Dual Facial Surgeries Help Aging Identical Twins Keep Up Appearances

Barbara Bujacich and Frances Totaro are identical twins, but their appearance grew less alike as they aged.

Now, after dual face lifts, “we might look alike again,” the 53-year-old Totaro said, minutes after stitches were removed from her face in Dr. Darrick Antell’s operating suite.

For twins who want to be identical again, surgery promises more than a youthful look: They say it’s unsettling after a lifetime of looking alike to grow apart physically.

“It just seems like we’re closer than most other people,” says Ynette Sapp, 71, who underwent the surgery last week with her sister, Olvette Mahan.

“We enjoy looking alike,” adds Mahan, dressed, like Sapp, in white slacks and a black top.

Sapp and Mahan live in Oklahoma, while Bujacich and Totaro are from New Jersey.

They are the first two sets of identical twins that Antell, an attending physician at Beth Israel Medical Center, has performed face lifts on. He plans to operate on four more sets in coming months.

For Antell and others, adult identical twins offer a unique glimpse into the aging process.

“They have identical genes, a built-in control factor, so aging with them is a study of the environment, emotions, lifestyle,” said Nancy Segal, a psychologist writing a book about identical twins.

But research was far from the twins’ minds as they peered closely at each other’s faces Tuesday in Antell’s office.

“We’re definitely more alike than we were,” said Sapp.

Before, her sister said, “when we smiled, her wrinkles would kind of go down, and mine would kind of go up. Now, it’ll be difficult to tell the difference between us. I’m delighted.”

It was too soon Tuesday for Bujacich and Totaro to assess their surgery. Five days after their operations, their faces were still puffy.