Probably the Worst Pain of my Life, But Worth It! - Beverly Hills, CA

Just wanted to update this review! So I am definitely still sweating although I feel like it is better than it used to be - could be the placebo effect though. The pain and everything had subsided completely by the first week of January exactly 1 month since the treatment. I still don't feel comfortable going out in like colored shirts but it is odd when some days I sweat with visible marks and other days I barely sweat. I will say that there is a lot less hair that grows and barely any BO when I've accidentally forgotten to put on deodorant. I could get another treatment and see if it helps more but unfortunately it's not in my budget for now.

Unfortunately I didn't take too many pictures of the recovery as I was in too much pain/slightly traumatized afterwards but now 3 weeks since the procedure I feel completely back to normal and have forgotten the level of pain I was in afterwards! I had been researching miraDry for awhile as i've always had a sweating issue. I tried everything I knew - Certain Dri, prescription strength deodorants from a doctor, natural remedy's but they all either burned my skin or did nothing. After some research on businesses that perform the procedure and reviews I chose a plastic surgery practice in Beverly Hills. I didn't want to have to go in for Botox every 6 months and it could be just as pricey as the miraDry after a few touch-ups. I avoided reading too many reviews or in-depth details about the actual miraDry procedure as I didn't want to chicken out because of the needles. I won't lie - the injections hurt pretty bad at least for me. I was clenching my teeth at parts for sure and regretting doing this to myself. The entire procedure took me an hour and a half. After I was numb everything was painless and went smoothly and I thought I was going to get away with no bruising and right back to work like nothing had happened. I was sent home with orders to ice my underarms and take ibuprofen as directed for the pain. The first night I wasn't in much pain because of the lidocaine. I was swollen but not as bad as some people have described as huge golf balls, it looked more like my arms were bloated. The next morning and few days after however were the worst pain of my life. It's crazy because I honestly remember being on the verge of tears many times the first and second day after the procedure but at this point I have emotionally blocked out how exactly it felt. Everything was extremely tender/swollen and I wasn't able to put my arms down at all. My arms were bruised worse than any of the recovery pictures I've seen on here. It looked like I had been in a terrible car wreck. I walked around like the scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz. This is supposed to be a limited to zero downtime procedure but I greatly wished I had taken at least a day off to recover. I didn't take any immediate pictures after the procedure but I did take one about 5 days out (the bruising is better than it was on day 2). I wasn't able to do really any icing during work the next day except during my hour lunch break. If I had been able to constantly ice then my recovery might have been much better. I lived off of ibuprofen and Tylenol and was taking the maximum amount of medicine allowed. I definitely can't understand how some people have the procedure done and go back to working out a couple days later - you're also supposed to wash your underarms a couple times a day and I cried at the thought of going close to that area. The first week was rough, by about a week and a half I was starting to feel better and wear clothes that weren't super baggy. I still had some pain that came and went if I turned a certain way or had a coat on rubbing my underarms. Arnica gel/pills were a life saver. I was scared my bruises were going to take a full month to go away because they were that bad but with the gel it sped up my healing to about 7 days for bruises to be basically gone. By week 3 I was 99% back to normal without pain and now 20 days out from the procedure I am 99.9% back to normal. It says it takes about 3 months to be completely healed. I'm still nervous to try to press on my armpit area and my right armpit feels a bit warm under the skin when I just rest a hand on it. I can tell it's still slightly tender and might be this way for awhile. Now the results - I've barely broken a sweat so far! There is the faint scent of BO after I've done hardcore physical activity but it smells different than before and it's so faint you have to really get your nose in there to even detect it. I occasionally feel "sticky" and warm under my arms and then go to check and there's no actual sweat happening. At this point I don't see a reason to get a second procedure - back on Day 2 of recovery I had sworn there was no way in hell that i'd be getting a second one but after blocking out the pain from before I can see the results are worth it. If I can get a way with wearing a natural deodorant then i'm happy. For someone who used to sweat just sitting on the couch watching TV and wear mostly black and baggy sweaters this is truly a miracle.