Awake BBL on Skinny Girl- Smooth Experience

I contacted Bodysculpt in December of 2021 and had my appointment for a month later. I went to a local lab to have all my blood work done to make sure O was healthy enough, I was taking iron supplements for low iron levels but that did not get in the way. There would be little blood loss from awake lipo to just one area and I would not need any drainage tubes. I literally had a few drops of drainage that a few gauges took care of. It was important to me to be awake and to see a board certified surgeon who focuses mainly on this procedure, uses the safer technique of transferring the fat over the muscle and who obviously has a good track record and good results. I was coming from out of state and it was important to me not to have to recover from general anesthesia and to be able to come home the day after. We had a zoom appointment to asses my wants and what he could achieve. I liked that he was realistic about my results. The conference call was comfortable and he was easy to communicate with. I had a lot of questions throughout the whole month prior to my procedure and they were great about getting back to me and answering my questions very quickly. I arrived in NYC the night before. The morning of, I was the first patient. They were quick to open up and bring me into my dressing room. The office was nice, clean, comfortable and modern. The assistant brought me into a special room to take before photos. The dressing room was very nice and I had a friend that was with me to be able to drive me home and they allowed her in to the dressing room and hang out in there to wait for me, and Dr. Chia came in to look at me and go over the plan and mark me up. I only wanted him to take fat from my flanks. My stomach responds better to diet and exercise. In addition I have some loose skin on my abdomen and I wasn’t prepared to address this. Also, a 360 lipo would mean a separate procedure of liposuction of the abdomen on a different day. With an awake bbl they can only give you so much local anesthesia based on your weight and length of procedure. He felt as though I had enough fat on my flanks and waistline for the procedure to have results. I also wanted a natural and subtle look. I was primarily concerned about my hip dips. We as women should normalize them! Unfortunately I have no hips, no waist and I’m tall, long and have lean muscle. My middle, especially my flanks are where I gain weight first and it’s the last to go! That combined with hip dips and a “V” shaped rear REALLY bothered me. If I had had any of the other things like a natural waist or maybe some hips, I wouldn’t care! He agreed that the priority would be to fill in the hip dips and create some curves on the hips. With the fat that was left, he would create some projection and fill in some dents along my banana roll. Liposuction if my flanks and waist would create a smaller waist and filling in the dips and around that area would give the illusion of hips. They gave me some Valium to relax me and then brought me into the exam room to apply the local anesthesia. That’s the part that’s most uncomfortable. The pricking itself doesn’t hurt but the lidocaine stings under the skin. I had done this several times before with the profound RF procedure on my buttocks. The mood was light and relaxing. They put on some music, meanwhile he explained step by step what he was doing as well as making some small talk. I also had the Pro-Nox, nitrous oxide gas that I could breathe in whenever I felt like it, so I was extremely relaxed and happy. I’m pretty sure I was singing along to the music like I was at karaoke. Dr. Chia suctioned out the fat which passed through a closed system where it was separated and purified. He was able to harvest 1100 viable cc’s which was more than he thought so I received 550 on each side. I felt so good I didn’t want the procedure to be over! But it was in about an hour and a half or so. Everyone was super great and it was a very good experience. They got me in my waist trainer which was included. Everything was included in the $10 grand. Which would include 3 more virtual visits and I know that if I wanted more they’d pencil me in. My hips were huge and my waist was tiny!! They did advise me that there would be a ton of swelling for a while and that if I followed post care correctly, I’d still lose 20-40% of the grafted fat. He advised not to sit for 4 weeks. I’ve read that its better to refrain from sitting or sleeping on your back for 8 weeks! I followed the instructions to a T. I literally did not sit, at all, for 4 weeks. I didn’t even use my BBL pillow. I slept on my stomach because of the fat grafted to my hips I couldn’t sleep on my sides either. The most difficult part of all of this was definitely having to stand all day and not be able to sleep comfortably because sleeping on my stomach is a position that is the worst for me. That’s the one thing I wonder if people are really prepared for when they embark on this journey, not sitting for so long and I’m sure many women ignore it and after a few weeks, sit. It takes time for that fat to settle in and establish a strong full blood supply, I wore loose clothing for the first month and didn’t work out for the first 3 months, just very light cardio like walking or light dancing. I was told that I was able to stop wearing my waist compression garment after 2 weeks but I kept it on longer. I would say I lost about 30% of the fat. I also fell hard onto ice on my right side while trying to shovel snow, at week two, but 7 months later I don’t think that it affected me adversely. One thing I will say ladies about this, Is that if you already have cellulite, this procedure will not correct that. I know some doctors say it could help but unless they are also performing another procedure to specifically target cellulite, this procedure very likely will make it worse. It might create dents where you didn’t have them. The doctors cannot predict where and how much of the fat will die. They can use techniques to increase the survival rate, they can be strategic about where and how they place it but they can’t predict which fat cells will die and how the fat will settle and look, that depends on your body and your post care and if you already have fibrous bands connected to your skin to the underlying muscle tighten irregularly. This tightening pulls down on your skin and causes the dimples or cellulite and injecting fat in those dimples is just a “fingers crossed” approach. I ended up with more pronounced cellulite and some dents where I never had them before. I’ll be addressing that with cellfina and more profound RF treatments (which works super well!) Another HUGE thing that I think people should know is that liposuction and fat transfer, as individual procedures, have different post care instructions. Liposuction should be followed by diet and exercise. Fat transfer to buttocks requires refraining from exercise at first then gradually light exercise until 3 months post procedure. It also requires that one maintain their weight and not lose any or much. These post care instructions for both procedures contradict each other yet we want the best results for both, so it’s a fine line.. I tend to lose weight easily and have a high metabolism. I ate more after the procedure because I was so focused on not jeopardizing the fat graft and of course I wasn’t exercising and both those things were not conducive and were counterproductive for the liposuction to my waist and flanks. I didn’t have as dramatic results as I had expected on the liposuction. I went into this procedure thinking that at worst I would have a subtle change in my butt but would have a much smaller waist and so it would create the illusion of more curves and around my backside. But I was surprised that I retained much of the fat grafted yet didn’t have very obvious results from the liposuction. I was expecting a snatched waist. Dr. Chia explained that because my hip bones sit high into my waist, it’s more difficult for me to obtain that snatched waist look. The doctor took everything that I could give him from my flanks and sides of waist, so I honestly believe that my post care actions hampered my liposuction results. If I were to do it again, I would create a calorie intake and meal plan for myself for post procedure and follow it as closely as possible with an app, to make sure that I’m not gaining or losing, and to better hold myself accountable of the quality of food that I’m eating. So just food for thought! Know your skeletal system and how it might affect your results And especially to the gals who are already experiencing the visual effects from loss of collagen and moisture. I was 47 when I had the procedure done. Understand that loose skin or lax skin could become worse. I’m going to include before and after photos. I’ll add that I did try everything before I decided on this procedure. I got into bodybuilding, I went completely vegan and only homemade meals, I was working out 2 1/2 hours a day six days a week And I had better results reducing fat on waist and flanks then with the liposuction but I could not, no matter how hard I tried build the glutes that I wanted! My hip bones are set high up so I have a little waist and the gap between my hip bone in my femur is larger which creates more of a hip dip so genetics really are the deciding factor. One last thing That nobody talks to you about.. how long it really takes for that transferee fat to feel like it’s part of your body! It took about 6 months. I still have mild tingly soreness around the 2 incisions and my hips. I cannot sit for an extended period of time because it becomes too uncomfortable. I have heard through a nurse that I know who has a lot of friends who have had the Brazilian butt lift complain about the same thing and I believe that the reality of this is not acknowledged in any material that you find online because frankly it would discourage more so, I believe, people from having this procedure. I think the key is being very realistic and understanding everything about the procedure as much as possible so that your expectations are also realistic . I will post my before, body my bodybuilding body, my surgery body, my post surgery body and now and seven months later.