Athenix Body Sculpting Institute - Fresno

Decided to finally do liposuction after other attempts to define my law line including Kybella, Coolsculpting and YLift in the jaw. My genetics are as such I will have large fatty jowls if I do not intervene in the area as I age. I was in the clinic 3 hours and the surgery took 40 minutes. There will be 4 weekly or biweekly post op visits to the clinic as I heal. I was instructed to keep the wrap on for 72 hrs straight. This is a progress picture 48 hrs in, showing immediate results but also some swelling. For aftercare, I take over the counter pain medication for discomfort and will be massaging the area to promote evenness and skin tightening. I was told rollers and face massage tools were okay to use. I had one large bruise on my neck but other than that minimal discoloration. There are three areas for stitching and the stitches will come out on their own eventually. I have to sleep sitting up to discourage build up of inflammation to the area. I am also eating an anti inflammatory diet to help with the swelling. Overall this hurts much less than Kybella did and recovery is going smoothly. I am not supposed to do heavy exercises for 4-6 weeks however. So far, I would recommend this treatment.

Hello Ladies, so I’m writing this review in hope that it helps some ladies. To start off let me tell you something about myself I am 5’6 and I weigh 124lbs slim. I was a 32A before BA, my first breast augmentation was March 2014 8 yrs ago, Natrelle 400cc silicone under the muscle, Area of incision Aka nipple. Revision July 22, 2022 to 560cc I’m on 5 day post op. Healing great as of right now. I’ll keep you posted Hope this helps. Any questions feel free to ask. Have a great day.

So! I was at my heaviest ever weight at 180 lbs. They told me I was just barely at the BMI they reccommend people to use the balloon. I had a very unhealthy relationship with food, and I was getting married in about a month.

Got the orbera mid-July 2019. Right after the procedure wasn't too terrible for me. I did have one weird thing happen on the day of where it felt like I couldn't breathe and was gasping for air/wheezing I think because my body was trying to throw it up? Anyway that only happened once, and I don't think I ever really threw anything up. By my wedding at the end of August I was about 165, and right after my honeymoon in September I broke into the 150s. I told myself in high school I'd never let myself get back over 150 pounds and I had been WAY over for about 6 years, so I remember rejoicing about that!

When the balloon came out in January, I weighed about 148 and I was terrified I was going to gain it back. It's almost June now and I've actually LOST weight since then, I'm at 142 and couldn't be happier. The best part is, I don't have any foods I don't allow myself, I just naturally eat less now.

I think the most valuable thing is learning how to eat again. Oh, I should say that if you're counting on the monthly nutritionist check-ins, they didn't really help me that much. The nutritionist had lots of valuable info but I guess I also had a fairly easy time.

Weird things about the balloon: you can feel it moving around when you shift. Also, when I was at about 155 I could definitely SEE the balloon bump. GROSS!

Also, the whole Athenix team is always great. Vanessa is amazing for the pre-placement stuff, and just a great human in general. Dr. Sadeghi (not sure if I spelled it right...) Put my ballon in and out, but I didn't see much of her, considering I was unconscious. She was nice though! All in all 10/10 for me!

Updated on 25 Jan 2021:
One year post-removal and keeping the weight off, even through quarantine, has been easy! It's so easy to stop eating when I'm full now. I'm so, so happy. If you I'd do it all over again, but let's hope I won't have to!

Such great staff here at Athenix. I'm not in Fresno, but Bellevue WA. The nurses were professional and very caring. The doctor is very experienced ...I imagine he could probably do this in his sleep..
I had never been overweight until I had thyroid cancer and had to have it removed. Suddenly, my weight ballooned. I was used to weighing in the 130's-140's and a few days ago, I weighed 170 lbs before the balloon was placed. I really hated the way I looked and would even go so far as to cut myself out of family photos. I needed help.
I started exercising more, and eating food that's healthy. But still the lbs refused to budge. Well, last year I lost 12 lbs so that's not totally true...yep, 1 lb/month. I had hoped to get a tummy tuck so went into a few of the local Dr's and they all said I would be better off losing the weight first. Easier said than done. The last appointment I had was at Athenix, and even though they are basically a "chain" spa, I couldn't be happier. They suggested the Orbera balloon. It was expensive, but I was ready to feel better about myself. So on Oct. 26, 2019 I had it placed. I was nervous because almost everyone said they had been sick but I was pleasantly surprised that I only had 1-2 days of queasiness. They make it easy by giving you tons of anti-nausea medication and Protonix (basically Previcid). I think the hardest part was dizziness but I am hoping that will pass. Since the 26th I have lost 6 lbs.
I promise to keep you updated on my progress

Updated on 18 Jan 2020:
I am now on my 3rd month with the Orbrera balloon. It's a mixed bag of ups and downs for me. Around Thanksgiving I wasn't losing a lot of weight and feeling a little low but then as I approached Christmas I began to lose weight again; I almost forgot I even had the balloon I was so comfortable. All was good until after Christmas when I started getting pressure under my ribs and a huge amount of painful heartburn. Athenix doubled my acid reducers but it didn't make a difference. I sleep sitting up and still wake up regurgitating or downright vomiting, in the middle of the night. The doc ordered an abdominal X-Ray but I haven't heard back from him about the results yet. I am miserable with this constant pressure on my diaphram ... it feels like when I was pregnant and the baby was up high pressing on my ribs. I have lost 17 lbs, which I am happy with, now to address this problem. I won't have it removed because of this problem but it would be nice to be able to sleep well again. There's a lot of gas build up so I'm not going to post photos until it comes down a bit

Updated on 4 Mar 2020:
Well, at Christmas I began to have a lot of epigastric pain and reflux throwing up at night. After enduring this for almost 3 months, I decided to have an early removal. I lost a total of 20 lbs. Would I recommend Orbera? If you are trying to knock down your weight or BMI to qualify for bariatric surgery, this might be a winner for you. But if you're like me and don't qualify for bariatric surgery or need to lose 20-40 lbs...no, I wouldn't recommend it. Here are the pros and cons:
Pros
If you follow the program, you will half your normal intake of food or more
You will definitely want to eat less
You should lose weight and inches
You will need to continue to follow the plan in order to maintain your loss

Cons:
You could be sick and have nausea the first week or longer (I only had it for a couple of days)
You probably will have reflux so sleep sitting up
Once your stomach shrinks, you may have acute reflux and vomiting as the balloon tends to block your esophagus.
COST! Very expensive. I paid $9000...that's $450/lb
After removal, it is difficult to continue to follow the plan, but not impossible

My measurements:
Before (inches) After
42 bust 39 bust
38 waist 35 waist
44 hip 41 hip
Starting weight was 170 lbs and ending was 150 lbs. I haven't seen this number in over 20 years and I am grateful for that. The staff at Athenix was excellent. They were always there for me to answer any questions. Their concern for my health was paramount and I cannot say enough good things about them in this comment section. My experience is with the Bellevue, WA team and they work together like a well oiled machine. I'm having difficulty uploading photos, but will continue trying

Updated on 4 Mar 2020:
Here are the >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>pre and post photos>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>the marks are because I have to have 200 characters

Updated on 4 Mar 2020:
ok, let's try that again shall we?>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I’m super happy with my Laser lipo I had it done on my full abdomen, flanks and hips. Swelling goes up and down depending on how active I am day to day. I’m 2 1/2 weeks post op. First picture is pre-op

Updated on 25 Jun 2019:
So these are my before and after pictures. After photo was taken this morning, I’m about 11 weeks post op. I will post more photos of how the swelling went up and down over the past 11 weeks.

Updated on 25 Jun 2019:
Picture 1 was 2 weeks post op, picture 2 was about 3 weeks post op- At this time I had developed 2 seromas which is extremely common with aggressive liposuction. Seromas suck!!! I had to get mine drained about 3 times before they went away. This is why it’s so important to go to your follow up appointments! The 3rd picture is about 9 weeks post op. So like I said swelling goes up and down. Don’t get discouraged because you don’t see your results right away. Some days are still better than others for me and I’m now 11 weeks post op

So I had my tummy tuck in April! My preop weight was 137 and now I’m down to 120. My stomach looks absolutely amazing and Athenix in Fresno did an amazing incredible job. I’ve been wanting this for so long and so so scared to do, but the staff were wondering and the surgeon was awesome, my results are epic. I had a tummy tuck with 360 lipo and muscle repair. I’m so happy that I did. I have more pictures that are newer that look even better but it said that the files were too big to load.

I have an appointment with Athenix on Friday for a consultation. I am very nervous yet excited. With experienced patients- what do you all recommend i should ask? im very new to this and i would like to ask questions that would be helpful for me to know. I anticipate my surgery to be done in January. Ty!