56 y/o healthy woman preparing for BBL/360 - can you advise on vitamins, food & drinks?

Thanks for the many questions here on Real Self. I think the real issue is have you virtual consulted with the chosen surgeon? Or at least spoke to him/her? I think even with your clearances having had CLL and spine rods you will be cancelled on arrival to the surgeon's office or clinic. You need to use private practice boarded Plastic Surgeon only! As for preop vitamins/supplements best to call the office/clinic you are booked with to ask directly. Again best to virtual consult with....

Prepare for a cosmetic procedure I recommend patient follow the following recommendations or protocol.
The first step is to get a good understanding of your candidacy for the procedure or in other words get an accurate assessment of what you don’t like about your body and what you’re hoping to achieve.
A BBL is two procedures done at the same time. For that reason people need to be assessed both in regards to Liposuction and fat transfer.
It’s possible to be a good candidate for fat transfer but not a good candidate for Liposuction, a good candidate for Liposuction but not a good candidate for fat transfer, a good candidate for both or a bad candidate for both.
We should understand what the procedure can and cannot accomplish in every part of your body or are you looking to get a change.
Once you understand I have a good assessment will you understand what the problem is and what treatment will work and will not work you can then confirm that the BBL is a correct procedure for you.
To get an assessment requires being examined and having multiple in person consultations.
Once you understand what the procedure is correct and you have a good understanding of what your results will most likely look like they haven’t been showing sufficient members of before and after pictures of the previous patient who have similar body characteristics to your own you are now in a position to choose the correct provider.
Choose either way provider requires vetting plastic surgeons and this definitely also requires having in person consultations.
Does each consultation I recommend you ask each provider to open up your portfolio and show you their entire collection of before and after pictures.
You should already be familiar with what quality results look like based on looking at lots of before and after pictures only of previous patients who have similar body characteristics to your own.
If you’ve had previous pregnancies then you should look only at previous patients who have the same degree of skin laxity, the same amount of muscle separation etc. etc.
Being shown a handful of sample pictures which most likely represent the best results of the providers career is insufficient to get a clear understanding of what the average results will look like.
Ask providers during consultations to only show you before and after pictures of the patient to have similar body characteristics to your own. To do that it’s helpful to have pictures of your older torso and lower extremities printed in front of you as a reference for a comparison.
Ask dividers to show you examples of excellent outcomes average outcomes and outcomes that didn’t turn out as well as they had hoped for.
Ask them specifically what the revision rate is and what their revision policy is.
You should take care of the notes during the consultation giving a score or reading about the quantity and quality of before and after pictures as well as all other aspect of the consultation. thorough plastic surgery consultation including an examination, assessment and review before and after pictures should take about an hour.
For further transfer procedures it’s very important to know exactly how far after the procedure the after pictures were taken. always confirm specifically how long after the operation the pictures are taken for every picture and every provider.
Any picture taken at the last one three months is not representative of the final results.
You should also take notes about the overall thoroughness of other aspects of the consultation like review of medical history, examination, preparation for surgery, recovery, risks benefits and alternatives, revision rates and policies etc. etc. it should be very clear exactly what areas are going to be included with Liposuction and you should have reviewed every area being treated with the before and after pictures so you know exactly what each area is going to look like. Is the back included? It is the under arm area included?
The most common combination with the BBL is liposuction of the abdomen waist and hips or love handles. personally I typically view the torso as a single anatomic unit and believe in treating the entire torso when doing liposuction which should also include the entire back and under arm all the way to the side of the breast. When reviewing before and after pictures look very carefully at all Liposuction results making sure there are no skin counter irregularities anywhere on any treated area. I have the surgeon review with you exactly what areas were treated and what areas were not treated. And look very carefully a transition zone between treated an untreated they’re used to make sure they look natural.
Individuals who have skin laxity, loss of skin elasticity, pregnancy related changes or cellulite tend to not be ideal candidate for the BBL.
Delivering consistent quality Liposuction and fat transfer result is more difficult than most people believe. Being board-certified plastic surgeon with an overall good reputation is insufficient to confirm that anyone provider has mastered this procedure.
There’s more variation in outcome with this procedure than any other plastic surgery procedure.
There is a substantial number of well intended well trained board-certified plastic surgeons who simply are not good at either Liposuction or fat transfer.
Considering that the outcome is permanent and irreversible patients need to take the vetting process very seriously in order to minimize the chance of having an undesirable outcome and maximize the chance of this being an overall good experience without regret or need for future procedures.
There’s no correct number of consultations patients need to find the right provider but I suggest patient start but at least five consultations of people will have a proven track record of doing a BBL procedure on a regular basis.
I recommend patients avoid virtual consultations whenever possible but I highly recommend people avoid traveling long distances for elective surgical procedures especially avoiding in person consultations.
The number of providers who can consistently deliver quality results including the ability to make an accurate assessment and predict accurately what your results will look like and then show you exactly what that one would look like based on having numerous before and after pictures of similar patients for confirmation is relatively small.
Most individuals who are in their mid fifties do not have great skin elasticities in comparison to those in their 20s and this can seriously hamper with this procedure can and cannot accomplish.
Find the right plastic surgeon and everything falls into place. Doing so requires a substantial bit of work having multiple in person consultations with having the skills to properly vent plastic surgeons during the consult. most people don’t have a lot of experience consulting with plastic surgeons like that improves as you schedule more consultations.
There’s generally not much you can do for your candidacy but in the end choosing provider is generally what makes a difference of first and foremost having a clear understanding of what the procedure can and cannot deliver and secondly maximizing potential outcome.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom MD