geese

Hi...I am feeling 99% back to normal and still thrilled with my results. I guess to answer you, I would have to ask how soon you're planning on having kids? If you have no immediate plans I would say go for it. I never exercised or watched what I ate while pregnant. I didn't gain alot and I was very young but I did get stretch marks. I wish I would have been more careful during my pregnancies so I would also recommend that. I do exercise and eat healthy (and have for 14 years) because I don't want to jeprodize what I've worked for. I think that is also key for sucess with this procedure. Good luck to you.

I'm very curious about your results with the different doctor at the same place. What areas did you get done? Are you happy so far? I have to say it did take a few weeks for me to feel pretty normal again. Right now, I would say I'm 99% back to normal. It's been nearly two months and I'm still very happy with the outcome. Did you start your job? How's it going? I will email you privately with the name of my reflexologist. Maybe she can help with your recovery as well.

The only place I have any hard lumps (very few) is in my lower ab, but I hear this is normal. I have a theory about all the lumps people are complaining about...my procedure was done in these four steps. First, injection for the numbing the incisions. Second, after the incisions are done the numbing fluid goes in (this is a little time consuming). Third, the laser goes in and liquifies the fat...this is the part that is different and more gentle on your body than the traditional lipo. Fourth, they suck out all the fat once it's been liquified. Now, here is where my theory comes in...my doctor only went in on my lower ab with "smartlipo" to tighten and stimulate the collagen to firm up the skin...this is the only place I have lumps, which I'm told is normal and will go away with time. The doctor didn't do the "smartlipo" on my other areas because he said the skin was already firm. So I'm wondering if most of my procedure was like traditional lipo with the exception of the laser and then the "smartlipo" was used on my lower ab because of all the stretch marks and loose skin I had. I still have the stretch marks but they look smoother and tighter. My stomach has an overall flatter look. The rest, my upper abs, flanks and back just looks smaller, absolutely no lumps at all. My biggest trouble spot were my flanks, I had major muffin tops. They are gone. My jeans fit much better. I was a size 8. I still wear those jeans but the fit me much looser with no overhang. I'm waiting till summer's over and I have full results to try on new pants. One more thing on my recovery...I've been to a reflexologist 3 times since my surgery for an unrelated problem. Through the foot massage she was able to detect that I had "something going on in my lower back". After the second session with I realized how much, in my opinion, that helped with my recovery. I spoke to her again today after another session and she said the nerve stimulation through reflexology can really help post-op patients. Whether or not that played a big part in my recovery I don't know but I found it interesting. Good luck to you if you end up doing it. Let me know how you make out.

I am 43 years old. I've had 3 children. My surgery took approximately 4 to 4 1/2 hours. My doctor was Dr. Earl Bryant, with The Institute for Laser & Astethic Medicine in Doylestown, PA. I'm over 6 weeks now and I'm still feeling even better. I would say I'm at 95% back to normal. I only feel a little tingling pain when I do high jumping activities at the gym but that has gotten better too just in the last week. What are you looking to do and where are you from?

I'm at 5 1/2 weeks also. I have to say that I'm feeling pretty close to normal. The only time I feel any pain is when I do jumping during my gym classes. So I just keep it lower. But I am back to exercising 6X a week and I also feel comfortable doing abs again. The burning sensation, which I hear is the nerves regenerating, is gone. I still have some irregular lumpiness on my lower ab but it's getting better. I agree, everything I've read about doing the legs scares me. I was considering it but I don't think I'll tempt fate again. Since I'm happy with my abs, back & flanks results I'll just consider myself lucky since I've been reading so many unhappy results with the legs. This website was one of the biggest reasons I went through with my surgery....the pre-April results had smartlipo at 98% satisfaction rate but it's been steadily dropping.