I Just Had Tickle Lipo and I Was in an Incredible Amount of Pain During and After, Is This Normal?

Question

I just had Tickle Lipo and I was in an incredible amount of pain during and after. Also a tremendous amount of bruising. Everything I was told about tickle lipo from the dr. and everything I have read says pain and bruising should be minimal. The entire procedure was incredibly painful! I never would have done it if I had known I would be in such pain for almost three hours and then the recovery. Is this normal? Did I get duped?

T. Wayne Day, MD · Answer

Tumescent liposuction by an experienced surgeon is the state of the art. Everything else is just hype and marketing.

	We all think just because something is newer, it must be better. Unfortunately, that is often just another way to get duped.

	Sorry, but thanks for writing. Your experience may help others.

Timothy Zelko, DO · Answer

TIckle Lipo, in the appropriate skilled hands, should be the most comfortable office based lipo procedure.
All awake lipo procedures are done using local anesthesia, otherwise known as tumescent anesthesia. How this anesthesia is administered is the key to keeping you very comfortable. The rotation and vibration of the Tickle cannula should deliver the anesthesia WITHOUT any significant pain. I tell all my patients when I start the procedure, you will notice three things during anesthesia; you will feel the vibration of the instrument, you will feel some fluid leaking out, therefore feel wet  and lastly the swelling of the fluid in the tissues will stretch the tissues causing the sensation of an occasional pinch. That should be ALL that you will feel. My patients are NEVER describing any pain. And my patients do not receive any pain meds before the procedure and only the occasional one-two tables of an anti-anxiety agent like Ativan.
During the procedure, we are just talking and listening to music. They lie on a heated table and the lights are dimmed in the room and aroma therapy is going as well. We do our best to deliver a comfortable spa-like experience. 
All I can say is the doctor was not adequately trained in the technique of delivering the anesthesia, or was rushing thru the anesthesia process, or the settings on the Tickle machine were set way too high.
Post-procedure I tell my patients that they will feel like they did a really hard workout and they will be very sore. With that said, everybody has a different degree of pain threshold, what one describes as being pretty sore another may describe it has pretty painful. 
I have literally done thousands of Tickle lipo procedures, I have only had a handful of patients that described their post-op recovery as very painful. 
Hopefully your results made up for the physicians inability to keep you comfortable.

Aaron Stone, MD · Answer

Surgery without appropriate anesthesia is painful not matter what the surgery is. The level of anesthesia you had was obviously not appropriate for the surgery you had. If you were sold on a procedure under local anesthesia as being safer with quicker recovery etc. you were duped, especially if the tickle term was used to make the surgery sound less invasive. It is not normal if the surgeon is fully trained, ethical and empathetic.
	
	I hope you realize that this format of posting questions and receiving answers lacks the face to face direct communication required for you to make an informed decision regarding your surgery.
	
	My response to your question/post does not represent formal medical advice or constitute a doctor patient relationship. You need to consult with i.e. personally see a board certified plastic surgeon in order to receive a formal evaluation and develop a doctor patient relationship.

Darryl J. Blinski, MD · Answer

Sorry to say , "you were SOLD!" You must be careful out there. Was the surgeon a boarded PS? Why under awake local without some IV sedation? Did you receive a full pre operative workup? And finally DUPED? You bet!

Donald M. Brown, MD · Answer

Thank you for your question. It seems that every day there is a new method of liposuction that claims to be superior to every other method out there. Unfortunately, as you have found out, "tickle lipo" appears to be yet another of the old adage "if it seems to be too good to be true"........There is no good evidence that "tickle liposuction" will result in any less pain and bruising than the traditional tumescent liposuction as performed by an experienced board certified plastic surgeon. Thank you for sharing your experiences.

I Just Had Tickle Lipo and I Was in an Incredible Amount of Pain During and After, Is This Normal?

Answers (5)

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