Won't Provide my Surgical Records

I've finally decided that it's time for me to "give-back" and post my review now that there's less than 2 months to go.

I started this journey about a year ago when I was looking online for more information about breast lifts. Although my boobs aren't disastrous, they don't look good without bra and I've complained about them for enough years now that it's high time I took some action.

I've never had any sort of procedure before and live in a very remote part of the world where this kind of thing is alien, so I knew I had to travel. Realself.com has been godsend. I started out knowing absolutely nothing and have been able to educate myself, ask questions and read real experiences through this website. The first doctor I considered seriously was Dr Horndeski because of the longevity promised by his Ultimate Breast Lift. I had a great Skype consultation with him, but was dismayed that the price tag was a whopping $14k. Also, something about the fact that his procedure hasn't caught on more widely just didn't sit right with me. So, I carried on searching.

That's when I discovered BBL's! I have been carrying some extra weight on my extra petite frame for about 2 years now, and I haven't been able to shift it. Having said that, I think if I really commit to working out regularly and eating less, I probably could get back down to the 90lbs I have always been (I'm only 5ft tall), but my job, the climate here, and my love of food mean that I keep failing at doing this. I am now 103 lbs which is the biggest I have ever been. My clothes no longer fit me, and I hate looking in the mirror, so I figured that I may as well look to see if I can fix the belly fat as well as lifting the girls. And hey, while I'm at it, haven't I always complained about my extra flat derriere? Well, no point in wasting all that juicy fat, so...

At first I didn't want to tell my husband about this new track I was on, and researched ways of making the whole thing cost about the same as a regular mastopexy in the US, so that when I finally broke the news, at least the $$ side wouldn't cause any friction. So, I read about doctors in DR and decided I quite liked Dr. Alejandro Hernández Pizzoglio because his work looked good and he was Board Certified. I asked him November if I could reserve a date in April 2015, and he told me to get in touch with his office at the end of January because he wasn't taking bookings that far ahead. He didn't really engage with me, wasn't interested in a Skype/phone call, and in the end, the final nail was that he asked me to gain weight. That sort of thing does make me nervous. First of all, I don' want my arms, chin, face etc to get any fatter. Secondly, it's not in my best interests health wise to gain any weight, and thirdly, surely if I didn't have the weight now, I would just lose it after surgery anyway. Made no sense to me.

So then, I found Dr Campbell at Prestige in Cartagena, Columbia. He was totally wonderful. Our phone conversations were great, and I really liked the pics on his website. I also liked that he and his wife would have been working on me at the same time to reduce surgery time, and I have always wanted to visit Colombia. The problem was that Dr Campbell really thought that the best thing for me was to have implants to lift my breasts, an possibly just a donut mastopexy at the very most. I am already a 32DD. I don't want my breasts any larger. And I don't feel that the donut will lift me enough. I was sad to not continue with Dr Campbell, because he does seem lovely, and we had already both spent a good deal of time on my case, but in the end I had to go with my gut.

I found Dr Hughes. I LOVED that he was aggressive with thinner girls, and I LOVED that he had very few, if any, negative reviews. I didn't love that his quote was more than double the quote from Dr Campbell. So I finally discussed the whole thing with the husband, and we decided that the price is the very last thing I should be thinking about in all of this. It's not appropriate to bargain-hunt when it comes to my boy and health. What finally swayed me with Dr Hughes and made me pay the first instalment was that he was so responsive by email, and he assured me that this same level of response will continue post-operatively.

He also asked to me about how hard the surgeon has to work when performing aggressive lipo, and he certainly seems to be physically capable of that much hard labor. I am sure that I have annoyed him with all my questions though, and in the last reply he asked me to stop researching techniques and to trust his technique and his before/after shots. Oops. He's totally right though. It's just so easy to get obsessed with all the info and all the stuff I am reading every day.

I am having lipo on my abdomen, upper back, armpit area and inner thighs. I really don't want a huge butt, and that thought really frightens me. It's what I worry most about, so I have a good number of wish pics that I will show to the doctor when I meet him in April. I also have a problem area of fatty loose skin in my upper abdomen, and Doctor Hughes has said that he might have a solution for that which may tie in to the vertical breast lift, but he will assess when he sees me.

I will be taking three flights to get to him, and then I will stay in LA for 12 days before taking three flights home. My husband and son will accompany me for the first week.

It feels like I have written tons so I will post this and then try to add some before pics.

A massive thank you to all the ladies that post to this website. I really appreciate the time you take, and all the advice and results.

Here are some "before" pics. Is anyone else finding that they are gaining weight prior to surgery even when you aren't meaning to?