Happy with my Neck Liposuction... - Calgary, AB
The cream Arnica is successful in eliminating the...
It is day 5 since I had my neck liposuction. I had...
It is day 5 since I had my neck liposuction. I had some bruises at the root of my neck and I take the cream Arnica for them.
My surgeon did three tiny incisions (pea sized or 0.5 cm long), two in front of each ear and one submental. He inserted the suctioning cannulas through them targeting the fat deposits at the jaw lines and the submental fat.
I can feel the results now although it is just day 5. The jaw line becomes evident and the fat below the chin has decreased. I still have some lumps but they are tender and when I press on them, I feel that there are fluid in them. I think those are small hematomas/seromas and I think they will go away as part of the healing process.
I am very happy with the results although it is too early to judge. I am very optimistic to see even better and more defined jaw/chin lines when the swelling disappears.
I am 37 yo male with a good skin elasticity, which I think a major factor that is helping a lot in getting the good results. My plastic surgeons took a lot of time in suctioning the fat. He told me when he saw me 24 hours after the procedure that he used three cannulas of different calibers to ensure adequate fat removal.
Honestly speaking, I was not expecting more than 50% improvement. This is because my surgeon told me before the procedure that men do not show dramatic results like women due to two main factors: (1) skin in men is thicker than women, and (2) the fat in men is not only superficial but gets intermixed with muscles (called it subplatysmal and subdigastric) making it hard to remove it in remarkable quantities unless open approach is used. This is in contrast to women whose fat thatis mainly superficial (subcutaneous) and therefore easier to be suctioned. It sounds that most of my fat was superficial and this explains the immediate results I am seeing now. [I think my surgeon was right in his inclination about men vs women fat...all the preop and postop photos are of women..rarely of men!!!!!]
The only thing that is bothering me now is the bruising. I got a lot of bruising..May be because my surgeon took his time in breaking the tissue!! I wouldn’t care much about the bruise if this indicates a good job by the surgeon!! I will go to work on Monday and I will mask it with some make up hopefully noone will notice it!!. [tip: may be better to do it in winter to be able to wear a scarf around your neck]
I look forward to seeing my final results weeks/months from now.
Many thanks to my great surgeon.
Replies (3)
Thanks for writing such a detailed review, Sam. Good luck with the rest of your recovery.
Sam, thanks for sharing your review. Bruising was a big issue for me as you can see in my photos. It goes away first, and then slowly the lumps go away too. The final skin shrinkage takes months.
In my case, about half the fat was under the muscle and the other half was on top. Previously, the fat on top of the muscle made it hard to see the muscle. Now that the subcutaneous fat is gone from lipo, when I press on the left or right outer edges under my chin the muscle tenses up and it's easy to see how much fat is directly under the muscle. As you note, that subplatysmal fat can only be removed by an "open" approach with a large (1.5" incision) that also allows the surgeon to sew the left and right platysmal muscle together into a sling.
Robert T wrote a great review of his neck lift that describes this. Before he posted it, I didn't really understand the difference between a neck lift and chin liposuction. That's partly because some doctors use those terms interchangeably or do neck lifts that involve incisions around the ears (which could cause you to have to shave behind your ears!). Sewing the platysmal muscles together to make a sling under your chin has a big impact that lipo alone cannot achieve.
He posted his review only 12 days before I had my lipo, and I wasn't ready to change the surgery. Considering how tough the recovery from lipo was, it would have been better to just go through the recovery once and go for the neck lift.
Sam, it sounds like your expectations were set well and I hope you have a great result. Keep us posted.