From 'turkey neck' to sexy chick

THIS will be Thelma Steven's first Christmas as a sexy chick after she splurged £4,000 on surgery to banish her hated "turkey neck".

Thelma was sick of being compared to everyone's favourite festive bird. Now after jetting to Cyprus for a neck and facelift, she's planning her best Christmas ever.

Thelma, 50, says: "I always hated Christmas and dreaded anyone cracking a joke about me looking like the turkey. This year there will only be one wrinkly bird in the house at Christmas ? and it won't be me. I've bought a sexy dress and I can't wait to show off the new me."

Divorced grandmother Thelma had been happy with her looks until she hit her 40s and things started heading south. She says: "I tried face cream after face cream but nothing worked."

As her face sagged so did her confidence. She says: "I was sure people were looking at my neck, so I wore scarves to hide it." Desperate to banish her "bird's wattle", Thelma started a facelift fund, saving spare cash in a pot to pay for the op. Six years without a sniff of romance passed before Thelma, of Romsey, Hants, plucked up the courage to see a surgeon in the UK. She says: "When he told me it would cost £6,000 I thought I'd have to live with my neck for ever."

But a few months later when kitchen designer Thelma had a picture taken for her work website, she was so horrified with the way she looked she knew she had to act. She says: "I was about to turn 50 and I couldn't bear the thought of another Christmas with this neck. I needed to start living again." Thelma remembered reading an article about a company that arranged cut-price surgery abroad and contacted them for information. She says: "I picked Cyprus because it's a short flight but nice and warm and the hospital looked immaculate in the pictures."

Thelma saw the surgeon, Dr Stavros Eleftheriou, in the UK for a consultation a few weeks later. She says: "As soon as he started talking about what he could do to my neck I knew I would go for it. "The total cost including Botox to get rid of my wrinkles and a chemical face peel to smooth out my skin was £4,000 so I called it a combined Christmas present and early birthday present for myself." Flights and hotel accommodation added a further £300. Thelma flew to Cyprus on November 7 this year and had the surgery the following day.

She says: "When I came round I could see my neck looked firmer straight away. There was no pain. I was sitting up asking for a tea."