Throughout my career as a plastic surgeon and a diplomat, my life often took me abroad. In the 1980s and 1990s, I organized numerous medical mission trips to Guatemala, where our teams focused on performing cleft lip and palate surgeries for indigent patients. In those years, the two airlines we most often flew were Pan Am and Eastern—both giants in their day, and both now gone.

For anyone who ever flew with Pan Am, the name still carries a certain magic. Founded in 1927, Pan American World Airways quickly became synonymous with international travel. By pioneering transoceanic flights, Pan Am connected the United States with destinations around the globe at a time when few other airlines could match its ambition. With its blue globe logo and the famous Clipper aircraft, Pan Am wasn’t just an airline—it was an American icon.

What set Pan Am apart was not only its far-reaching routes but also its sense of style and service. Flight attendants were all attractive, intelligent, impeccably trained, the in-flight service was unmatched, and the airline exuded sophistication. To many travelers, boarding a Pan Am flight was like stepping into the future—an experience filled with elegance, adventure, and possibility.

But even the mightiest companies can stumble. Rising fuel costs, deregulation of the airline industry, labor challenges, and a string of financial missteps led to Pan Am’s dramatic demise. By the early 1990s, the once-great airline that had dominated international skies was gone, leaving only memories.

For me, those memories remain vivid. I still recall the excitement of flying Pan Am on my medical missions—the polished service, the distinctive uniforms, and the thrill of knowing you were part of something larger than life. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of caring for a number of former Pan Am flight attendants, and through them, those golden days often come flooding back.

Most recently, meeting another former Pan Am flight attendant rekindled my fond memories of that era. Our conversations reminded me just how iconic the airline was and how deeply it shaped the travel experiences of a generation. Those memories became the inspiration for part two of this blog—where I share the stories of two former Pan Am attendants and how I was able to restore their timeless elegance with facial rejuvenation.

Pan Am Memories

Perla and Annmarie on a Pan Am flight from JFK to Fiumicino in Rome, and a rejuvenated Perla at a recent Pam Am Get Together locally (still fitting into her Pan Am uniform).

Pan Am 747 sailing into history.

Let’s continue this week’s article with a quiz:

What is one of the most important factors in choosing a facelift surgeon?
A. Their social media following
B. Their years of surgical experience and board certification
C. Their office décor
D. Their discount pricing
E. The city they practice in
✅ B. Their years of surgical experience and board certification

Credentials and experience are critical for safety and natural results. Social media, office décor, and discounts should never outweigh proper training and skill. Dr. Bunkis has over 40 years of excellence in facial rejuvenation!
(Consistently the one of the most common cosmetic surgical procedure by Dr Bunkis.)

Facial rejuvenation remains one of the most popular aesthetic plastic surgery procedure in my practice here at Orange County Plastic Surgery in Corona Del Mar/Newport Beach, CA. One of the most common questions I hear from patients considering facial rejuvenation is: “What will I look like after surgery?” My answer is simple: the goal of a facelift is not to make you look like someone else, but to help you look more like you did before sagging and aging set in.

Over time, gravity, sun exposure, and the natural loss of collagen cause our tissues to loosen. Jowls form along the jawline, cheeks flatten, and skin begins to sag in the neck. While healthy living can slow these changes, no cream or exercise can truly prevent or reverse them. This is where facelift surgery comes in.

A facelift repositions and tightens the deeper facial tissues, restores youthful contours, and removes sagging skin. This gives patients a refreshed, rested appearance—closer to the way they looked years earlier. What a facelift does not do, however, is change the quality of the skin itself. If the skin has been significantly weathered by sun damage or aging, treatments such as chemical peels or lasers may be added to improve texture, pigmentation, and fine wrinkles.

On average, patients look 10 to 15 years younger after a facelift. Importantly, the clock does not stop. Patients will continue to age naturally, but they will always look 10 to 15 years younger than if they had never had the procedure. In other words, the facelift sets the clock back—but it keeps ticking forward at the same pace.

I’d like to share two wonderful examples. Both women were Pan Am flight attendants in the 1980s, when they were in their twenties. At that time, they had youthful cheekbones, smooth jawlines, and elegant necks. As the years went by, both began to notice the familiar signs of sagging and came to me for rejuvenation. After their facelifts, when we placed their “after” photos side by side with their photos from the 1980s, the resemblance was striking. The surgery didn’t make them look different—it made them look like themselves again, much more like the women who once graced international runways and airline cabins.

Facial rejuvenation is about restoring, not reinventing. My goal for every patient is to turn back the clock in a natural, elegant way—so when you look in the mirror, you see yourself again.

Special Offer — For the month of September Only
Any patient who books a facelift procedure during the month of September will receive a free chemical peel (if they are a candidate) — a $3,500 savings. If you have been considering facial rejuvenation, this will be the perfect time to take the next step.

Call Orange County Plastic Surgery today to schedule your consultation and take advantage of this offer.

Prior Pan Am flight attendant, shown here before and a year after Dr. Bunkis’ Natural A to V Facelift and an endoscopic brow lift. In the before photograph, the fullness is over the jowl area, giving the face an A or pear shape; the lift restores cheek fullness and gives the face a youthful V shape. Notice also, in the before photo, the brows have drooped to the point where they are touching the brows. The brow lift restores brow position and opens the space above the lashes. (Actual patient of Dr. Juris Bunkis of Orange County Plastic Surgery.)

This is the same patient’s side view. Notice that before surgery, her fullness was in the jowl areas and neck, the lower part of the face. After surgery, the fullness gets restored to the cheek area, and note how the heavy eyebrow skin was lifted off the lashes. (Actual patient of Dr. Juris Bunkis, facelift surgeon in Newport Beach.)

This is the same patient, during her Pan Am days in the 1980’s and ten years after her brow and facelift procedure. Notice how in her youth, the cheeks were the fullest part of the face, and they are in this ten years later photo. Also, notice the similarity of the space between the eyelashes and eyebrows, well maintained for ten years, following the endoscopic brow lift. (Actual patient of Dr. Juris Bunkis.)

This ex Pan Am flight attendant in her early 60’s, sought consultation regarding facial rejuvenation with Dr. Juris Bunkis of Orange County Plastic Surgery in Corona Del Mar/Newport Beach. She disliked her eyes and jowls/neck. She is shown here before and after an upper lid blepharoplasty, a transconjunctival lower lid blepharoplasty, and a Natural A to V facelift. (Actual patient of Dr. Juris Bunkis.)

This is the patient’s oblique view. As in the case above, she began with fullness in the jowl/neck area and the fullness gets shifted to the cheeks, as she had in her youth. (Actual patient of Dr. Juris Bunkis, facelift surgeon in Newport Beach.)

Side view of the same patient. Notice the improvement not only of the jowl and neck but also of the upper and lower lid areas, to give her this rejuvenated look. (Actual patient of Dr. Juris Bunkis.)

The photo on the left shows this patient during her Pan Am days, in her 20’s, the photo on the right show her currently in her 60’s. Yes, the hair is longer and lighter but note the similarities in her facial features 40 years later. Her facial rejuvenation turned the clock back, did not make her look like a different person!

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