'I have no regrets after my £1,300 trip to Amsterdam for surgery'

A beautician flew to Amsterdam to have surgery so she can apply her eyeliner properly.

Gemma Gilfoyle, 39, said she had hated the excess skin on her upper eyelids for as long as she can remember. And having worked in the beauty industry for 19 years, Gemma couldn’t help comparing herself to the women she was doing make-up for.

She paid £1,270 in total to get her excess skin removed in Amsterdam, though she has been left with a 2in scar behind her right eye while it heals.

READ MORE: Schoolboy looked at grades and decided to take on Tesco

READ MORE: Weeing burglar, 10A bus pervert and fugitive dad among 14 criminals jailed this week

But Gemma has no regrets and says she's "so excited" to put make-up on her new eyelids. Gemma, from Fazakerley, said: “It’s a few months of scarring over a lifetime of being able to do a winged liner.

“I work in the beauty industry so I’ve always been really aware of my hooded eyes. Now, I feel amazing.”

Gemma first heard she could get her hooded eyes removed after hearing some of her clients chatting about it at her salon. She said two of the women were elderly and another was in her 30s, and Gemma wanted to see what the procedure would look like on “young skin” before going ahead with it.

She said: “I wanted to see my 30-year-old client’s results first - and her scar was amazing, you could barely see it. I’ve been actively wanting to do something about my eyes for five years so I started enquiring around.”

Gemma found a clinic in Amsterdam after briefly looking into clinics around Liverpool and Essex, and had a 30-minute phone consultation, chatting with a specialist about what the procedure would involve.

She said: "I’ve had Botox and I had to make sure I didn’t get any new injections for four weeks beforehand. It stretches the skin around the eyebrows and can leave you looking permanently surprised.”

She paid £385 for the procedure, as well as £285 for two nights in a hotel and £600 return flights to Amsterdam for herself and husband, Ryan, 40, an air conditioning engineer, the week before. The surgery took place on February 10 and was done while Gemma was awake.

She said: “You go into the surgery room, they give you a local anaesthetic inside your eye. Your eyes are closed and they tweeze the excess skin.

"You can feel it, but it isn’t painful. It took around 30 minutes all in all.”

By day two Gemma’s eyes began to bruise, then swelled for six days, and she was told to expect four months of scarring. Her aftercare included washing with saline solution, taking paracetamol and ibuprofen, and she’s not allowed to use soap on her face.

She said: “I feel great. I love that I finally got it done. It was completely painless and I don’t mind the scarring so much, even though I’ve still got another two months to go.”

Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here

Win a VIP three-night Butlin’s Big Weekender break for adults