Even Caitlyn Jenner's doctors can't get over her transformation.
"I don't want to show off, but I think she's ecstatic with the results," Dr. Harrison Lee, the plastic surgeon who presided over Jenner's facilial feminization procedure, told E! News in an exclusive sit-down Tuesday. Lee worked in conjunction with Dr. Gary Alter, who performed the work on Caitlyn's body, including her breast augmentation. Both are licensed in California and New York.
Overall, the surgeries took about 10 hours and the full healing process can take up to a year, the doctors said—making it all the more amazing just how quickly the star of E!'s upcoming docu-series I Am Cait got ready to greet the world as her true self.
(With the release of her Vanity Fair cover on June 1, Caitlyn has chosen to publicly identify as a woman and E! News will refer to her using female pronouns. In stories published prior to this date, Caitlyn was referred to as Bruce and male pronouns were used.)
"She healed remarkably fast," Lee said. "Maybe because she's an Olympic athlete... I mean, at 65, she is in remarkable health."
Alter, who's certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Urology, did the body procedures first, and then Lee worked on Caitlyn's face—the plan for which she had previously talked about on Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
"Men tend to have a prominent brow bone," Lee explained, using a model head to illustrate, "[so you] do a little bit of a brow lift, just to soften the image." As for the work on Caitlyn's jaw, "we go insidet he mouth and actualy take off the outer portion of the bone and soften it." Lee is certified by the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the American Board of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery and the American Board of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery.
Caitlyn, whom we already know is about as brave as can be, had told her kids back in January that she wasn't scared about undergoing the surgery.
Caitlyn debuted her gorgeous face and bod on the July cover of Vanity Fair, Annie Leibovitz doing the honors behind the camera.
While the response has been overwhelmingly positive (this video of children learning about Caitlyn will absolutely melt your heart), she knew that there would be plenty of critics who questioned the timing of her transition.
"'Oh, she's doing a stupid reality show. She's doing it for the money. She's doing this, she's doing that,'" Caitlyn called out the doubters in her game-changing VF cover story. "I'm not doing it for money. I'm doing it to help my soul and help other people. If I can make a dollar, I certainly am not stupid. [I have] house payments and all that kind of stuff. I will never make an excuse for something like that. Yeah, this is a business. You don't go out and change your gender for a television show. O.K., it ain't happening. I don't care who you are."
"I'm not doing this to be interesting," she added. "I'm doing this to live."
Tune into E! News for more on our exclusive interview with Caitlyn Jenner's surgeons—and don't miss the premiere of I Am Cait on July 26 at 9 p.m., only on E!