32 Years Old No Kids, Lipo of Stomach, Full Back/Bra Roll Fat Transfer to Side Dents on Buttocks - Chicago, IL

Excuse me folks, this might get quite lengthly so If you are someone who does not like to read, you may as well skip this and just look at the pictures. However if you are seriously contemplating getting this type of cometic surgery I would highly suggest that you read my entire post and learn something from it so that you can make an informed decision about your body before spending thousands of dollars.

As you can see from the 3 month post op photos. I had a decent outcome in some areas, and not so good outcome in others. For starters, I will say that my stomach area has improved greatly. I am able to buy smaller size bottoms which is great and was what I wanted. However, I still have swelling in my stomach area and my waist will not go below a size 32. I have continued to diet and exercise so I will contribute this to the remaining swelling. The swelling is also worse on the right side. The surgery center is offering me free ultrasound treatments to help break up some of the swelling/hardness as I also have some hardness in the areas where I had the fat transfer in my upper thigh/hip/buttock area. Unfortunately, for the lipo in my back area I feel did not have good results. I was really hoping for a smooth back so that I would not be self conscience about this area when naked and I could wear more fitted shirts. However the surgeon told me that I should not worry about this because "a lot of women have the back roll area problem" However I don't feel this is true. A lot of women don't have this problem and I do recognize that we do not choose where or how our bodies store fat. If I had known that this area would still look the same after the lipo, I would have never gotten it and I would have saved my money. The fat has been removed, but now the skin is loose and it just hangs there as if the fat is still there. When I touch it, it feels empty as opposed to when there was still fat in there it was more like a thick roll. I asked the surgeon if this skin will tighten and he said it probably will remain the way it is.

I now realize this skin was already stretched prior to surgery. When you gain weight, the skin stretches to accommodate more fat. Removing fat too quickly i.e.. (loosing weight too fast, weight loss surgery, or lipo) will often cause loose skin because the skin will not have enough time to repair itself and rebuild collagen and elasticity. I wish a more thorough assessment of my skin in the back fat areas could have been taken before the surgery. He should have been able to asses the skin and say "well I don't think doing lipo in this area will give you the results you are hoping for" Trust and believe if he said that, I would not have gotten the procedure. I remember him saying I think you'll see great improvement in this area which is certainly not the case. A great improvement would be maybe one very small roll left. Now the only thing I can really do is try to find a very good long line bra with a wide band that helps shape the back area. My stomach did not have much loose skin, which I'm thankful for.

I tried researching online ways to tighten loose skin. I've read lifting weights helps, but the surgeon said weight lifting will not help. He said the only way to get rid of the loose skin in my back is to have a bra line back lift surgery which will leave me with a scar across my entire back. So not worth it…. I read collagen protein supplements help, so I've been taking beef gelatin supplements and trying to drink lots of water eat lots of protein and lift weights, despite what he said. I'll post in a few months and let you all know how that goes. I will say that I do like how my shape is now more of an hour glass shape and my jeans and other clothes fit much better. I had continued doing the strength training on my lower body and the shape of my butt improved greatly. The lipo done below my waist and above my butt gave me the curve that I was looking for. I'm going to continue training and watching what I eat to improve my overall health.

Here's what I've learned. If I would have gotten my health in order in the first place, I wouldn't even be on this site writing this mess. If I would have been more consistent with my eating habits and exercise I would not have gained excess weight in my back area to have stretched the skin out in the first place. I don't even have any children so I honestly don't feel there was a reason for me to have gained so much weight, but that's my cross to bear. Please know that these surgeons are not God and they aren't miracle workers. They can only work with what they are given. But they can help improve things somewhat. That's not to say that I'm giving him a bad review. I still would highly recommend Dr. Shriffrin, he is a skilled surgeon, definitely, and he did a great job on my stomach and improved my overall shape. I can only hope and pray that my back area improves overtime, they also say that it can take up to a year for the body to properly heal and for skin to regain elasticity so I'm gonna hold out hope here. But if you are considering lipo on any area, make sure you are doing lots of weight lifting prior to your procedure so that once that fat is sucked out you have a nice layer of muscle laying underneath. Make sure that your surgeon really looks at the condition of the skin and the area you are having done prior to the procedure. Ask lots of questions. If you are very overweight, I would HIGHLY recommend losing weight prior to doing any of this mess. You might discover that you don't really need it in the first place. I'll continue to post updates as time goes on. All of these photos were taken last month in June 2015 during the week of my 3 month follow up appointment. If anyone has any questions please ask. Sorry it took so long to post updates, life gets busy sometimes.

Hello ladies. I had my procedure on Monday, March 2nd, and I am in terrible pain right now. I feel like I have bricks on my sides and I'm very swollen. To be honest I don't even want to post pictures right now. Had some draining yesterday that was pretty bloody, but haven't had any more since. My skin feels super hard and I've been putting ice packs on it, but that doesn't seem to help much. I got the best pictures I could since I didn't have anyone to help me. Once this pain goes away I will post more. It seems as though the fat in my bra roll area didn't all go away, but then again it feels like a lot of liquid in there, I think it just may be the swelling, at least I hope. Everyone at the surgery center was very kind and polite. They explained everything that they were doing. I was put to sleep under general anesthesia and when I woke up it was all over. Maybe I just don't take pain well, but the pain meds that they gave me don't seem to help much. I wish they would give something for inflammation. I had a nurse come to help for two days, but then she had to leave. I had to end up calling my mom to help me, which I didn't want to do, but she said she would be glad to help, and wouldn't go gossiping about my procedure to everyone, which was my main concern because she loves to gossip. :( I still haven't been able to have a bowl movement even though they gave me prescription laxatives. My last bowel movement was the morning of my surgery. I did but a box of enemas just in case. I'm gonna drink some of my green ballerina tea, that usually does the trick. I will keep you all posted. Even though I look extremely swollen, I think once the swelling goes down, I'll have the results I want. I go for my post op on Friday, they will be issuing my compression garments then.

Well, tomorrow is the surgery day for me. I am nervous but not as nervous as I thought I would be. I was looking at my unsightly fat again today in the mirror, and I'm like this is long overdue and I can not wait another minute to get rid of it. I really hope he is able to snatch my torso up tight :) If I can get my waist to at minimum a 28 or 29 after the surgery that would be cool, I'll just work the rest out through diet and exercise. Ideally I'l like to be about anywhere from a size 6 to a size 8 waist. I'm currently a size 14. As far as bust size once this back fat is eliminated I hope to be a 34 bust size. I think once my saddle bag is evened out I may lose an inch or two off the hip, I'm okay with that, I really don't have too much of an issue with my hips, just want them to be a little more round. I took my measurements this morning and here is what I'm working with pre-surgery.

Bust (around full breast): "40
Bust (underneath breast): ''36
Waist: ''34
Waist (belly button & below: ''37
Natural Hip: ''43
Hip/Saddle bag (around fullest part of buttocks): "46

I filled all of my prescriptions last week, did my grocery shopping this morning and picked up my supplies. I don't have to go back to work until the 12th, so hopefully I should get plenty of rest. I'll be posting about my experience and plenty of pictures. I've posted more pictures that I took this morning, so you all can see what I look like right before this procedure. For some reason many of the women on here put more pictures of their wish pic up than pictures of their own bodies before and after. I don't understand that. Hopefully everything that I post will be enough for to give someone enough information about the process. Pray for me.