EXCLUSIVE Coronation street actress reveals gruelling facial surgery after YEARS of unhappiness about a particular feature
Coronation street actress Lisa George has undergone gruelling facial surgery after spending years feeling deeply unhappy about the way she looked, in particular her saggy eyes.
Lisa, 54, finally plucked up the courage to have evasive Blepharoplasty surgery, which burns off excess skin from the eyelids as well as a brow lift, back in January, and couldn’t be happier with the results.
In an exclusive interview, she reveals how she first became unhappy about the way her face looked while starring on ITV soap Coronation Street, and had even stopped smiling in photographs because she’d become so self-conscious.
And with her much-loved character Beth Tinker’s trademark heavy eye make-up, she would find herself constantly criticising her appearance, leaving her feeling even more miserable about her saggy eyes.
She said: ‘It was really getting me down because my eyelids just started sagging so much. When I was at Corrie my character had to wear loads of eyeshadow.
‘They’d put all this eyeshadow on my eyes and it sort of sat in all the wrinkles and it just looked like it has been dragged across my eyelid and I hated the way it looked. I was just so unhappy but I didn’t have the confidence to do anything about it.
‘No-one ever said anything to me, there were no comments, it was more about me being critical of myself. It was just really bothering me. Every time I was putting my make-up on there were my eyes. I didn’t ever like smiling in photographs because of the way my eyes looked.’
As she prepared to leave the famous cobbles, Lisa realised she would finally have the time to do something about it and booked in for a consultation with a top facial plastic surgeon in Manchester at the beginning of last year.
Coronation street actress Lisa George has undergone gruelling facial surgery after spending years feeling deeply unhappy about the way she looked, in particular her saggy eyes
Lisa (pictured, at The British Soap Awards in 2017) suffered her first eye ‘incident’ in 2016 when the heavy knot at the end of a piece of rope caught her right eye while gardening
Lisa, 54, finally plucked up the courage to have evasive Blepharoplasty surgery, which burns off excess skin from the eyelids as well as a brow lift, back in January
The actress now couldn’t be happier with her post surgery results
But it took her another year before she would book herself in for the £8,000 operation because she was so terrified about the risks of having the procedure, one of which is going blind.
Last year Lisa revealed that she’d been diagnosed with the genetic eye condition NAION – non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, a rare condition where a loss of blood flow and oxygen delivery to the optic nerve causes sudden vision loss.
She’d already had suffered two incidents that had caused permanent vision loss in one eye and only having peripheral vision in the other.
Lisa said: ‘It wasn’t something I rushed into. It took me a year after that initial consultation before I went back with my fears and the risks of having the procedure.
‘But my surgeon was so wonderful, he showed me the statistics and testimonials of other people who had had it done.
‘He then sent me a long document assuring me that any surgery I had done would not affect my NAION because it’s a completely different part of eye. I was still really nervous but booked myself in for the surgery back in January.’
But when Lisa arrived at the private clinic on the day of her surgery, she discovered that she wouldn’t be able to have a general anaesthetic because of her diabetes, and would have to be awake through-out the operation.
Lisa said: ‘I was absolutely petrified. I just assumed they’d give me a general anaesthetic and I’d wake up and it would be all over.
‘But because of my diabetes, and concerns that not eating could impact my sugar levels, they could only give me a local one. I was awake the whole time which was not something I had anticipated.
‘Even while I was laying on the operating table I kept thinking, what am I doing? But do you know what? It was all absolute fine. They had lovely music playing and the nurses were all wonderful, I didn’t feel a thing.’
It took her until 2025 before she would book herself in for the £8,000 operation because she was so terrified about the risks of having the procedure, one of which is going blind
Pictured: The 54-year-old post Blepharoplasty surgery, which she underwent after becoming self-conscious about her looks on Coronation Street
With her character Beth Tinker’s trademark heavy eye make-up, she would find herself constantly criticising her appearance (Pictured: A few days post-opp)
Lisa returned home the same night and spent the next few weeks recovering at home, which she has documented in a special diary for our readers.
And now, four months on, she can’t wait to show off the results of the surgery for the first time, as she looks for her next acting role.
She said: ‘I am so happy! It’s been a while since I left Coronation Street and I know it probably sounds a bit conceited but I’ve turned a few work things down. But it’s really important that I make the right decision going forward.
‘I’ve changed the way I look, I’ve lost the weight, I’ve had my hair cut, and now I’ve got new eyes! Not that I’m trying to eradicate Beth, because I loved playing her and I will forever be grateful, but I want people to see me how I am now. I need a role that isn’t in the same vein as Beth was, I need something completely different and I’m waiting for that to come. I think you can get pigeon holed in this industry and I don’t want to be pigeon holed, I look very different now.
‘A sexy cougar would be good. Get me in Rivals! I’d love to play a really high powered business woman who’s strong and has got a bit of edge to her. Something like that would be amazing.’
Despite more pressure on actresses to look younger, Lisa insists that she had the surgery done for herself and hopes by opening up about it all, it will give others the confidence to do the same if something is making them unhappy.
She said: ‘This is something that I’ve done for myself. I do look at actresses on screen and you can always tell who’s had work done and who hasn’t had work. I think it was Sherrie Hewson, didn’t she have a facelift? she said that after her surgery she suddenly she got work.
Her character’s make up would leave her feeling even more miserable about her saggy eyes. Now Lisa has revealed all from her diary to Mail On Sunday
Lisa’s character Beth originally arrived on Coronation Street as a love interest for Stee McDonald, but soon formed a romance with Kirk Sutherland (left)
‘It’s alright for blokes, they can look all paunchy and old or whatever they want, but with women it seems to be a lot different. I’ve spoken to a lot of my male friends and they’ll be like “oh my wife’s had this done and she loves it” and then suddenly, it’s actually becoming quite a common thing, a lot of women are having these types of procedures done.
‘And why not? A few of my friends said they could never do it, but if you’re unhappy and you want to make yourself feel better, then why shouldn’t we do it? If you want to make yourself feel better, you’ve got the money and want to do it, then just go and do it. I think a few years ago there was quite a lot of stigma around plastic surgery but if you want to do it then why shouldn’t you? And if it makes you feel better then do it. The only thing is going too far. I think it’s best to have something done that doesn’t look like you’ve had it done.’
In a brutally honest account, Lisa kept a diary of her surgery, which was performed by Professor Raghavan, at Pall Mall Medical in Manchester, which she is sharing with readers….
