Smart Lipo: Stories

I had Smart Lipo and Cellulaze done. I am 46 years old, 5'3" and 132 lbs. I had the procedures done on May 17, 2012. This is Day 2. I was scheduled for 6:00am and left the facility at 11:00am including recovery time. I did intensive research on the procedures and opted to have them performed by a plastic surgeon. Actually, only plastic surgeons may perform Cellulaze at this time. I have no complaints about the facility and the staff. They were all great and did not make you feel rushed.

I chose to do these procedures because I want to look better in a bathing suit and would like to be able to wear shorts without thinking about the cellulite on the back of my legs. I had what they call Type 2 cellulite, it wasn't too bad but in my opinion, bad enough. I also had excessive fat in the belly area that did not budge with exercise. My Smart Lipo included full abdomen, hips, and bra saddlebags, plus the Cellulaze for the cellulite.

Day 1: I got home and felt lots of pain in the legs from the Cellulaze. On a scale from 1 to 10, the pain was an 8 on meds for about 4 hours. I had lots of leakage from the Smart Lipo but it subsided after day 1. I was up and around and the pain was actually better as I was standing. I didn't eat much and this was the biggest mistake of all. By 9:00pm EST, I actually fainted and my husband was able to catch me as dead weight. After I woke up from the faint, I stayed in bed for the rest of the night.

Day 2: I was still weak from the previous day and felt faint to use the bathroom. I was in a lot of pain in the abdomen area in the morning. No pain in the thighs and legs today. Some pain in the back. On the scale of 1-10, the abdomen pain in the morning was a 9 on no pain medication but subsided after 15 minutes once medication was taken. Tip the nurse gave me after the procedure was to take the pain medication with something warm like coffee or tea and it kicks in within 12 minutes. If you take it with water it takes 40 minutes.

Can't speak to the bruising as of yet. My surgeon does not want me to remove the garment so I am unable to see the whole body but I can tell that there is lots of bruising. To that end let me also add that I bruise easily and I was expecting this. I have been taking Arnica for bruising and Bromelain for swelling one month before the procedure. I will post pictures as soon as I am able to.

Day 2 Update: Evening 10:30 pm EST, no pain medication and currently not having pains. Feeling body soreness only.

Day 3: Feeling soreness in the abdomen and back area. Hard to move getting in and out of bed, however, completely off the pain medications. Scheduled for the follow-up visit on Day 5. This is when I will be able to see the incisions, bruising, and whether there is an immediate difference or not.

Day 4: I have been able to move around today quite a bit; I even did laundry. I loosened the garment on the sides to pull out the gauges and the bruising and swelling is horrific! Also, I am 7 pounds heavier on the scale. I sure hope the swelling goes down soon and I end up smaller and better than when I started. I was hoping to get back to work soon.

Day 6: Had my first follow-up post-op visit yesterday and my swelling and bruising was horrific! Today for the first time, weigh the same as I did when I went into surgery. However, my pants fit funny because my body is a different shape. I have a tremendous amount of swelling in the lower abs giving me a pooch, never had that before. I can't even imagine what it will look like once the swelling is down.

The biggest pain is in the lower abs, which is also where the most swelling and bruising is. The pain happens when I am sitting or laying down and try to stand up. It takes me while to straighten up because of the swelling and pain. So, if you are thinking about having this done, plan to take some time off of work! I had no idea the recovery process would be so painful and lengthy. In regards to the Cellulaze, the back of my legs are not as bruised, they look better than they were but still numb. This area is suppose to improve over the next 6 months. I get tingling feelings behind the legs every once in a while. I guess this is part of the healing process. :o)

Today is exactly one week from my surgery. My weight this morning was 132.6 and I was at 132 the morning of the procedure. The weight seems to be dropping a few ounces daily but I am still very swollen and bruised.

I am able to turn from side to side during my sleep with some discomfort. The headaches have subsided, for me, this was one of the side effects from the surgery or medications I was perscribed post-op. I have been off the Tylenol for two days now, this is good since Tylenol is hard on the liver.

A tip that I read on this site was to administer Neosporin on the incisions and cover them up with a BandAid, I have done just that and can only hope for the best.

It has been 3 weeks since my procedure. The swelling subsided significantly but I am still pretty swollen in the lower abs. The lower back area is still bruised and I still feel a tremendous amount of tenderness and soreness around the midsection. I am still wearing a Spanx garment 24 hours. It has been a slow recovery process.

So what does my body look like? At this point, it is still hard to tell what the final results will look like. My body appears thinner in some places but it looks different on different days. I can only hope for a positive result as time passes. The thighs where the cellulaze was done still shows signs of cellulite. I will have to continue waiting for results.

It has now been four weeks, I started to get the massages last week. Since the recovery process has been slow for me, I was nervous and a bit skeptical about he massages. However, I actually felt better afterwards. I began to use the treadmill again and will continue to incorporate other exercises as well. I still have bruising around my lower back. My body is beginning to show an improvement. There is still numbness and swelling mostly n the lower abdomen area.

It has now been 8 weeks since I had my procedure. I have been on two vacations and am scheduled for another one within the next 10 days. Due to this, I have had minor weight gain but I must say that my body shape is beginning to look different in a good way. I still feel lots of numbness in the abdominal area and the back of the thighs from the cellulaze, which means there is still swelling but I am excited to begin to see some real results. I am checking off the "Worth It" button for the first time!! :o)