Influencer Ruby Tuesday Matthews has faced backlash from followers after undergoing a $16,000 endoscopic facelift in Seoul, South Korea, at age 33.
The mother-of-three is currently documenting her post-surgery recovery on Instagram after having the cosmetic procedure at a plastic surgery clinic in the South Korean capital last Friday.
Matthews shared videos showing her swollen and bruised face alongside a montage clip of herself hopping on a 14-hour flight to South Korea and going through the surgery process.
"Could've said nothing and quietly entered my Benjamin Button era, but transparency felt more interesting," she captioned the video. "People will have opinions, the media will have headlines, and I'll keep sharing the unfiltered reality of my life."
She went on to thank medical tourism provider Beauty Hopper and her surgeon, Dr Moon Hyung Suk from Ilchi Plastic Surgery.
Criticism over cosmetic surgery at a young age
Followers flocked to the comments to slam Matthews for receiving a facelift at such a young age and for promoting the procedure online.
"Kind of chic not to give young women a step-by-step guide to getting a facelift," one person wrote. Another commented, "Can we stop normalising this?" while someone else asked, "Why are women getting facelifts at such a young age?"
Another follower penned a lengthy message addressed to any young girls watching the video, telling them they are "beautiful, magical, and gorgeous" in their natural skin.
"No amount of facelifts or cosmetic procedures will ever change the way you actually see yourself," they wrote, adding that true self-worth comes from "true inner work" such as breath work, meditation, and spiritual connection.
"Only then will you truly see your magnificent BEAUTY instead of constantly chasing external alterations that will only last a small amount of time until you're 'needing' your next fix," the commenter added. "WOMEN ARE BEAUTIFUL and we deserve to learn to truly feel that instead of using outside band-aids."
Matthews responded to the user, saying she agreed that young women should know their worth has absolutely nothing to do with how they look, but argued that two things can be true at once.
"You can deeply love yourself, respect your ageing body, know your worth and still choose to change something simply because it makes you feel good," the influencer said. "Self-love doesn't require rejecting Botox, surgery, makeup or anything else and having them doesn't mean you're broken or chasing validation."
"I'm not trying to become someone else or outrun ageing," she added. "Life has left a few chapters on my face that I'd happily stop rereading, and I wanted to feel refreshed. That choice can exist alongside self-acceptance, not instead of it."
While some criticized Matthews over the procedure, others praised her for being transparent about the process and her recovery.
"I have been LIVING for this content and updates! [Applause emoji] for being so open and honest xxx," one follower wrote. Another added, "Appreciate you sharing your journey," while a third commented, "Unfiltered sharing is so courageous. Good on you."
"Let's be honest, if many women had the funds to do this (myself included), we would do it. Haters gonna hate," another user noted.
Details of the endoscopic facelift procedure
Matthews explained that she chose an endoscopic facelift because she wanted to have "snatched skin again" without changing her natural physical appearance.
The surgery is considered minimally invasive, as doctors use a tiny camera with small incisions hidden inside the hairline to lift and tighten targeted areas of the face.
"Initially, I thought I'd also need eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty) to get that more refreshed, awake look," Matthews explained on social media.
"After my consultation, my surgeon felt the endoscopic lift alone could achieve what I wanted, so we decided not to do the bleph," she said. "The goal was never to change the way I look. I wanted to keep my face and my features. Just look a little more refreshed and awake, while addressing some of the volume loss through my face."
Recovery complications and Apple store emergency visit
Matthews spent four hours under the knife during the operation. She shared videos of herself returning to the clinic the following morning to have her surgical drain and face tape removed.
However, she ran into an unexpected difficulty when facial recognition on her iPhone failed to recognize her swollen and bruised face.
The issue forced her to make an emergency visit to an Apple store to access her mobile phone.
"I literally had to go to the Apple store in my pyjamas looking like this and reboot my whole phone because there was no way it was recognising my face, and I have so many locks on my phone that I couldn't do it without face recognition," she explained.
Matthews spent the first three days post-surgery with significant swelling and bruising. Immediately following the surgery, she experienced difficulties moving her mouth and speaking properly.
"My face is double the size normally; apparently, this is the worst day, so let's hope it starts going down tomorrow," she recorded on her third day of recovery.
The influencer later showed followers the small incisions in her hairline, expressing relief that there were no visible scars on her face.
"It's actually insane I've only got that tiny dot there...no scars on my face, literally just in my hairline and they're neat as a pin," she said. "I look absolutely bat s*** crazy, so I'm just going to have to trust the process."
Matthews concluded that she chose to be open and honest about her facelift journey because "there's no point pretending that I just woke up 10 years younger."
