6 Months POST-OP BBL Dr. Cortes *new pics*

Officially 6 months post op as of December 24th. I went to see Dr. Cortes on December 16th for a follow up. I haven't seen him since I was one week post-op. When I got to his new Houston office he was definitely a lot busier but always pleasant as is everyone in his office. I didn't have a good experience in his waiting room. When I walked in to his office is was pretty full so I had to stand by the door. After about 30 mins or so a couple walked in and sat behind me where I was standing. Apparently she was there for a new consult and didn't let her husband know what kind of doctors office it was and he was a jerk,rude, and obnoxious. He said very loudly "is this an f**ken day care" (there were children in the waiting room and 3 adults including myself and I was the only one standing) "b**ches in here with fake asses and sh*t" "whatever your here for get your ass like hers" "I'm gonna ask her if her ass is fake"!!! Mind you I'm the only one standing and they sitting right behind me so I know he was talking about me. His wife was just laughing and telling him to be quiet. I was furious and I was getting ready to address his ass but the nurse called me in. He was lucky my husband wasn't with me or it would be a problem in that waiting room. I told Dr. Cortes and Deanna what was going on and they told me that they don't allow that in their office and will take care of it. The nurse who called me in told me that they have kicked people out of their office before for acting like that. So I was happy they wouldn't stand for that. Anyway other than that everything is great my body continues to change. I am still considering a revision or u can call shaping/projection. I want add more projection to get a bigger crease and more of an upside down heart shape butt. I'm thinking sometime in April before my one year mark. I spoke to Lucy today for a quote I was advised to send updated pics so Dr. Cortes can see what I want. When I seen him on the 16th I asked for a revision and he said I didn't need it. I'm one of the few patients that still have swelling in my legs so that tells him that my body will continue to change. So I don't need a revision he can do it but he doesn't think I need it. He did give me 4 cortisone shots ( one in my left thigh, 2 in my left, and one on my left hip) for the hard spots. Immediately the next day I noticed and felt a huge difference. Overall I am definitely happy and doing the best that I can to maintain my results. I currently work out 3 times a week and I want to loose about 10lbs (I wish I was at my goal weight before surgery). I'm not a picture person so these are the only pictures I have. I will try to take more and post them.

I want to clarify that I wore my garment for 4 months the only ONE that actually didn't ended up falling apart on me. And after 4 months I just wore my ann chery latex vest waist cincher

Where do I start??!!! I had my bbl (lipo to my stomach, flanks, back, and thighs)done with Dr. Cortes on 6/24/2013 and wrote a review for him a few weeks after not going into too much detail. I did some research and decided to go with Dr. Cortes because of his youtube videos, his results, and his reviews. And mostly importantly because my mom lives in Houston and I traveled from Los Angeles. I never knew real self existed until after I posted a review for him and thereafter I started reading other bbl experiences and decided to come back with my own personal experience and hopefully it will be helpful to someone who is pre and post op bbl.

I am currently 5 1/2 months post-op bbl and its definitely been up and down emotionally, mentally, and physically. Going into this surgery (which I have been wanting for a long time) I was so excited that I thought it would be a breeze recovering but for me it's definitely been a challenge. Till this day I'm about 80% back to normal. I'm pretty much almost there but the problem I have most and I am aware it does take longer to recover are the lipo to my thighs. On my right inner thigh it's still pretty hard (even though I had 15 lymphatic massages) which prevents me from bending my leg, lifting my leg up, and when I sit for more than an hour at a time and get up I feel like my skin is going to fall off. So I still I have to wear my compression thigh highs and it does help.

For the first 4 months post-op I pretty much didn't sit at all. I probably sat a handful of times. Even now I only sit when I have to drive, restaurants, etc. But when I am home I do not sit and I still lay on my stomach. I know after 3 months I could sit but mentally I wasn't ready. I was a wreck (and I still am today which drives my hubby crazy). I keep thinking that if I sit even though I know its ok I feel like every time I do sit my butt would disappear when I get up and the sad part is that I still think that way LOL.

Wearing my garment was one of my challenges. I was going through so many of them because they never fit right. I can never get it over my hips and once I did the zipper would break off and it would give me terrible burns. I spent so much on garments and ended up only being able to wear them for literally a couple days before it falls apart on me. The garment(s) I had I cut the butt out on my own and I hated them. It literally changed my attitude and I was really horrible to be around. I would snap at everyone because it was painful and I had to wear them. I did not take any pain killers after my surgery or at any time during my post-op. I only took advil when needed. I guess you can say I have a high tolerance for pain but it was really mentally I wanted to recover faster so I sucked it up. And the garment isn't any fun. I currently only wear my waist cincher (its an ann chery latex waist cincher) pretty much all day/night and my compression thigh highs.

I do love my results. Dr. Cortes definitely gave me the curves I wanted. I don't know what exactly my pre-op measurements were (I know they weren't cute LOL) but at 3 months I was 34-33-49 1/2 and my current measurements are 34-27 1/2-48 1/2. I started working out mostly squats and lower body workouts everyday for the last 2 weeks. My weight has been up and down for the last few years so Dr. Cortes did advise me that I may have some loose skin which I definitely do have. I thought about doing a tummy tuck but decided not to even consider that right now because I don't have any kids yet so I will have to wait until after I do. The loose skin bothers me a lot so I did some research to see what I can do to help lose and tighten up my skin/stomach without doing too much cardio because I didn't want to loose my butt (that's why its so important pre op bbl ladies to get close to your desired weight before having the surgery. I wish I did that prior to my surgery) and came across some detox body wraps. I tried one full treatment and it helped me loose a few inches on my waist and minimized my loose skin. I am thinking about doing another treatment to see how my loose skin will look after. I will keep everyone posted.

The only thing that I would say I want more of is projection. He gave me really nice curves I couldn't work out to get on my own but I want more projection. I want that nice crease at the bottom of my butt. And I have a flat part (dent) on both my right and left mid cheek (I hope that the squats will help fill it out more). I don't know how that happened because I really didn't even sit for the first 4 months. I'm guessing my body just didn't take the fat in that area. Which is why I am considering a revision before I am a year post-op. When I see Dr. Cortes for a follow-up visit I will be discussing that with him and I will keep everyone posted. My hubby doesn't want me to do it again because I drove him crazy but he doesn't understand truly how this surgery makes you feel and what you go through. I know nothing is perfect but I would like to get close to that or at least where I am comfortable with my results.

My butt has dropped once I turned 5 months a couple weeks ago. I think this is what fluffing is but it hasn't given me the fluffing and rounding out that I am looking for hopefully that will change within the next couple months with time and squats. I definitely have days where I am in love with my results and days where I get depressed and feel like my butt went away, its not big enough, I hate the dents, and what did I do wrong. That's when I start bugging my hubby asking him where did my butt go, it's not big enough, why doesn't my butt look like hers, she has better results than I do, and I tend to go on and on. He tries to comfort me and he says all the right things but sometimes it doesn't matter he can't change how I feel. So ladies its a roller coaster and I didn't expect this at all. I don't know why some days I feel like this but again ladies this is my own personal experience. Maybe I'm just use to seeing my butt everyday and I'm greedy and want more booty??!!! But one thing is for sure I want more projection. I will post some pictures once I figure out how to cover my tattoos in the pics for my own privacy. Until then I will try to update more often. If anyone has any questions I will be happy to answer!