Dr Khan is very good about managing your expectations which is extremely important in a procedure like liposuction. He tells you upfront about what to expect, there isn't a slew of assurances that you're going to look like a supermodel. Understanding what realistic results to expect is very important.
Updated on 10 May 2015:
I took pre-op homeopathy for 3 days before my lipo. I've been taking homeopathy since I was a child, I spoke to my homeopath and took Arnica (amongst other things) before surgery. I am normally someone that bruises easily but I had no post op bruising what so ever. I continued to take Arnica after surgery and even used arnica gel and oil for a massage.
I am sure there are patients out there that are back to work and routine within a week but not me. At 10 days I felt every bump and pothole in the road while driving, this is largely due to lingering soreness and edema which feels like a drum. Since then I have had 2 lymphatic drainage massages and feel so much better! I now have only 4 localized areas of soreness which are uncomfortable when massaged. I have my full mobility without soreness except when I bend down to tie shoelaces, then I do feel sore. But then this is also the area that has the localized soreness and hard areas.
Each day is better than the last.
Updated on 12 May 2015:
I measured a 3 inch smaller waist today! I can't believe it. I was also able to wear my iron man compression garment one step tighter (my garment has the ability to tighten up to 2 inches). I also got the courage to upload a picture for you to see the progress between April 29th (4 days post op) and May 10th (16 days). Disclaimer: the 4 days post op is the morning after chinese food, OMG the water retention after Chinese food is crazy. So in reality I was a little bit smaller but not like today.
My massage today was the best ever, it still hurts, but the therapist today was a big lady with big hands, she pretty much pummelled me till I never wanted to leave her :)
I'm still wanting to kill myself because of the itching. Sometimes I can't stand it, I want to claw my skin off. I'm not entirely sure if it's due to the healing only or both the healing and the compression garment. I hate synthetics against my skin, in fact this past winter I've developed an extreme itch for no reason, probably latent eczema. So I'm quite frustrated. Benadryl did not help except make me drowsy, Claritin works a little bit, topical anti-itch works a little bit also. But it never completely goes away. I do feel the most relief when I let my skin breathe. I do this for about an hour every day if I can, I just wear cotton and leave the compression garment off.
I'll talk about scars in my next update.
Updated on 16 May 2015:
I wore a dress today for the first time in 3 years. :) My confidence is great right now, I feel almost normal. The massages are really helping to break down the hard areas and lumps. I had ordered new clothes in the days before surgery and then after surgery. It's a bit shocking that everything is fitting loose and I actually have to return some items for a smaller size. I was expecting an improvement in my body of course, but now that it is here, it surprises me. I expected the clothes to fit me well now, without being tight but the pants are falling off my waist. I can't stop smiling today. Measurement wise I'm not close to and ideal waist to hip ratio but I never had a waist till 3 weeks ago so this is an improvement that cannot be denied.
Updated on 21 May 2015:
I've been having a fat day since yesterday, turns out I forgot to take my pill so whoosh - instant bloat. I was very uncomfortable in the iron man compression garment, so I opted to take it off halfway through the day yesterday. So far all the pictures I had been taking were with the garment on and with my clothes on.
Today I'm posting a pre-lipo photo. The post lipo photo was 3 weeks later (2 days ago).
I'm still quite swollen, but you can also see the rounded belly has noticeably changed. I'm still tender, and quite often I am still sore. gently touching my midsection feels sore. Last night I had to sleep with ice packs on my back. (I'll post pictures of my back later). The post lipo photo here is on a day I was feeling more sore than usual - I'm not sure why.
Obviously I look better with the compression garment on, but without it and still being swollen, I am able to bend down without feeling like my stomach fat was in the way. Whenever I used to use the rowing machine at the gym, it was a struggle to lean forward with this fat belly in the way.
I'll admit to being disheartened yesterday on the fat day, sometimes I feel that I went through so much pain, time and money for little results. Thankfully the unhappy days are rare, I can see the difference, my measuring tape shows me the difference as well. I know I will only look better with time.
Updated on 26 May 2015:
Look at these horrific before pictures, I can't believe I let myself look this bad.
I've been feeling like the bra roll was the area showing the least improvement - clearly this is not the case. I've been feeling like this because both my bra and the compression garment crease where the bra roll is/was and the swelling/soreness has taken a long time to look better.
My itching is loads better with only occasional bouts of kill-myself-kind -of-itch. Maybe it's the healing or maybe Aveeno Skin Relief body wash is helping the garment related itching.
The large area of numb skin is slowly getting smaller. Also my stomach feels softer and when I knead it, it feels supple.
Updated on 31 May 2015:
I made a 5 week progress image. I am now wearing my compression garment on the 3rd and last set of hooks which is the tightest this garment will go. My itching is almost fully resolved, most of the numbness also. I can go almost a full day without the garment and without feeling like my stomach was going to fall if i didn't bind it. Scars are much better.
I have a lumpy shape when i look from the side, I can better show this at my next update. But the area just above my belly button sticks out more than the belly button so it looks strange. I'm going to have my massage therapist work on that area more the next time I see her.
What do y'all think? How am I doing?
Updated on 31 May 2015:
The 5 week images one at a time
Updated on 8 Jun 2015:
Was travelling for work, wearing the compression garment was not uncomfortable at all, there was a day when I left it off and went about my day and felt fine.
6 weeks post. So by this time much of the swelling would have resolved (I think). I hardly itch and the numbness is almost all gone too. But this bump needs to be worked on. The belly button is where the waistband of my pants naturally fall and that is causing this bump, the area above which is protruding out is hard. This was also the case on my back where the lipo was done on the bra roll, till i addressed it with massage - the bra roll was still very prominent being that the bra strap and my compression garment pinch in the same spot.
It may be that there is fat left over and some correction is needed, can't make that judgement till much later, like say at the 3 month mark. I'm barely 1.5 months in. When I see pictures of myself like this I still feel horribly rotund, but I know this is not the case when I wear my clothes I feel the difference.
Updated on 15 Jun 2015:
Here's a picture of my bra roll before and after. Amazing difference isn't it. It's still there. Did I expect it to be totally gone? No, but I wish it was.
The other picture is my "Kim Kardasian" ha ha.
Updated on 24 Jun 2015:
I have been noticing an increase in my hair falling since 2-3 weeks. Getting bloodwork done from my dermatologist. I was reading online and it seems that some people react to the trauma of surgery with latent hair fall. The good news is that it grows back but it's making me extremely panicked just the same.
I had a 2nd follow up with my doctor and it just happened to be on a fat day when my body was bloated with water as I approached my period. I'm not kidding 2-3 pounds of water. So my pictures with him looked absolutely horrible! My bra roll picture made me cry at home!
Updated on 4 Oct 2015:
I've been meaning to post an update. The pictures attached were taken last night, dinner and all inside the tummy. I must admit that there have been days, even weeks when I have felt that nothing changed. I'm not sure why the body size fluctuates so much. I am measuring a good 3 inches smaller in my waist, I look more defined this is for sure. I haven't worn my compression garment all summer, since I got edema in my left leg after I wore it on a flight.
So nearly 6 months later, I am happy with the results. I seem to need some revision, the indent that i have is still there. Basically the waistband of my pants all fall exactly on my belly button. So that has been compressed every single day and the area just above it and just below it are sticking out. You can see this in one of my previous pictures. When my stomach is bloated, this is more noticeable and I feel awful.
I am back in the gym - minimum 3 days, some weeks I go for 5-6 days. It has helped a lot in keeping me toned in the tummy. When I went back to the gym after surgery (4 months later) I couldn't do jumping jacks, my tummy hurt! But keeping at it has strengthened the muscles and I can do most of the jumps in zumba now.
My hair fall got worse, but I'm hoping at 6 months the body would stop being so traumatized and stop the hair fall. We shall see.
I'm still amazed at the energy I have. It's like I am 5 years younger all of a sudden. The belly fat was weighing me down in more ways than one. I don't know if other stomach liposuction patients feel the same regardless of how happy or not they feel with their results. It would be nice to compare if their energy level improved dramatically as mine did.
Updated on 23 Jul 2019:
With both lipo and cool sculpting they always tell you that it is permanent fat loss in the area that is treated. 1 year after my lipo I lost 20 pounds and my midsection looked great. At 4 years I gained back the 20 and my mid section looks Exactly as it did before the lipo, same bra fat, same fat mid section. I'll have to say that while I said lipo was worth it, I have changed my mind.