Alex Liu MD

I'm happy to hear that your flanks have started showing some improvement.  Despite your stomach still looking unchanged, 4 weeks  post-op is still quite early in the healing process.  Eating healthy and exercising are all good things but ultimately it takes time to heal properly after any procedure and to see results.  It sounds like you have recovered well as you are already back to your normal routine; I would recommend being patient and giving your body at least a few more weeks to a couple of months before evaluating the results for your stomach.  Best of luck!

Being 5 weeks out is still quite early.  Swelling is still quite evident in most people at this stage of the recovery period.  There should be some bulk reduction in the fat that is noticeable by now which sounds like what you might be noticing already.  The final results are not seen until about 4-6 months out with the skin continuing to tighten up to 6 months.  So rest assured that your results will probably still continue to get better and that you are still a whiles away from your final result.  Good Luck!

With that amount of white showing (2mm), it should get better with time.  It may have been secondary to taking too much skin off or if your surgeon also raised your eyelids with ptosis surgery.  Skin grafts for the upper eyelid are very very uncommon thankfully as inevitably, the upper eyelid skin will stretch and hood again with time.  That being said, you have to protect your eyes/cornea from drying as this can lead to irreversible damage.  Lubricant eye ointments when you sleep and routine use of eye wetting drops can protect you until the eyelid skin begins to stretch and drop again.  Massage of the incision and exercises (hold your upper eyelashes down with your fingers while trying to raise your eyelids) can help as well.  Worse comes to worse, you can have a temporary stitch placed in the corner of your eye (tarrsorhaphy) to help protect your eyes.  This may not look good but it sures beat the alternative of irreversiable cornea damage.

Being only 1 week out from major surgery is still too early to tell what the final results will be. Especially with a tummy tuck procedure and SmartLipo performed at the same time. Even from a simple skin tag excision a patient can be normally swollen in the area for 1-2 weeks. Drainage to outside of your body typically stops 24-48 hours after a procedure as your body will start to create proteins to halt the drainage. The internal drainage of your body (your body's ability to remove the residual fluid/swelling still within your body) can take weeks to several months. This duration is within normal limits. The likely reason you have a larger measurement 1 week post-op is because of normal swelling. I can understand your concern but what you are experiencing can be quite the norm. Before spending more money, I would discuss with your surgeon what he or she expects for your recovery time as they were the ones who performed the procedure. It is hard to see yourself swollen but 1 week is still very early in the healing process. I hope this helps and good luck!

I understand your concern about the appearance of your arms, given that you are 6 weeks out. There is much time needed before you know your final outcome however. That being said, you are doing everything that you can be doing; this early in the healing process, massage is the best thing you can be doing for yourself. Lumps & bumps early on are usually healing tissue in the area treated. The best way to think about it if if you accidentally cut yourself, you are left with dried blood and a scab. Eventually the scab will fall off after healing and being exposed to the outside environment. Now most of us accidentally or purposely pick off the scab. Unfortunately, inside our bodies we can't do that; the scab needs to naturally dissolve which takes time. Skin in the underarm (as well as inner thighs) is quite thin. When performing liposuction in this area, less is more. It is best to purposely leave a rim of fat underneath the skin to avoid divots/lumpiness in the appearance. Many of the procedures you mentioned (Triactive etc...) can help the appearance but only after you have completely healed. There can also be areas of small residual fat pockets that can be re-treated as well.