People are obsessed (and a bit unsettled) by this 50-year-old woman’s viral facelift
One woman's incredibly successful face lift that looks like it took 20 years or more off her has TikTok obsessed and a little disturbed. Michelle Wood (@michellewood165) went to Guadalajara, Mexico, at age 50 for extensive cosmetic surgery and came back looking like she could be under 30.
Jaws are dropping all across TikTok, though some wondered what this means for the future.
Michelle Wood's facelift in Guadalajara: the surgery that broke TikTok
Wood posted her first TikTok video about her plastic surgery journey on June 5, 2025, though she says she got the procedure on May 30. Nearly a month later, and still healing, she looks like she almost cut her age in half even without makeup.
In her original video, she explains that she traveled to Guadalajara to see Dr. Maribel Belmontes for a full face lift, including a forehead lift and lip lift, plus a small chin implant. She went on to post a series of videos showing her recovery process and the incredible results.
As the posts went viral, people flocked in with questions. Since you're probably wondering, she spent about $14,000 on the surgery itself and another $1,000 to stay at a recovery center after. Though the results left her appearing much younger, she says she didn't look like she does now in her 20s.
Three weeks out from the surgery, she says her face is still pretty tight and numb, but she can smile if she wants to.
As for her doctor, Wood found out about Dra. Belmontes from another TikToker who'd gotten similar work done.
"I had asked her, 'if you had to do it over again, who would you have gone to?'" she said. "And she mentioned this doctor."
Other commenters are having a hard time accepting what they see.
"I promise it's real," Wood assured one TikToker.
"It's so good I'm actually scared"
In addition to getting millions of views on each video, Wood's fame has extended to other TikTokers making videos on their reactions to her transformation. They're largely positive, but the results are so extreme that it seems to be plunging some into an existential crisis.
"There's a lady in here who got a face lift in Guadalajara, and it's so good I'm actually scared," said @ydfb100. "She went from looking 51 to looking 27."
@ydfb100 Technology is scaring me #facelift #uncannyvalley #fyp #fypシ #tiktok #trending #viral #Tatcha #viralvideo #truth #real #relatable ♬ original sound - ydfb100
"If this is where we're at when it comes to surgery, we're gonna have 50, 60, 70-year-olds looking like 30-year-olds pretty soon. I don't know how I feel about that."
TV and film writer @nathanramospark talked about what this is going to do to our collective perception of age.
@nathanramospark #facelift #guadalajara #jalisco #womanfacelift #maturity #beforeandafter #krisjenner #kardashian #lipfiller #botox #injectors #attitudechange ♬ original sound - Nathan Ramos-Park
"It's over," he said. "We are going to be never knowing how old anybody is, which is wild."
These two may soon become correct, if others predicting that everyone's going to be booking trips to Mexico for their plastic surgeries are right.
"I think the Mexican face lift phenomenon is not a secret anymore," said @floridaover50, who also got cosmetic surgery in the southern nation. "I think everybody's gonna be running for the borders now."
@floridaover50 @michellewood165 just broke the internet with her facelift transformation 🥰 and now everyone wants her surgeon’s number. Her results are jaw-dropping (literally). Mexico is about to get very busy… #F#FaceliftTransformationM#MexicanFaceliftfacelift #P#PlasticSurgeryJourneyB#BeforeAndAfterV#ViralMakeoverT#TikTokMadeMeDoItF#FaceliftOver50A#AgingBackwardsT#TijuanaSurgeonG#GlowUpBeautyWithoutBorders ♬ original sound - floridaover50
How ironic.
The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here to get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online.
The post People are obsessed (and a bit unsettled) by this 50-year-old woman’s viral facelift appeared first on The Daily Dot.