Female, Young Adult - SmartLipo on Upper and Lower Stomach and Love Handles/Flanks (800cc removed) - Atlanta, GA

Throughout my entire adult life, I've been just under 5'7 and fluctuated between 125-140 pounds (mostly in the 120's but the last few years, 135-140, which I'm trying to lose ugh). BUT no matter what size I am, I've always had extra on the stomach/love handles (aka flanks) area - I've always had a muffin top. For whatever reason, my body stores a lot of fat there, either because I have a lot of fat cells there or because the fat cells I do have there are really big. SO in order to jump start my weight loss motivation of 10-15lbs, I decided to get smart-lipo to get rid of my muffin top, which I've had since I was like 12 (when I hit puberty). I can't find a before picture ATM (though the doc did take 1, I'll ask for a copy when I go in next week for a follow-up appointment) but I'm currently 2 days post-op and I gotta say, I'm happy so far. The stomach is basically flat and the love handles are gone. Overall much narrower waistline/flanks. It's still sore as hell but I'm just continuing to wear XS compression garments. I'm not going to give a rating until the final results in 6 weeks, but so far, so good.

Here's a photo when I first took the bandages off. It's day 2, post-op - still gotta wear a compression garment for 3-6 weeks (I'm gonna do the full 6, just to be safe).

I forgot to add, I am mostly just sore/bruised, but I'm completely numb in a small area of my stomach. Like, I can pinch it and feel absolutely nothing. It's weird. I've heard this isn't uncommon in post-op lipo procedures, but I'm hoping it's not permanent nerve damage because even though it doesn't affect my movement in any way, I like to have full sensation on all parts of my body. I'm just glad it's not on an area that affects my movement, like my knees, etc.

I went to my follow-up appointment yesterday and the nurse said she notices hardness/lumps when she feels my stomach. You can't see them, but you can feel them and they're tender/painful when I touch them or move certain ways. She had warned me about this possibility pre-op and told me this is common and said 2 sessions of hour-long lymphatic massages would resolve this/break it up, but apparently, you're not supposed to do that until you're 2 weeks post-op. I'm almost 2 weeks. I've also read that the issue usually resolves on it's own but I feel like, the sooner, the better, because it hurts and feels weird.

Apparently, these are my only 2 BEFORE pics taken right before surgery, which is weird because they also did my love handles, so I figured they'd also take a photo from the front.

This was taken 6 days AFTER surgery. As you can see, still a lotta bruising. But since my only 2 pre-op pics are from the side, this will give you a better comparison.

This was taken 6 days AFTER surgery. As you can see, still a lotta bruising. But since my only 2 pre-op pics are from the side, this will give you a better comparison.

Here's the other BEFORE pic, taken from the front. This is where you see the real difference.

4 months post-op, I am going to say it was worth it for the love handles - they have remained smaller. For my stomach, even though it is SMALLER than pre-op, I'm not happy because it's no longer flat (and no, I have not gained or lost weight, so that's not to blame) - apparently the fat cells in my stomach are very dense, so they're harder to suck out. I am going in for a re-touch in the stomach area in December, they let you do that for an extra $500 (you have to wait 6 months).

Also, just FYI, i still have a lump in 1 area that was done - you can't SEE it, but you can FEEL it. IDK if it's scar tissue or what, but I've been meaning to get it checked out.