To lipo or not to lipo (flanks & back)?

Awesome! I can live vicariously through you until I have my tt and can wear tight lil' t-shirts and bikinis. :) It is so interesting how everyone's stories are so different, yet it is the same when it comes to the first week being the toughest and then people feeling really good about their bodies. That is great..that you did your research. Five year...that is amazing! I actually started consults last year and now I figure I should just go for it since what is the point of waiting any longer. I am not getting any younger, that is for sure. :) I bet you look awesome in your bikini, and feel that way also. So happy for you...

You sound just like me! Now I am swimming in all of my shirts :-) The styles lately have been baggier and longer so I took full advantage of that, but now I want to show off my new waist! Victoria secret t-shirts are the best for that :-) I am feeling much much better at this point. Doing my spinning classes, weights, running, all that fun stuff. I feel like me again which is great. They say that over the first year of healing the results get better and better so that makes me happy because i feel really good right now! I did plan my surgery so I would be pretty well healed by summer. But I had been thinking about it and searching for 5 years so it has been a long time coming. The first month is the worst but really the first week. Then it is just annoying not being able to stand up straight and just not feeling like yourself. It seems like time moves so slow but I look back and it really has gone fast. Oh and I did buy my first bikini since before kids I am so excited!!

It is so nice to hear that you are able to wear your jeans without having the ol' muffin top (cannot stand it). I am always wearing baggier shirts or sweaters to cover up the ring around my waist...it is so uncomfortable always trying to hide it & feeling it over my jeans, and pulling the front of my jeans over the roll so that it does not hang there. It will be so nice being able to wear form fitting clothes and not have my belly stick out as if I am three or four months pregnant. Yay! Cannot wait! Does not sound fun in regards to the spinal...although I would rather have a headache than consecutive throwing up moments after a tt. I guess I will have to see what happens. So I am sure you are feeling much better and are able to pretty much do what you want..? It will be nice being completely healed by summer time..for you. You will be able to wear a bikini..wow! :)

I am so glad I did it and I would do it all over again! I actually just put on one of my favorite pairs of jeans that I have saved just tucked away today and they fit perfect. I have a belt on and no muffing top, I love it! Even in the past when I have gotten down to the weight that is good for me I still had that roll in the front of skin that wouldn't go away at all. Yuck! Now I can tuck in my shirt with a perfectly flat stomach and feel great! You will be so glad you did it. I never had general anesthesia so they gave me a bunch of anti-nausea medicine. It worked great I didn't feel sick at all however my mouth was very dry after surgery. Maybe that is normal anyway but I was glad to not feel sick. I am not sure if I would want the spinal. Would you be away during surgery then? I had spinals for my c-secions and everything was fine but sometimes fluid can collect where they do the spinal and cause very bad headaches and you have to have it drained. My sister had that happen after her c-sections and it sucked. A nights stay in the hospital would have been wonderful! I went home afterwards so you will really like that! I am excited for you!

Wow! So it has taken you a little bit longer to heal. You know, that is something I won't know until after surgery. I just hope that I am able to return to work after two weeks. Although if I am hunched over...it will be obvious I did something. :( I am glad you are feeling better...Your results are amazing! You look great! Do you love getting dressed now? Was it worth it? It must be nice being over with the surgery though. It is so nice to hear your story and see your results. My surgery is schedules for the 29th of March. It's funny because I am still trying to decide between two surgeons. One: does spinal tap vs. general anesthesia, a pain pump and no lipo. The other: does lip with his TT, does general anesthesia, one night stay at the hospital, no pain pump, & offers laser to treat the scar. I have heard amazing things about both. They are board certified plastic surgeons, etc. It is just so difficult to decide, but I am thinking I will go with the doctor who offers lipo & night stay at the hospital. I usually get super sick with general anesthesia, and that is why the other doctor sounds so appealing. I do not want to get sick & throw up after a TT. I will be making my final decision this week. We'll see.

I had my TT on December 2nd so I am 13 1/2 weeks now. The muscle repair has been the worst to deal with. So painful. The first week even the with pain pump was very hard I needed help getting up all the time and I felt bad waking my husband up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Poor thing he slept on the sofa with me so he was at my beck and call :-) I don't know how I would have felt without the pain pump. It is primarily for the upper abs because that is what seems to hurt the most. I didn't stand up straight for a month. I kept feeling like I was but my husband said I looked like a little old lady. By the end of the day I got more hunched. It was wierd though after a month I just took a turn for the better and all of a sudden realized I was standing up straight. I never had pain from my incision in regards to standing up straight, it was that darn muscle repair. I still have soreness around my belly button and just above that I notice when exercising and sleeping. Strange but I notice it at night when I am lying flat. My doctor said it is scar tissue pulling and to just message it. Sorry I am blabbing. I am still swollen too that takes forever to go away. Not so much my flanks from the lipo just my lower abs and just above the belly button. I am getting more patient now though. I know the first month was a day by day thing. Now I am far enough along that I am back into a routine and time is moving much faster. When is your surgery?

I do think you look tiny but only you will know how you will feel in your clothes. If you would have that extra bulge over your pants that will drive you crazy and in my opinion is very hard to get rid of. I had lipo of the flanks with my TT and I was fine. A small amount of bruising but nothing major and to me not a big deal to deal with. The Muscle repair with my TT was the hardest to deal with. Very sore. I did have a pain pump and I had no pain in my upper abs with it. I coudn't imagine the pain without it. I am so happy I got the lipo because I knew it was a trouble area for me. Do what you think would be best. It is easier to get the lipo on the flanks with the TT because they aren't making any new holes in your body, that is what would happen if you did it later. You seem to be a small person, and probably keeps good to your diet and healthy eating so i don't see you needing to worry about gaining huge amounts of weight after surgery. If you keep healthy you won't gain in other areas. I think people who get lipo as a means of weight loss are those that gain weight back and it goes to other areas. Good Luck!

Ladies, I truly wanted to thank you for providing me with invaluable input in regards to my lipo question. It is such a difficult choice to make. Especially after reading on RealSelf about weight gain after lipo, and it kind of freaked me out. Many of the ladies were experiencing weight gain in other areas of their bodies and they saw their bodies shift and change in shape due to the gain in areas of their bodies where they had never gained weight. I totally understand that some of the fat will just not go away. I mean, that is pretty much where the majority of my fat is..in the mid section (after having babies). Overall, what bothers me most is the bulging belly, the deformed belly button, and the fact that no matter how many seat-ups...it will not go away. So...I think I am just going for the tummy tuck and have a half a muffin top. :) Not pretty! But I would rather keep it there than have it build elsewhere.

Have you ladies experienced weight gain in other areas after lipo? This kind of scares me. Again, thank you so much for your advice and words of wisdom. I hope you are getting better each day.

I personally say go for what your heart tells you. If you know for a fact that when you put jeans on, that you're not happy with the areas on flanks and back, then go for it! Why on earth go through all the pain I a tummy tuck and still be self conscious of "part" of your midsection? I personally had the full meal deal, TT with MR and lipo of the flanks/lower back. I can tell you that what the ladies say is true, it hurts, and is still the source of most of my pain at 4 1/2 weeks PO. But, when I button my pants, there's nothing hanging over those jeans, and I LOVE it!

Some more specific reasons I say no to lipo is because that is wjhere the majority of swelling comes from. Two girls on this site that I know of who did NOT have lipo to flanks had flat stomachs immediately...look up Bella83 and mm98031..now that last one did have lipo on thighs and it gave her a lot of pain and swelling but she says she would still do it.
I have massive swelling in my lower back from the lipo..it will be months before the sway of my back returns. I understand had I not done it, I would have had muffin tops but due to swelling I will look odd shaped and look like I have muffin tops for many monhts to come.
I am just trying to be honest with you..you are not chubby enough for lipo..it will make your recovery a lot harder.
Agree with private, lots of my skin feels burned, a have lumps on thighs that will take up to 6 months to go away,
I have an awesome PS so I have no compliants with her, I just think the lipo made this process suck even more.
I am bruised all the way down to my feet, my feet are literally black and blue BUT I am an extreme case for the brusing part so that probably would not happen to you. Doc said gravity can sometime bring the brusing down the legs but admitted she had never had a patient with it all the way down to the feet.


Privatetoday...what is up with hubby, what doesn't he like? Your pics look awesome. What is he unhappy about? I am sorry he is not being supportive. Do NOT feel ashamed. Our tummies were destroyed by carring babies and nothing was going to fix that except a tummy tuck..the lipo part is easy to but into cuz you feel like, well I am already on the table so may as well get a little touched up.

I also agree with newmom...it's hard to remember everything but I do remember telling EVERYONE who asked how I was doing that I thought the Lipo was worse than the tummy!!!! and I also bruised from my flanks to my knees!!! looked awful! It's a soreness that's hard to describe...not a politically correct term but did you ever get an "indian burn" when you were a kid?? lol. Thanks what my whole back felt like...a numb...sore..feeling...it would itch and hurt when I scratched. Three months later and it still feels weird where the Lipo was done....I'm just not a fan.

Thank you also for your input newmom...I appreciate hearing from ladies who have gone through it. As I mentioned above, I have a muffin top all around the waist area, and I wouldn't be happy with my abs being flat and extra bulge on my back. How did lip make the recovery more difficult? I guess I think I would rather have it all done now and not later. What do you think? I have other pictures on questions to the doctors, which show pictures of me in jeans. Thanks again...and you also look amazing!

You really dont need the lipo and it makes recovery A LOT harder. Look at my pics on my review, although I am an extreme case of brusing, I did not have a ton of lipo done. Had flanks and minimal on inner/outer thighs. If I had to do it all over again, I would pass on the lipo. You really don't have any extra fat on flanks, why pay for it money wise and recovery wise. best wishes.

I would say "No" to the lipo on the flanks. You look great! My PS did aa small amount of in my waist from the front...I think it looks pretty good! I also had lipo of the flanks and back but not really sure that I would do that again.