Dr Tillo and his team believe that delivering quality plastic surgery is like producing bespoke art. Every single procedure has many variables that must be adjusted and fine-tuned to accommodate the needs of each patient. Our vision: Body confidence and image satisfaction. Our mission: Empowering people with knowledge to make the right choices when it comes to cosmetic surgery. Our core values: Diversity and equality, Clarity, and Transparency.
I have a BMI of 19.6 at the moment and I've decided to have Vaser. I've always struggled with my love handles and overall shape. What I found was that there's a certain point that I literally have to eat around 1,300 calories in order to lose weight and I'm 5"10 and an active person. I lift weights and noticed that when I'm thinner, I can lift significantly less and my workouts are void of energy (less food=weakness. Surprising, right?). When I lose weight, I lose it everywhere. My face (I'm 36, this is NOT the time to lose volume in my face), my boobs, my butt, and my thighs become too muscular and icky. What I don't lose is my love handles and the little "pouch" of fat on my lower abdomen. I want to feel feminine, not twiggy. And I want to replace my "pear" shape with an hourglass. So I purposefully bulked up and gained 2 kg making sure to do it by eating healthy, balanced meals and work hard at the gym. It's been very fun. I'm at a stable weight for the past month and typically throughout my life this has been a stable weight for me. This has been the weight I'd be at when I'd be sick of dieting all the time. The plan now is to edit out the parts I don't want and keep all the luscious goodness, hopefully giving me a beautiful, feminine shape. Procedure booked for the 28th of this month. I will update next with how it goes. Updated on 28 Nov 2022: Well, for better or worse, I did it. It was a pretty chill experience but I think that if you have a low pain tolerance, don’t do it like I did. The week the procedure I had a really bad cold (not Covid) and if left me with a cough. I was worried that it would somehow affect the procedure, but that wasn’t a problem. Came in, filled some forms and paid the second half of the amount. (The first half was paid when the surgery date was finalised). Got into a little room to get changed. Then was ushered into the theatre where I was introduced to the staff that would help with the procedure. I pointed out my problematic areas and asked if it was within the art of the possible to also address the slight layer of fat over my upper abs as well so they’d be more visible. Dr. John marked me up and threw in another area, the line right below my bum to give it a perkier look. Onward to the procedure. It started with jabs for each place where the incisions would be and I suppose (I didn’t feel it) the incisions themselves were made. Then came the really painful bit: filling me up with the liquid thing that has the anaesthetic, adrenaline and other fun stuff. That hurt like a mother. I felt it probing beneath my skin and there were certain areas where it was a strong pang. Apparently, this part hurts a lot less if you have larger pockets of fat and, really, in my juicier area (love handles), it really didn’t hurt. Dr. John then asked me if I wanted diazepam. He said it wasn’t going to hurt from here. My first instinct was to say no, but when I saw the ultrasound rod I said, “On second thought…” It was a great choice. The adrenaline made me tremble really badly and so they covered my legs with a blanket. After fifteen minutes, they started doing the vaser. It can only be six minutes per area or else it can start damaging the skin. I spent this very quick time chatting with Dr. John and the rest of the staff. There was little to no pain at this stage except in the hard fat area where my love handles merge with my waist. After that, the suction started. He just hoovered up all the melted fat. He was particularly happy with the shape of my waist, so I’m excited to see how that will turn out. All in all, from my flanks, lower back and abs he managed to suck out around 800mls of fat. Considering when I diet I have to lose around 2.5 kg to slightly reduce that area, I’m impressed. The second doctor with Dr. John, a lovely lady specialising in plastic surgery, dressed my incisions and then helped me back to the little room. I felt… a lot better than I thought I was going to feel. I had no trouble walking and I only felt slightly high from the diazepam. I put on my garment myself and got dressed. Received some post care instructions. They told me I could stay and rest, but I felt fine and ready to go home. My husband took me home and had to go straight back to work. I felt very hungry since I didn’t eat anything since the morning. Pain didn’t kick in yet, so I did the dishes and cooked myself pasta. Big mistake. With the garment pressing on my belly, I felt very uncomfortable after eating. I couldn’t sit down or lie down and had to walk in my house back end forth until I digested enough of the food to sit down. I kept feeling thirsty so had water, and then decaf tea, and more decaf tea, and water. The result was a lot of pee. Fortunately this garment has a hole in the crotch. What I didn’t do was leak. Reading other people’s accounts I expected to leak like fountain. I didn’t. I touched the bandages around the wounds. They’re damp but not wet. What am I going to do with all these absorbent bed pads? I thought I was clever planning ahead. Pain kicked in around evening, particularly in the upper portion of where I had fat removed. It felt like insane cramps. 400 mg of ibuprofen really did the trick and now I am quite comfortable. Now I have to wait patiently for results to be more evident. Currently I look like I swallowed I beach ball…..lol Will update with pics when my shape starts coming through the swelling. Updated on 29 Nov 2022: So you know how when you get bruised and something touched it, that’s the best way to describe the pain. The most comfortable for me is to be upright walking around, but how much can you keep that up one day post-op? I woke up at 4:30 because of a cough. My body wanted to remind me I was coming out of that cold. All the pain said hello and despite taking pain meds, I couldn’t get comfortable and fall asleep again. I couldn’t put my socks on in the morning. Hubby helped. Been puttering around the house, tiding up anything that doesn’t require bending in half. Sitting down is not the thing for me. It’s not the worse pain, but this procedure is definitely not painless. When I lie down after standing up, it takes a while for the pain to settle down and then I’m fine until I want to change position. Then I’m not fine anymore. Midday, I got a call from the dr’s office to see how I was. I asked a few questions, mainly around how much I could walk. They also told me I could shower. I wisely waited for evening and hubby. I am extremely swollen, still with the markings from op but you can see what it looks like. The wounds are the tiniest dot, really amazed how small and neat they are. Anyway, 3 minutes after taking off my garment, I nearly fainted. My hubby was with me and we were taking off the bandages in the bathroom and my head started spinning, my stomach flipping. My husband, bless him, reacted like lightening. He pulled out an unused disposable bed pad(the ones I bought because I thought I’d be leaking) and spread it on the bathroom rug. He had me down on my back with my feet propped over the toilet. Then he got honey from the kitchen and dropped some into my mouth. I was feeling better within moments. The moral of this story? After taking off your garment for the first time after surgery, have a lie down for 10 minutes and let your body adjust before attempting to go into the shower. Also, my husband is awesome. Updated on 1 Dec 2022: So, no more pain. The only issue is that I have zero appetite. I think it might be the garment that’s pressing into my stomach combined with the swelling and the fact that I’m not moving much. Hunger eludes me, when I eat I get heartburn. Mostly just thirsty and drinking lots of liquids. I’m dying to go back to working out but I’m trying to be patient. Taking walks and have already gone back to working from home. But my waist is looking tiiiiny, wow!