Judge revealed that she received a brow lift and a “blue” chemical peel in candid Instagram videos documenting her healing process
Tamra Judge. Photo: Tamra Judge /Instagram
Tamra Judge is giving her social media followers an up-close and personal look into her latest cosmetic procedures.
On Sunday, Sept. 1, the Real Housewives of Orange County star, 56, shared a video on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) in which she detailed her recent brow lift, starting before she had the surgery up to her recovery period.
“Taking you all along on my journey!” Judge captioned the candid video. “I visited Dr. Donald Mowlds in Newport Beach, who works alongside Dr. Ambe, for a brow lift, CO2 laser and a blue chemical peel.”
“Seven years ago, I had a lower facelift but skipped the upper — like painting the house but forgetting the trim,” she finished the caption. “Stay tuned for updates!”
Just ahead of her surgery, Judge snapped a selfie for her Instagram Stories and joked that she had “never felt prettier” as she posed in her medical gown with a cap covering her hair.
Tamra Judge. Tamra Judge/Instagram
Mowlds’ website states that a brow lift is done to remove wrinkles from the forehead, and a “blue peel” is a “ZO controlled depth peel” which uses Trichloroacetic acid with a blue-colored dye to tighten the skin and correct wrinkles or scars without surgery.
“Ok guys, I made it. I am one hour in recovery,” Judge tells the camera in one part of the video, speaking from her hospital bed. “I don’t feel bad. My eyes are all blurry because there’s, like, something like Vaseline in there or something. But — let the healing begin.”
The video shows Judge being pushed out of the Orange County surgery center in a wheelchair with her face wrapped in bandages and a blue-green tint across her face from the peel. In the next clip, she arrived home.
“Alright, I got home from the surgery center about an hour ago, so this is probably three hours post-op,” she continued, standing in the kitchen. “They took a little skin out of the corner of my eye. I had a little fat pocket. Not too much pain, honestly. But, of course, I’m on pain medications — talk to me at 5 in the morning.”
Judge finished the video with an update from the morning after her surgery, filmed as she was sitting in her bed with plate of food on her lap.
“Day one. I’m feeling okay. Felt a little beat up,” she continued before showing off her breakfast.
“You know what happens when you take these,” Judge added, showing off her prescription medications before holding up a plastic baggie filled with prunes. “You get constipated.”
Finally, a few more photos flash across the screen that feature Judge’s face close-up and covered in bandages, before she noted that she is “in the thick of it” and promised to share more updates in the coming days.
Later on Sunday, Judge shared another update on both Instagram and X, writing in the post’s caption: “Day three and the swelling’s making a statement. Progress isn’t always pretty, but it’s happening.”
In an accompanying video, she spoke about the swelling in more detail. “The swelling is from the CO2 laser. You can see it’s all the way down my chest,” she said, as she opened her pajama top to expose her chest.
In a clip filmed at the end of the day, she said, “Swelling is supposed to be at its worst right now. I don’t know how it can get any worse. I feel like my skin’s gonna burst. You can see it’s getting oozy.”
She also explained that she could barely open her eyes and that her throat was sore. “Hoping to turn a corner tomorrow,” she said.
Tamra Judge in 2022. PHOTO: Denise Truscello/Getty Images
This isn’t the reality TV star’s first time sharing candid updates about her health and surgeries. In October 2023, Judge revealed on social media that she had been hospitalized for an intestinal obstruction after experiencing stomach pain.
Prior to that, she underwent a life-saving emergency surgery to remove a strangulated hernia in 2012. The procedure left her with a damaged, off-center belly button, and in December 2022, she decided to undergo a corrective abdominoplastyI to address the issue.
It was “one of the most painful things I’ve ever done in my life,” Judge told PEOPLE in February 2023 about the experience. “God knows I’ve gone under the knife before, but recovering from this has been worse than anything I’ve ever done. I mean, I’ve given birth to four children and even that was easier!”