The Traitors season 4 star Caroline Stanbury has been unflinchingly candid about her decision to have a deep plane facelift.
The Real Housewives of Dubai alum went public with her choice to have the extensive cosmetic procedure in November 2023, creating a vlog about her recovery. In the candid footage, Stanbury’s husband, Sergio Carrallo, visibly teared up over how much the former Ladies of London star struggled while recuperating.
“This was probably one of the hardest moments of my life,” Carrallo wrote via Instagram at the time. “Seeing the person that you love with all your heart suffering and in pain how she was … it was very hard.”
Caroline was initially unable to speak in the vlog due to her extensive facial coverings, though she proudly showed off her healing and refreshed look on Thanksgiving Day.
“NEW FACE, NEW ME,” she announced via Instagram. “#happythanksgivng Thankful for a lot of things in my life! Day 14 th of the journey.”
Keep scrolling for more on Stanbury’s deep plane facelift journey below.
Caroline Stanbury Explained Why She Underwent a Facelift
The Real Housewives star shared with People in August 2024 that she wanted a facelift because she felt other cosmetic treatments were not effective. For example, Caroline Stanbury started having filler and Botox treatments at age 26.
“I had one crazy eyebrow,” she noticed. “My lips had gone a bit weird. My face just [got] rounder and rounder and bigger and bigger, because I just kept pumping filler in my jawline.”
Although she began her journey by having her filler dissolved, Stanbury ultimately “thought to myself the cost of doing this every year, you know, is a facelift.”
“I have a very young husband, not that he wanted me to do it, but these are things that women go through,” she added. “I don’t want women to see me and think at 48, I look like this and they look like s***. It’s an unnatural thing.”
Caroline Stanbury Wanted to Share Her Experience With Social Media Followers
Once Caroline Stanbury decided to have a facelift, she felt it was important for her husband Sergio Carrallo to film her recovery.
“I have a podcast which is called ‘Uncut and Uncensored.’ So, if I then censor my life, what’s the point?” Stanbury told People. “Also, I’m on a reality TV show. This is my reality.”
Another benefit of documenting her experience was that it gave other women her age a better idea of what to expect with their own cosmetic procedures.
“You get handed books [with pictures of] 80-year-old women that suddenly look 70 or 60. And that’s not me. I couldn’t relate to them,” she said. “I wanted to find someone else my age. Who had done it but she wasn’t looking dreadful. She just wanted to look better, right?”
Caroline Stanbury Went Under the Knife in November 2023
In November 2023, Sergio Carrallo filmed his wife’s post-op recovery after Dr. Steve S. Kim performed a deep plane facelift on Caroline Stanbury.
Per the Mayo Clinic, the procedure achieves a rejuvenated appearance by repositioning deep facial tissues and muscles and adjusts the Superficial Musculoaponeurotic System (SMAS) to tighten skin on the midface, jawline and neck. Stanbury additionally opted to have excess eyelid skin removed during the operation.
Carrallo’s post-op vlog captured the moment he broke down in tears when he saw Stanbury for the first time after surgery.
“Oh my God … I love you so much,” he said as the camera showed Stanbury’s face covered in bandages and scars.
He tried to keep Stanbury’s spirits up by surprising her with a “Get Well Soon” balloon and a Hailey Bieber-inspired Erewhon smoothie. Stanbury could not speak at the time but she did wave to the camera.
“As a husband I will always support her and [be] here for her and as much as I was against it, she really wanted to do it,” he told viewers. “So, I was there for her, supporting and helping her day to day. I am very proud of you and just seeing how happy you are with the result, it makes me very happy.”
Carrallo walked arm-in-arm with Stanbury to their car after she was released, though he later acknowledged that her recovery would take time.
“We didn’t sleep and she had a lot of pain,” he admitted after the first night.
Aside from early hiccups, Stanbury recovered right on schedule and showed off her new face once the swelling subsided.
“I’m so proud of her,” Carrallo sweetly said near the end of the vlog. “We went through crazy stuff!”
Caroline Stanbury Got Real About Scarring
Caroline Stanbury revealed the topic that people asked her about most was the scarring from her deep plane facelift.
“Everybody wants to know how the scars are,” she told People in August 2024. “The one behind your ear is the longest to heal, but 1769956997 it’s just a little red light mark that can be covered with makeup.”
She added, “The body heals in an incredible way.”
Caroline Stanbury Was Thrilled By the Results of Her Facelift
The RHODubai alum shouted out fans for being so supportive of her deep plane facelift. In a January 2025 TikTok, one viewer praised her for looking “lifted so naturally” rather than “over-fillered.”
“These comments make me so happy and I got so many from all of you,” she beamed.
Sergio Carrallo soon joined his wife in bed to wrap his arms around her in a sweet gesture.
Caroline Stanbury Shared Advice for Other Women Her Age
During a 2025 episode of her “Uncut and Uncensored” podcast, Caroline Stanbury offered her advice on deciding when is the right time for a facelift.
“Friends now are asking me, ‘When is too young? When is the right time?’” she reported. “Because I was told actually that I should wait until I’m in my 50s. And I’m so glad now that I didn’t.”
She was joined on the podcast by plastic surgeon Dr. Garo Kassabian to discuss the various cosmetic options that people can explore.
“The timing of the facelift depends from person to person,” Dr. Kassabian stressed. “It depends on the signs that are visible. We have options, surgical and non-surgical. Try the non-surgical stuff, which is botox, fillers, non-aggressive radio frequencies and so on.”
