Littleton Liposculpture doctors

Ask your surgeon about what garment they recommend for your liposuction and tummy tuck surgery.

In our practice, we measure our patients at their preoperative appointment and order their garment for them. For a tummy tuck surgery, I routinely perform liposuction of the hips and lower back.

While important, your compression garment is only part of the equation.

Here are 5 "Homework Assignments" that I feel help optimize recovery from Liposuction and Tummy Tuck procedures:

1. Nutrition and Smoking - Good nutrition for plastic surgery includes a balanced diet, plenty of protein and a multivitamin with iron. We assess our patients' diets and make other specific nutritional recommendations. For Tummy Tuck surgery, I require that patients stop smoking at least 4-6 weeks before surgery.

2. Compression garment - I use a compression garment body suit that spans from just under the breasts for a minimum of 1 week. I then recommend wearing a Spanx-type garment that is one size too small.

3. Peri-operative Touch Therapy -  In our practice, we have a peri-operative touch therapist that performs lymphatic light-touch therapy during your postoperative visits. Our therapist also educates patients on self-massage techniques for their tissues and scars.

4. Walking - I ask patients to walk every day after surgery and expect this to increase to 20 minutes a day by 1 week after surgery. Walking helps to improve circulation and breathing and shortens recovery time.

5. Home Massage - After the first week, I feel that "working the tissues" is likely the most important thing a patient can for their recovery. For liposuction of the hips and lower back, we recommend using a 6-inch foam roller for self-massage of the trunk area. Our peri-operative therapist teaches patients how to use the foam roller and how to perform scar massage.

Hope this helps
Nick Slenkovich, MD FACS