With this technology I can harvest beautiful fat and re-inject it.

The third thing is laxity — where we see laxity most is the lower face, but there’s also laxity of the elbows and knees. What woman doesn’t want tighter skin in those areas? [The FaceTite procedure involves] a small cannula that goes under the skin, so you can do this awake. You cast this probe, which is almost like a chopstick, under the skin, then there’s a slightly larger probe that goes on top and concentrates the energy. So, you can focus that energy in a safer way. More energy hopefully leads to more tightening. 

Can you explain the benefit to getting multiple procedures?
BR: In 99 percent of women, you’re going to have to address texture, you’re going to have to address volume, and you’re going to have to address laxity. So, in the end, when you look at Shannon [post-procedures] everyone would agree, god, she looks great. But if we had not done anything, I would tell you that Shannon’s face would look deflated because she lost weight. And if we had not done the dermabrasion around the mouth, someone might say she’s got wrinkles. It’s a gestalt so you have to address all three. I don't want people thinking, all I need is FaceTite.

What’s the approximate cost of all this?
BR: In the range of $12,000-15,000 to do all three. We took care of Shannon in the OR, but the cost can be lowered if you don’t have an OR cost. Everything we did could be done in the procedure room and you can get the cost closer to $12,000.

How is Shannon feeling after the procedure?
BR: Shannon has a great attitude. Our procedures helped her and then she got all the feedback about how good she looks, and it just snowballed. She’s confident and happy. Best case scenario, plastic surgery is simply something that enhances and empowers women. She’s a great example of that.