Coronation Street star reveals secret £8k surgery after ‘years of unhappiness' – despite risking going BLIND

Scottish Sun

19-05-2025

She admitted that she would avoid smiling and wear specific makeup
WIDE OPEN Coronation Street star reveals secret £8k surgery after 'years of unhappiness' – despite risking going BLIND
A STAR from Coronation Street has revealed her secret £8k surgery after 'years of unhappiness'.
This is despite the potential risk of going blind with the procedure.
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Lisa George looks has revealed her secret £8k surgery
Credit: Instagram
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The actress starred in Coronation Street for over a decade from 2011 until 2014
Credit: Rex
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She admitted that she was self conscious about her looks when she starred on the soap
Credit: Rex
Lisa George, 52, played Beth Tinker on the ITV soap for 13 years from 2011 until 2024.
She also competed on the twelfth series of Dancing On Ice in 2020, where she came in fifth place.
Back in January, the actress opted to undergo invasive Blepharoplasty surgery.
The procedure involves burning off excess skin from the eyelids as well as a brow lift.
Lisa has now admitted that she decided to have the surgery after years of 'unhappiness' over her looks.
In pictures, the former Coronation Street star admitted that she would avoid smiling as she was so self-conscious.
The star also admitted that would only wear specific make-up on screen to hide her eye lids.
Lisa told The Mail: "It was really getting me down because my eyelids just started sagging so much.
"When I was at Corrie my character had to wear loads of eyeshadow.
"They'd put all this eyeshadow on my eyes and it sort of sat in all the wrinkles and it just looked like it has been dragged across my eyelid and I hated the way it looked.
Lisa George's Brave Battle with Eye Disease
"I was just so unhappy but I didn't have the confidence to do anything about it."
The star also revealed that she didn't receive any criticism or comments on her appearances from co-stars and it was entirely her feelings.
"No-one ever said anything to me, there were no comments, it was more about me being critical of myself," the actress admitted.
"It was just really bothering me. Every time I was putting my make-up on there were my eyes.
Coronation Street's 2024 shock exits
Corrie has said goodbye to several cast members this year. Let's break down who's left the famous soap:
Eliza Woodrow (Savannah Kunyo) has said farewell to Corrie to start a new life in Germany.
The youngster moved to live with her dad Dom Everett, who went back on the £10,000 bribe Eliza's grandfather Stu had offered to keep him out of her life.
Paul Foreman (Peter Ash) will bow out of the soap this summer when he loses his fight with motor neurone disease (MND) in tragic scenes.
After being diagnosed last year, the fan favourite was devastated to learn he only had months left to live.
Viewers know he is planning to take his own life to end his suffering.
Summer Spellman (Harriet Bibby) departed the cobbles after being offered the opportunity of a lifetime to study in America.
Though she struggled to decide with her stepdad Paul's impending death from MND, she was convinced she had to live her life to the full.
Simon Barlow (Alex Bain) has struggled with the sudden departure of his father Peter from the cobbles.
The Weatherfield legend left his family and loved ones behind on Boxing Day, 2023, when his wife Carla Connor encouraged him to travel around the world with a friend.
Simon's been on a downward spiral ever since and his exit could end in tragedy.
Alya Nazir is set to leave the cobbles as actress Sair Khan prepares to go on maternity leave ahead of the birth of her first child.
It looks likely she'll be heading to Dublin after securing a lucrative new job, leaving her colleague and fling Adam Barlow behind.
Show stalwart Sue Cleaver, who plays Eileen Grimshaw, is taking a break to star in the Sister Act The Musical UK tour. She will be back filming in May once her dates on the tour come to an end.
Her character left the Street after her son Jason broke his back after falling off a moped in Asia.
"I didn't ever like smiling in photographs because of the way my eyes looked."
At the beginning of last year she booked herself in for a consultation with a top facial surgeon in Manchester, just as she prepared to leave the cobbles.
She decided that it was the right time to do something about her problem.
However, she didn't book the £8,000 operation for another year as she was terrified about the risks of the operation, which included potential blindness.
I was just so unhappy but I didn't have the confidence to do anything about it.
Lisa George
She also revealed that she was diagnosed with an eye condition known as NAION - non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy.
This a rare genetic condition which involves sudden vision loss which is caused by a lack of delivery of blood flow and oxygen to the optic nerve.
She had already suffered a small number of incidents which caused her to only have peripheral vision in one eye after permanent vision loss in the other.
Lisa told the outlet: "It wasn't something I rushed into. It took me a year after that initial consultation before I went back with my fears and the risks of having the procedure.
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"But my surgeon was so wonderful, he showed me the statistics and testimonials of other people who had had it done.
She added: "He then sent me a long document assuring me that any surgery I had done would not affect my NAION because it's a completely different part of eye.
"I was still really nervous but booked myself in for the surgery back in January."
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The actress only thought about doing something as she prepared to leave the cobbles
Credit: Rex Features
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Lisa was previously diagnosed with a rare genetic eye condition
Credit: Instagram/Lisa George
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She didn't book the operation for a year after seeing the consultant as she was scared of going blind
Credit: Instagram