I am a 52 yr old female,i went to Sono Bello on June 11 & had my neck,stomach,waist & hips done. The swelling is going away & my body is contouring it's shape nicely. I am beyond pleased with Dr Avila, my consultant Amy & the staff at the Sandy,Utah office they were all very helpful & caring to my needs. Dr Avila made suggestions on where he thought i should have work done and i gotta say he was right he is a body contouring perfectionist :) i would absolutely go back to him again if i needed to & would highly recommend him to others. Some people may complain about lumps afterwords,but if you follow your doctors instructions you won't have any just roll em out with a rolling pin. :) Also some people may be worried about being awake during the procedure & i'll admit i was a little worried about that myself,but to be honest i didn't feel any pain & i really don't remember the Dr performing the procedure i was pretty numb & comfortable through it all. I <3 <3 <3 what Dr Avila has done, i was experiencing some painful health issues before going into Sono Bello & since going, i have not had any fibromyalgia flare ups,i'm sleeping better & also waking up with more energy. Thank you Dr Avila & the Sono Bello staff in Sandy,UT. You all helped me feel much better emotionally & physically.
At 53 years old, 5'4 and 163 lbs., I weighed more than I have ever weighed before in my life. In the past, I had tried diets, diet pills, exercise, not consuming soda pop etc.. I would lose 10 or 15 pounds, but no matter what I did, I would not lose weight around my stomach area. My body was not proportioned, so buying a cute, tight shirt, or dress just didn't look good. My pants didn't look good on my body either, due to all of the weight on my stomach area. My gut was so big, that when I bent over it cut my breath off. I didn't just have one roll on my stomach, I had two big rolls! This impacted my self esteem, and prevented me from enjoying things that I loved doing like swimming or hot tubbing. After almost a decade of thinking it over, I finally decided to take the plunge and schedule a consultation. I checked around at different websites, comparing reviews and results, and also complications that could arise. I decided on Sono Bello, because they are a larger company and do many of these procedures nationwide. When I went in for my initial Consultation, I spoke with a young woman named Amy. From the moment I met her, Amy put me right at ease. She was professional, and gave me an honest assessment of what areas of my torso needed work. She went over the things I would need to know like what the procedure would entail, options available, expectations, what the compression garment looked like, the healing process, do's and don's, and most importantly, cost. She answered every question I had. I scheduled my procedure two weeks out. I was so nervous, because I read all of the negative reviews on the internet, and of course people gave worst case scenarios. I debated backing out, and I wondered what I had gotten myself into, but I decided that it was now or never. A decade is long enough to think things through and I wasn't getting any younger. I did all of the things Amy advised I do before surgery, like drinking lots of water (64 ounce daily minimum) to hydrate, and filling my prescription for a medicine that prevents bruising, and taking that medicine starting two days before the procedure, and cutting down on my salt intake. I had a second consultation before my procedure, this time with Dr. Avila, I was weighed, measured, and my vital signs were taken. Pictures were also taken of my body in a sterile paper bikini provided by the office. Dr. Avila was a very nice, and humorous man. We joked about my foot, which I had bruised a few days earlier. Doctor Avila asked it I had any questions, and answered every question I had. I could tell he was an experienced surgeon. The day before my scheduled surgery, Sono Bello called and asked if they could change my surgery time to an hour earlier, because the doctor had a cancellation, and that would give him a little more time to be able to spend on my procedure. I said yes, that they could change my procedure time to an hour earlier. That meant that my arrival time also had to be an hour earlier , but that was fine. I was advised by Amy to eat breakfast and a light lunch before I came, as my procedure was scheduled at 1:00 P.M., so I was to not have anything to eat after 11:00 A.M. I packed the most comfortable, loose, horrible clothes that I could find, because I was advised I would leak fluid all over my clothing and they would have to be discarded afterwards. I also packed a huge beach towel to put over the seat of my car, and a blanket in case I was cold after surgery, and some really comfortable slippers. The morning of the surgery, I took a shower and scrubbed myself everywhere, and gently exfoliated the skin over my abdomen as instructed. I ate breakfast, took my regular medications, then I had a light lunch at 10:30 A.M. I arrived at the surgical center at 1:00 P.M., and I checked in. Within three minutes, the nurse came and got me. I didn't have to wait at all, which was wonderful. The nurse started prepping me for surgery. Although I was hydrated, the nurse had a difficult time getting a vein for an IV. This is pretty normal for me, and I wasn't concerned. I have tiny veins that roll. Anyway, The doctor decided it would be O.K. if we didn't have an IV, anything I needed he would give me in a shot form. The nurse came in and gave me a shot of a pain medication in the hip, and also a pill (I think the shot was Darvon and and the pill was Valium), she also gave me a nausea pill. I was feeling pretty good!!! Dr. Avila came in and we joked about the city I was born in. He was just so funny. I loved it. I was advised I was not being put under anesthesia, which was actually a relief. The staff wheeled me into surgery. Dr. Avila put a sterile solution on my stomach and side and back, and then gave me several shots in various places. I guess this was some type of numbing agent with some other stuff mixed in. When the procedure started, I didn't feel anything, I was very comfortable. Dr. Avila was playing music and singing. He and the nurse were talking about all of their favorite bands, and the nurse was making fun of Dr. Avila's musical selection. The procedure took a little bit longer than I had thought that it would. That was O.K., because I would rather that the surgery wasn't rushed. I did start to feel pain about the last five minutes of the procedure. The staff got me up from surgery, put a binder over my abdominal area, and put a compression suite over that. It has an open crotch so you don't need to take it off when going to the restroom. That was a really great thing. My husband loaded me up, and took me home, and put me to bed. I was instructed to get up every two hours and walk around my kitchen or living room for ten minutes, and I was to drink 64 Oz. of water per day minimum during the entire healing process. Actually, that is something everyone should do all of the time anyway. Getting up every two ours hurt like hell. I was so sore, I couldn't even roll out of bed. Thank goodness I was prescribed pain meds. Other than getting up and walking every two hours, I spent the rest of the time sleeping. 1 day Post Op-The day after surgery, I took the binder off and threw it away as instructed. My husband took all of my bandages off and I got into the shower. For some reason, I broke out in a horrible rash everywhere there was an incision site, it didn't concern me because the Doctor did prescribe an antibiotic, but it itched sooo bad. Between the rash and the soreness I was misreable. I treated the rash with Calihist, and called the nurse at Sono Bello. She advised me that if the rash didn't look better by the next day, then I needed to come in and be seen. In her estimation it was an allergic reaction. It could have been the surgical tape, the Lidocaine medicine that was injected to numb me in surgery, or the compression suit. I told her I would take a wait and see approach for the next couple of days. I treated the rash by putting washing all of the incision sites very gently and putting Neosporin, and then Caliyhist on it them. Within two days, my rash was getting better. I called the nurse back and told her I didn't need to come in yet. I would wait until my follow-up appointment which was within a week. I was still really sore, but I was starting to feel better now, and looking in the mirror, I already could see a beautiful hour glass silhouette emerging. I was starting to look good, and it was exciting. I wore my Compression suit as instructed. Actually, I wore it 24 hours a day, except when I showered. I couldn't wait to see what I would look like in another week! The doctor told me that 3 liters of fat was removed from my Abdomen, Waist and Hips. This was about 6.6 pounds. In weighing myself, I hadn't lost any weight. In fact, I was the exact same weight I was just before the surgery, but I was still pretty swollen. I had a few spots in my abdomen that felt dense and heavy like a brick. I had minimal bruising, thanks to the medicine the doctor gave me. Even though I weighed the same, I was already happy with what I was seeing in the mirror. 6 days Post Op- The swelling is starting to go down now. I was able to put on a tight fitting blouse that hugged my shape and I could see a flatter stomach, and a waistline that I had forgotten I ever had. It had been five years since I was able to wear this blouse. It felt great being able to put it on and look so trim already! My husband told me I had a Rockin Hot Body! Of course, this made me feel really good to hear this! I decided to start an exercise program as advised. 7 Days Post Op-My treadmill had broken the day before my surgery, which was very frustrating, and of course, the timing was the worst. My husband had called a repairman to come fix it, he wasn't able to get here until today to fix it. I am so happy, because I am able to start an exercise program again. I started out today doing 10 minutes of treadmill, and had increased it by 1 minute each day. 9 Days Post Op-I had my follow-up appointment today. I am now 4 pounds lighter than before I had my surgery, weighing in at 159 pounds! The swelling is now going down more. I am now starting to see good results. My pants fit looser, and I am looking good in my clothes. My compression suit is becoming a little looser too. When I went in for my Post-Op, the nurse takes pictures to compare to my before-surgery pictures. There is already an amazing change. All of my rolls and fat on my abdomen are gone, and a beautiful waistline is now evident. My hips are shapely now and I am feeling great!! I have ordered two second stage compression suits as the original is now starting to get loose. I will have one to wear while laundering the second pair. The nurse checked my incision sites (there are nine of them), and they are healing well, but the rash is still there. Although it looks better, she tells me to keep treating it with calyhist. She reviews the things I need to do now, such as drinking water, light exercise, etc., and schedules my next appointment for three months out. The nurse told me I am doing very good, and commended me on following the Doctors instructions. At this point, I would say that my surgery was a success!l. I am very impressed with Doctor Avila and his staff. I think he did a very good job in sculpting my stomach and waist and hips, and I would highly recommend him to anyone thinking about doing Liposuction. I wouldn't have gotten any better results with a tummy tuck, and it's more invasive and more expensive. I think for what I paid ($7,400), it was well worth the investment in myself and my self esteem. If I had waited much longer, my skin would have started to loose more elasticity, because it's a natural part of aging, so I feel doing it now was a good choice.
