“Liposuction (&B.A.) Flanks, Abdomen - Long Beach, CA”

Ok, so here is my story. I am in my late twenties and just got engaged. I wanted to get breast augmentation before the wedding and, after much research, decided that while I was at it, I would have lipo on my flanks, abdomen and mons pubis (coudn't they call it something cuter than that? lol). No matter how thin, I have always had a spare tire that made my butt look square-ish and long. My abdomen has always been lumpy-ish as well, no matter how thin. Liposuction was the answer.

Anyway, the price you see above is the cost I paid above breast augmentation, which was around $5500. You can save money by having multiple procedures performed at the same time :) I talk about the surgery in my breast augmentation review, so if you want info about that, check it out. It was my first surgery and I was very scared. It ended up being so easy and I felt almost no pain. Yay!

I pretty much was out of it for the next couple of days. I would say that during the first four days, my pain never exceeded a 4. I didnt have any of the drainage that some women talk about. This is hard to share, but be prepared for the possibility of the tumescent fluid causing your labia majora to swell and get a purpley and gross. Fear not, it will go away on its own after about a week :) Cute stuff.

I was numb and swollen with hard places for about ten days. Its just weird feeling. I made the mistake of managing my pain poorly. The surgery was so easy that after four days, I decided to go off the pain pills and proceeded to have seven very rough days. I had never had surgery before, so I just didnt understand and I dont like taking pills, so oops! Also, the compression garment started chaffing my skin so badly I wanted to cry. In short, I was miserable.

My neighbor, a nurse, helped me understand how to manage my pain and suggested diaper rash cream (zinc oxide or whatever) for the chaffing. I was a happy camper again :) I dont know if diaper rash cream is ok, so ask your surgeon before you use it. It made my life much easier. Liposuction was a lot harder on my body than the breast augmentation and if I were to go back and do it again, I would have taken a week off work to give myself the time I needed to recover from the lipo.

Now that its over, it was totally worth it. I am a little swollen still, but my squarish butt is gone, replaced with a lovely curvy figure. No more lumpy abdomen. It was totally worth it, but be wise and manage your pain.

My final word is to find a good surgeon who is ASPS certified. Did you know that any doctor can perform plastic surgery? ASPS certification ensures that you are working with a highly qualified plastic surgeon. I will return to update as necessary.

Updated on 23 Feb 2011:
It's been about four months now and I am still thrilled with my results. My life has been a little stressful and I have gained a couple pounds, but my body is proportional now, no more spare tire...I wish I would have done this years ago. One thing that I would like to address is the discomfort involved in lipo. Maybe if you just do one little area, it wont be a big deal, but if you do your abdoment and flanks like I did, make sure you take your arnica and be careful with your pain medication. I did neither and man was I sorry. I was told that I would feel like I really overdid it on a work out. It felt more like a car hit me. I was such an unhappy camper. That being said, if I had to do it again, I would. That's how great the results were and Dr. Daniels did a great job...but I would certainly be more careful about taking the arnica and pain medication.

Updated on 18 Mar 2011: