Treatment Provider

Johnny Franco, MD, FACS
Board Certified Plastic Surgeon
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*Treatment results may vary

6 months out and my final observations!

Let me start with getting this procedure was one of the best things I could have ever done for myself

My proportions and the shape of my body is SO MUCH BETTER! and genuinely closer to what I’ve always wanted, especially my butt, it’s AMAZING!

Now let’s talk about some of the real stuff/cons of this experience, cuz everything isn’t “youtube” perfect.

Covid FUC*ED me over big time, I still firmly believe that I could have had better results if I was able to get professional lipo massages, I even found the girl to do them and had one appt, then she got shut down.
*self massages (help), but you really want someone to PUT IN WORK on your body after you spent so much money and the time you’ll put into recovering.

I still have areas of swelling that I honestly don’t think will ever go away? I have completely stopped wearing underwear, and I wear body suits as my undergarments now, cuz the elastic gives me huge love handles after about an hour.

I had an area on my left side that I suspected was a seroma, and it got smaller for a bit, but now is just this large lump. *you can’t really see it, but you can feel and push it around and it is firm and dense. **I try to massage it vigorously, but that doesn’t help. And I haven’t been able to get an in person appt with my doctor since March 2020 *my last virtual was in May*. (I’m going to call tomorrow and see if they are doing in person again, plus some other aesthetic inquiries)

Which leads me to the most disappointing part of this experience. After spending all the money and time healing, I am very unhappy with my hips. The projection is just not there at all, and that was the main thing I wanted. I got this surgery to battle my dysphoria, and it helped a lot in some ways, but also made it WAY WORSE in others. Wearing dresses now is almost an immediate trigger, because I look “so much better” but am still very boxy, just like a “sexier” box.

I can control this by losing weight to trim inches from my waist, but ultimately, I’ll lose volume in my hips and butt also. Also for anyone considering this, if you have a larger/muscular upper body, this surgery will emphasize that *without the proper hip projection to balance you out*
So in some cases, I look even more burly in certain dresses than before.

This is not necessarily the Dr’s fault. The fat just didn’t take well in my hips, which he said might be an issue. I can feel the areas where the fat was put in my hips and there is just a thin layer that survived, which enhances the shape a little, but no actual projection.

Im looking into my options, but I would really like to actually sit and talk with Dr. Franco about these issues, virtual appts aren’t going to help me at all.

There is also an area on my left butt cheek *my left side seems to be my trouble side* where the fat didn’t take as well as on the right. You can’t tell, my cheeks look/ and feel full and even, but when I sit down and put weight on them, the bottom of my left cheek gets this big dimple/caves in. That’s the least of my worries cuz it can probably be fixed with a small amount of filler.

I am looking into Renuvion/Sculptra as possible hip fillers but I don’t know if the results will be sufficient. I might have to do a round 2 bbl and only focus on my hips, we’ll see?

Yikes.

So today marks10 weeks. And I have been UP AND DOWN!
Full disclosure: I have not been able to do my massages with the Covid-19 restrictions/quarantine. I feel like this is the BIGGEST set back with my recovery.
I still have really bad swelling and soreness/burning in my flanks, lower back, and up by my shoulder blades.
I did take off my faja on April 9th for my birthday, because I adjusted the waist to 32 inches and it was squeezing the life out of me and I was OVER IT! I didn’t put it back on for about 2 weeks. That was a MISTAKE.
It felt good for the first like 3 days and then my body fell into SHAMBLES. Crazy Out of control swelling, pain, burning, lopsided bulges, and my lower stomach started looking distended and felt hard. I was at the point of wanting to cry.
My friend told me to stop being a stubborn ass and forced me back into my faja from scratch, with my foams, and ab board again.
THIS FIXED EVERYTHING! At least the physical appearance. So the short answer to my problem is that I have to stay in my faja for way longer than I planned. The long answer is “Why won’t my swelling leave my body??!”. I feel like my swelling is trapped, even with me massaging myself, it will soften up, but it won’t go anywhere? I push it towards my lymph drainage sights just like the masseuse told me, but it feels like it just sits in the same spot and hardens back up over night
My body is “back to normal” in terms of how I look, but my waist is kind of hovering at 35” now. Even with my faja at 32” it won’t go down anymore, so I feel it is time to start exercising to push my goals further.
I started very lightly sitting at the 6 week mark, and now I’m straight up sitting most of the day and every now and then I find myself sleeping on my back. This usually causes a burning sensation in my lower back upon waking up, but my butt mostly feels fine.
If I exercise or dance/twerk a little to much, I’ll get the pin point areas of sharp soreness/pain in my butt sometimes, it will last for a while and then goes away.
Overall I can definitely see the shape of my body now, and I’m mostly happy with it, but I wish my hips were just a little fuller to balance out my shoulders.
I’m Bust 39/40”, Waist 35”, *flanks 37”*, Hips 42.5”.
My goal with exercise and diet is
Bust 36”, Waist 29”, *flanks 37”*, Hips 44”

2 weeks

I bought a proper Faja and it is a GAME CHANGER.
My body is smoothing out and I’m actually seeing my results.
I did have to make alterations in the crotch and add elastic to the shoulders to stop them from digging into my skin so badly.
I also bought a waist shaper to use on top of it when I sleep.

During the day, I wear my Faja (I actually have to get it taken in) with a foam and an board. I don’t wear my back board at work.

**I started work 10 days post op** and it’s been fine. I’m a little sore and I can’t really bend, but we’re making it work!**

At night, I wear just the faja and the waist shaper to bed. I need to start wearing my back board with those also; I’ve noticed the middle line in my lower back is not as defined as it could be.

Even with the shaper cut only takes my waist down to a 36”. I started with 39.5”/40”, so it’s a nice reduction, but not as dramatic as I thought it would be. I’d like to get my waist down to a 32” with exercise and diet. My hips and butt are at 43”/ Bust is 39”/40”.

My upper body is still kind of bulky compared to the rest of me now. It’s somewhat proportioned, but losing sone weight and toning would probably be best to really get a cohesive look.

My pictures aren’t translating how nice my boy actually looks. There really is a drastic change in my overall shape, especially with my hips.
There is a slight unevenness with the curve of my hips that I’m going to ask Dr. Franco about at my 2 wk follow up on Sat. March 7th. It might just be swelling on one side, but for paying so much I need assurance that I’m gonna be as symmetrical as possible

Overall I am very happy with the recovery path I’m on, and I trust that my results will be what I wanted. **I’ve been trying on clothes and I’m really loving how they fit ^but of course it’s not translating in pictures??????^



Provider Review

Board Certified Plastic Surgeon
10622 Burnet Rd., Austin, Texas
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