“$10,000 spent on "myself"- worth it”

Let's see... I've been researching Smart Lipo for some time now.  Without RealSelf, and all of your reviews, I don't know if I would have had the courage to go through with this.  I've never had anything done cosmetically. Nevertheless, here I sit 5 days out on 3 areas and 1 day out on 2 areas. 

Both procedures were conducted using what many of you have already described so I'll be brief. Areas were marked, tumescent was injected and laser was used along with suction.

Medications- Cephalexin (antibiotic) twice daily starting before day of surgery, Celebrex once daily for swelling, Meprozine every 4 hours as needed for pain, Lunesta for sleep (1 taken before procedure ond 1 on day 3 for sleep... there were only 3 total).

First Procedure- (Tuesday) upper and lower abs and inner thighs. During the procedure, the area surrounding my belly button was the most sensitive.  I really can't describe the pain other than to say it was short in length, deep, and dull.  It was not like a sharp stick, for me, that some have described. Dr. Kemp was so patient and tried very hard to get all that he could.  I know he worked on me for close to 5 hours. I appreciated the time he spent as he asked the nurse what she thought. 

As for the pain...THE ABS...oh my..It was much worse than the feeling you get from a real hard workout.  It was hard to sit, stand, turn, etc.  My only job was to take and pick the kids up from school and that was asking a lot. There would have been NO WAY I could have gone to work on day 1 or 2 following the procedure.  Mid-day, on day 2, I started to realize that I was okay and things improved dramatically from there.  Day 3 was easy, nothing more than soreness. 3rd day out, I even sat at sporting events.

During first procedure (Tuesday).  The doctor removed 1500 cc from my abs and thighs.  Most of the fat (about 1100 cc) was taken from the abdomen.  He then took 200cc from each inner thigh.  The fat pictures are the total fat from the first procedure only.  I guess I didn't take fat pictures after the second procedure..medication at work. There is nothing quite like seeing the fat build up in the container.  It is gross, but there is also something exciting about knowing that is out of your body! 

Second Procedure- (Saturday) arms and flanks.  Remember, I had abs and inner thighs done on Tuesday.  If you would have asked my on Wednesday if I was going to go through with the second procedure, I would have said NO.  Fortunately, time passed and things healed. On Saturday, the day of my second procedure, I was still sore, but everything was doable.  I was placed on my stomach to have my flanks done.  During the second procedure (arms and flanks) a total of 800cc of fat was removed (200 from each arm and 200 from each flank)  My arms are sore today, but nothing like the abs.  I still can't imagine having to actually go to work today, but I guess you could if you had to.

Suggestion- If you have more than a small area of fat around your abs (like me), do it on a Wed. or Th. and take the rest of the week off.  If you have only one truly small localized fat deposit being removed, you will probably be fine going back to work rather quickly.

TRANSLATION- IF IT TAKES THE DOCTOR 4 OR 5 HOURS (LIKE ME)... You probably need more time!!

I don't think the pictures do the procedure much justice at this point.  I can feel the hardness im my mid-section and the tube to promote drainage was just removed yesterday.  I know you want pictures, like I did, so I am going to post them anyways.  As time goes by, I feel more improvements will come.  My doctor also said there may be areas, like my lower abdomen, that have to be "touched up". I will post more results soon.

Make sure you have a doctor you can trust.  I knew I was in the right place and my doctor is not a plastic surgeon.  We discussed the contours of my body and he wanted to make sure he was removing what I wanted.  I don't think the procedure requires a plastic surgeon, just a qualified, good, caring doctor.

Pictures in the light blue are before.  Pictures in the black top are after.  I just saved them all as before/after.

Updated on Jan 7, 2009:

before

after

from 1st procedure