“Water-assisted smartlipo: upper/lower abdomen and love handles (34 y/o male)”

I've been researching Smart Lipo for some time and finally got up the courage to do the deed. Being a 34 year old man in decent shape (6'1" 205lbs), I had to convince myself it was acceptable for me to want to look better and to spend this kind of money to do it. I read and researched everything I could about the procedure and doctors. I picked my Dr. because of his experience and expertise.

Because I'm not located in AZ, I had a telephone consult with his staff in August where I submitted some pictures and was quoted a price based on my desired areas of improvement (uper and lower abdomen and my HUGE love handles).

I must have been slightly crazy because I paid 1/2 my bill (3k) upfront to lock in a date without having spoken to Dr. M. Well that day is tomorrow. I met with Dr. M and his staff this afternoon and I was relieved that he seems every bit as qualified and sincere as what I'd read. He really seems to do the most for his patients and is always considering new ways to make his treatments and procedures better.

For example, during my consult, he told me that he now uses water assisted lipo in addition to Smart Lipo because it helps in the healing process and leaves a better finished product. He described the fat cells like grapes on a vine. During Smart Lipo the grapes rupture when the laser hits them, letting the oily fat drain out, which is then removed by the small cannula. He said that "up until nine months ago that would have been the end of the story." However, at that time he's started harvesting stem cells for some of his patients and it happens that fat cells are great source for stem cells. In order to harvest stem cells he needed a new machine that he imported from Germany. This machine shoots high pressure water at the cells and allows him to remove not only the oil from the burst cells but also the cell remnants and other waste material. This significantly reduced recovery times and decreased swelling because the body didn't have as much work to do (i.e. not having to break down and absorb all the left over stuff). I thought taht's all great but why does it matter to me? Luckily he explained, and said it is imperative to get the swelling down ASAP as the collagen will start form at about week three. If the body is still swollen at that time, the collagen will form too large and the patient won't see significant tightening. At this point i was convinced he knew what he was talking about. He said he's done over 4,000 procedures and about 40% of his clientele is fixing previous lipo jobs, which again made me feel better.

Sorry for the long post but if you're considering a multiple thousand dollar investment, I thought I'd give you my experience. Anyway, I'm all marked up and will be heading in tomorrow at 8 AM. Wish me luck and I'll be posting my pics as soon as I pull them from my iPhone.

Updated on Oct 26, 2009:

Okay, made it to day seven and I'm still totally bruised and swollen. See pics above. I still look better than before the surgery so I'm still happy but I don't look nearly as good as the morning after. If my body can get back to that I'll be extrememly pleased.

Wearing the garment 24/7 is really getting to me but for the next seven days I only need to wear it 18hrs/day :(

Updated on Oct 27, 2009:

Updated on Oct 29, 2009:

I'm at day nine and I'm doing much better.

My stomach/flanks were hugely swollen for the past few days so I called my Dr. and he told me to get a lymphatic drainage massage. I'll called a local massage therapy place and got in last night. The massage was interesting and different from other massages I've had, it wasn't uncomfortable but not as relaxing as other types of massage. My goal was is reduced swelling.

About two hours after the massage I was swollen like a big white whale and I thought I'd done something terribly wrong. I applied some more arnica gel to the site and went to bed. The good news was after waking up this morning my swelling was down significantly and I felt good enough to do 3 1/2 miles on an elliptical machine.

My massage therapist also mentioned when doing my treatment that she's never felt a post-lipo patient who's treated area was so uniformly flat. She said usually there are lumps/bumps and other areas of left over fat or other issues with lipo patients. I told her I flew to Scottsdale to have Water assisted and Smart Lipo done which isn't really done in this area. I thought it was a good complement to Dr. M. If I'd gone to his massage therapist in Scottsdale and heard that statement, I'd take it with a grain of salt but this came from a independent therapist.

I'll shoot more pics next Tues at my 14day mark to show the progress. Overall I'm very happy with my investment and hope this info helps anyone else trying to make a decision or going through recovery.

Updated on Nov 4, 2009:

I just took my 14 days post surgery pics and I'm very pleased. Last week I was HUGE with swelling and when I touched my stomach and flanks it felt like I had a flak jacket under my skin. I had three lymphonic drainage massages between days 7 and 12 and that seemed to help.

I also bought an ultrasonic massager (MendMeShop Ultrasound Pain Therapy System) and started using that three times a days and that is when I saw HUGE improvement. I don't know if my body was just healing naturally or if the stuff I did helped but I do know I was getting bigger before I got the massages and started the ultrasound. 

As you can see in the pictures I'm looking much better at day 14 than at day 7 but am still swollen and still have a lot of hard spots and lumps. I'm guessing I have one to two inches of swelling in my stomach.

I was able to start execersising (low impact, walking, eliptical, stairmaster) on day seven and after my first session (30 minutes) I was really swollen but now at day 14 I'm back to my normal workout schedule (3 days of aroebic, 3 days of weights) I'm still taking it easy on my mid-section but I was able to do a full upper body and arms on Monday and will do a complete lower body today.

Updated on Nov 18, 2009:

The most recent photos below were shot at day 28 (I'm at day 30 today) but must like my pics at day 14, I'm still pretty swollen in my lower ab area. My flanks never got too bad. However, as you can see from the pictures, my stomach, while smaller, is lumpy and bumpy. I also still have a lot of numbness in my abdomen and flanks and it feels strange when I run or get on a stair master but what can one expect when they remove that much material.

As for my weight, I'm down to about 197 lbs, which is about 10 lbs lighter than when I was when I went into the surgery. The reason may be that I'm hitting the gym pretty hard and that my appetite hasn't fully returned.

I've got my one month visit to Dr. Malan next week so it will be interesting to see what he says.

Do I look totally lumpy to you all or is it that I've been staring at my stomach too long?

Front Prior

Back (love HANDLES) Prior

Front 24 outs post procedure

Back 24 hours post procedure

bruised and stomach is hard as a rock (not in a good way)

Swollen flanks

Front 14 days post

Back 14 days post op

Front 28 days post

Back 28 days post