David M. Turner, MD (retired)

I had lipo done on my upper and lower abdomen, waist, hips and had abdominal skin removed on April 1st. Two weeks later I had lipo on my inner thighs and back (bra roll). The stories I read on this site scared the crap out of me and I almost cancelled the day of my pre-op. I'm grateful for a surgical team who took time explaining the process including every single step that would happen before any incisions were made, during the procedures, and in recovery.
The first procedure was so much easier than anticipated. My surgeon used a local anesthetic so I was awake and jamming to old rock most of the surgery. I never felt pain. Surgery took about 4 hours. No drain tubes. I had drainage (lidocaine, fluid, etc.) for about 24 hours and it was done. I took a few days off work but was totally fine walking around, doing light chores, and definitely didn't need pain meds around the clock.
When I had my legs and back done two weeks later, wow that was a different story. I felt the cannula being shoved into my body several times during the procedure. The surgeon gave me more lidocaine when it hurt but I shouldn't have been feeling it in the first place. Healing has been much more painful as well. Night 4/Day 5 were hands down the worst. I sweated all night, couldn't get comfortable to sleep, and was just in a ton of pain.
Now at 1 mo and 2 weeks post-op respectively, each day is getting better. I'm struggling with knots and piercing/burning pain on both of my sides, my lower abdomen has a softball size knot, upper abdomen is bloated, and it's still difficult to sit on the toilet because of bruising and sensitivity on my thighs.
I'm down 3 Jean sizes and 5" in my waist and 15 lbs. I'm walking daily, massaging all knots multiple times a day, drinking plenty of water, and wearing compression garnet 12 hours per day. My incisions are healing well but these dang knots hurt and make me look deformed.
What else do you recommend to get these knots to go down? How long did it take for most folks? Thank you!

I guess with age everything deflates and goes south..... gosh. I have decided to get 4 mm permalip here in Austin. I really don't want the big lips just what nature is slowly taking away. I am very happy but also worried about the outcome as there lots of positive (yes about 75%) and then those that have made less of a good experience. The good thing you can remove them if they don't look right.

Updated on 3 Apr 2015:
I am now almost 24 hours post op. And so far I have to say I am thrilled. My lips are still very swollen. And the procedure in itself was a ok. The shots were as expected pretty painful but manageable. Once it was all numb the procedure took 30 minutes. And I'll be honest it is not exactly a fun time at all. As you may see in order to lessen the risk of the implant shifting the doctor placed sutures in thI middle of the lip I know it looks painful but isn't. I am still on meds for the pain. Also I am in keflex and vatrax, which I started taking a day before to prevent infection and any blisters. So far I am very pleased.

Updated on 15 Apr 2015:
I am now 2 weeks post op and so far so good. I took it as easy as I could for the first week, only fluids, no major animation with my mouth. My recommendation is really keeping it to the minimum as far as talking etc. It was so swollen and very very bruised. Have lots of patience. I was getting pretty aggravated because the healing is just no joke. I've had several procedures in my life and this one is pretty intense as the after care is so important. Now 2 weeks later I have full mobility. I can do pretty much everything. There's still sweeping on my top lip. The top lip is also still very firm but mobile. Not sure how they feel kidding because my husband is gone until June but from what my little daughters are telling me is that the feel soft .... But then again I only give them a lil kiss on their lil lips. However kissing my hand ... It does feel ok. So theres no pain. Once I hit one week I started the stretching if my lips and eat solid food. This is where you really notice what is important as well, smiling, laughing, eating apples .... The first times you notice the pulling and stretching to an uncomfortable state :(. I am now one week from all the stretching and it is ok. I still feel the stretching but I do know it will get better. To be honest I did not give it too much thought pre surgery until I read from a lady that had the implants with a limited smile...therefore stretching is do inportant. Overall I am happy. I'll upload pics later

Updated on 25 Jun 2015:
Overall I am still happy. I had no complications whatsoever. Just the typical first two week 'freaking out' times. In retrospect, this was by far the most invasive and painful surgery. But I achieved what I wanted: get rid of of the lines and plumb up the lips. My goal was not to get them big at all. Please understand we all do things for different reasons, what may sound to you reasonable to you may sound to another not so reasonable ... And that's ok. You may think 'if I am going to have THIS surgery it has to be because I want a huge difference ...' That was not my intend though. This surgery in my opinion will have different outcomes based on what you have currently. So if you are a person with slim lips to begin with (like me ...) the outcome even with the large implant will not be the huge 'Angelina Jolie lips' for that you have to augment the implant with fillers.

Something very important as well is to ensure to start stretching exercises after two weeks. I remember reading a post of another member who not done the stretching exercises and her laugh was never the same. In any rate, the results are good. You can feel the implants when you run across them and when you squeeze your lips. In my case I have full mobility. Kissing is still very good.

If you are interested in more information let me know.