38 Years Old, No Kids, in Good Shape but with Stubborn Chin and Belly Fat - Burien, WA

I've always been in good shape and taken good care of myself, but I've always had a chubby face and with time it's become uneven and started to sag. It's present no matter how fit I am. After consulting with Dr. Brecht, I decided to take the plunge and do my upper and lower abs as well. They were never BAD but I could never get them to look as tight as the rest of me. I decided to do all this now while I'm pretty young and my skin remains elastic.

Dr. Brecht keeps prices low by using oral sedation only - no "twilight anesthesia". Basically you get a small handful of mixed pills and you're so stoned that you don't even care. I was aware for some of the procedure, and there was some minor pain in my upper abdominal area during. I remember looking down and actually watching the cannula under my skin. The whole rest of it I don't remember at all. Overall, it wasn't unpleasant and my worries about the anesthesia proved unfounded.

Unfortunately, the side effect of taking a mess of pills vs. twilight is that you're stoned ALL DAY. I can shake off twilight and general anesthesia in less than half an hour, so that was kind of a bummer. Definitely needed someone there waiting on me hand and foot because I was making no sense at all.

The first two weeks were absolute misery. My face wasn't too bad but there was some bruising and swelling, and my stomach was swollen and gross and I had pretty severe bruising in my bikini region. There was zero way to get comfortable and I was essentially stuck inside hiding.

My stomach got hard and solid at about 2-3 weeks in, as did my chin. At this point they looked pretty good because they were so tight, though they weren't entirely even and were lumpy to the touch. I massaged them lightly but regularly and wore my compression garments 24/7 for the first month.

At around 4 weeks they began to soften up. At this point I sort of looked like where I started due to the swelling. I had deep itching and surface numbness, as well as shooting pain in my stomach, like cold flashes. The itching was the worst, because there was no scratching it....it was way deep under the skin!

I'm in my 7th week now and I still wear compression at night. If I'm not going anywhere during the day I'll wear it at home as well, including the chin strap. I look good enough to show off my stomach, though at the very lowest areas there is visible lumpiness still, but it's really only noticeable if I stretch up and back...then it looks like pebbled leather. Un der my chin still feels lumpy if I leave off the chin strap for a few hours...pockets of fluid that haven't quite resolved yet. As it softened up, a little bag appeared where my double chin used to be. Way better than it was before, still, and I'm still relatively early in the healing process so I expect that this will resolve with time. My actual jawline is almost totally tight, though..there is a really big improvement there.

To give everyone a better idea of the process, I'm a full-nude exotic dancer. I was off work for a month before I felt comfortable getting back on stage. A garter belt covers the last little lumpy areas, and voila!

I will update as I continue the last stretch of healing, but so far I am very pleased with my results.

I think my jawline and chin look great. The fat transplant to my butt stuck pretty well with minimal loss of volume, but I didn't have enough fat for a huge difference. The scars on my hips are a bother - they were precisely where my compression garments rubbed. I'll probably have to get them excised, which is imo not a big deal. I am a little bummed that the lumpiness and uneven spots remain in my lower abdomen. My stomach is flat, but still no definition...I was hoping for more definition and I wanted it even. Now I feel like I have cellulite on my lower stomach. My upper abdomen looks great, totally smooth. I'm going to talk to my Dr to see what my options are for smoothing this out further.