Very Happy One Week After Smart Lipo!

Since I have read just about every review on this site I decided to share my own experience with smart lipo. (Sorry if it's too long winded but I felt those types of reviews helped me the most!)

I am 27, pretty active (gym 4xweek), have never had any children, and pretty small from most peoples standards. I sort of watch what I eat but am not a real dieter, and I really enjoy my food and wine! I am 5'4 with my weight usually 130-135 lbs. My whole life, even when I was a size 0 in college, I have had certain areas that have excess fat so I decided to finally go through with the smart lipo procedure.

I made 2 appointments with different facilities that perform Smart Lipo and I truly felt more comfortable with the Dr. that I went with.

My consultation was thorough and the "image consultant" and Dr. answered all of my questions in detail. Since I am a Registered Nurse I had a lot of in depth questions but they were all answered and I felt comfortable going with this facility. During my pre-op visit they took pictures, measurements, and gave me 2 prescriptions-one for Vitamin K (prevent bruising) and one for Keflex (antibiotic). They also gave me a prescription to get my blood drawn to make sure all my lab values were within normal limits.

Initially I was only going to get 2 areas done but I figured I would do a few other areas that had some excess fat. So the areas I decided to do was inner thigh, outer thigh, flanks (love handles), lower back, and banana roll (back of leg). It sounds like alot to do at once, and it was, but I figured I only wanted to go through the recovery process once.

My appointment was at 1:00. As soon as I arrived I was brought into the back room and the Dr. made his drawings on me and gave me an oral does of Ativan. I was really nervous but excited too. They brought me back into the OR room and placed me on the bed and the Dr. described exactly what was going to happen. I truly do not think I got any sort of relaxation/sedation from the Ativan because I was gabbing with the surgical tech and Dr. the whole time. The only part that was painful was the infusion of the tumescent (lidocaine/epi/bicarb) which hurt a little but only lasted a few minutes. After the area was numb he used the Vaser to liquify the fat then suction to take out the fat. These 2 things didn't hurt just felt weird. From the time I got on the table to the time the procedure was done took a little over 4 hours. Towards the end I was getting antsy and felt a little sore. When he was done the nurse covered all my little holes (maybe 12 of them) with pads and helped me get into my compression garment. I stood up, had a snack and some water, the nurse went over my post op instructions, and my boyfriend picked me up. That night was fine, I only took Tylenol extra strength and ate some dinner and went to bed. My drainage did go through my garment in some areas which was gross but surprisingly I wasn't that sore (Dr. informed me I was still numb from the anesthetic fluid)

Post op Day #1 At this particular facility they have you come back the next day so they can assess you. The nurse takes off your garment (little sore) and all the pads that were saturated and the Dr. comes in. Everything looked fine, some swelling but no bruising yet. The nurses put new pads on your incision sites and a clean garment (which was hard to put on because I as swollen) and home I went. I continued to take only Tylenol that night. I was a little more sore but tolerable. I did light house keeping and walked (slowly!) for about a mile.

Post op Day #2 The next day same thing, maybe a little more sore but tolerable. This day I could take a shower which was good. It took a long time to get my garment and pads off but it was good to get in the shower. The incisions hurt a little but not bad. Since my instructions say I can only be out of my garment for 20 minutes a day for the first 2 weeks I quickly put it back on, along with clean pads since I was still draining. I also walked for about 30 minutes. What hurt the most was sitting down and standing up. My body was still moderately swollen, but very minimal bruising.

Post op Day #3, #4, #5 I am doing pretty good, still taking Tylenol on average 3 times a day. I am a little sick of this garment but I know how important it is to facilitate in healing and reduction in swelling. I have a bruise on the back of my left leg and a little on my right but nothing bad at all. So far, so good! I notice the biggest change in my love handles but I know I'm still pretty swollen everywhere. I will post more pics when I take some in a few days:)

 I am now 22 days post smart lipo and loving my results! Compared to most, I definitely had a very smooth recovery.  I was sore for about 10 days but it was very tolerable and I never took anything stronger than Tylenol.  I started up at the gym 3 days after my procedure (walking only for 2 weeks) and I'm now back to my normal gym routine. I am down 9 pounds but it's hard to say if it's from the smart lipo, eating healthy, or resuming my exercise regime.  I am still wearing my garment even though my Dr. said I only have to wear it for 2 weeks.  I don't really mind it but I will be weaning myself from the garment this week:) It actually feels better on, especially when I exercise. My incisions are barely noticeable and I'm still putting Neosporin and bandaids on them when I get out of the shower each day but will stop doing that this week as well.  I have a few small bumps on my inner left thigh so I am massaging the area daily. I am so happy I got this done and if anything it has given me my motivation back to exercise and eat healthy to protect my investment.  Let me know if you have any questions at all!