Need advice - post op

I have been stalking real self for months now.. and thanks to everyone's pictures and reviews I have decided to get a BBL done with Dra Duran in the DR. I sent her an email tonight with my pictures and expectations. Hopefully it doesn't take too long to get a quote! :)

Age: 25
Height: 5'0
Weight: Naturally 120, but gained 30 pounds for surgery (only meant to gain 10, OOPS!) now, 150
Measurements: 36", 35", 41"

Not sure why my hip measurement is so large... I have no hips or butt! lol
I'm uploading my before pics and wish pics

My normal weight is 115-120... and from reading so many reviews I knew I didn't have enough fat to get the butt I wanted so I decided to gain weight. I only intended to gain 10 pounds... but of course it snowballed and I gained 30 before I knew what was happening.

I know I have plenty of fat now, but is it too much? I want enough to get volume in my butt but after my surgery I want NO fat left in the lipo areas.
I want to get my stomach, entire back, arms, armpits, inner thighs, and knees done. Should I lose 10 pounds so she can lipo all areas that I want? Or not worry and hope she does them all anyway?

I've seen reviews where people are glad they gained weight otherwise they wouldnt get the volume. And Ive also seen reviews where people regretted gaining weight bc lipo didnt take off all the fat so when they lost weight after surgery they lose it in their butt too... so gaining weight was pointless.

Not sure what to do :(

Also, I still haven't heard from Dra Duran... I emailed her last Thursday, also added her on Facebook and emailed her on there.

I want to have the surgery done in September, which is my only week off school for the rest of the year. Does anyone know how hard it is to schedule appointments with Duran? I know some doctors are booked for 6 months at a time...

I found his website and he does AWESOME lipo.. but I haven't really found any pics of the BBLs hes done.. even though a lot of girls say they love his work. Can anyone direct me to his BBL before and afters? Or email me their own pics by him??

Thanks!!

The more I think about it, the more I want to stay in the states. I LOVE Duran's work.. but it bothers me that she's not fluent in English and I'm not fluent in Spanish... so some things may be miscommunicated. If I'm putting my life in someone's hands I want to make sure we understand each other completely. She also still has not responded to my email.

Benefits of staying in the states:
-No airfare (I live in south Florida already)
-I can stay in my own house, not a hotel
-Don't have to pay for 11 nights at a hotel
-Don't have to pay for transportation since I have friends here to drive me
-No worry about not speaking the same language
-I can easily go back for a follow up or questions at any time
-I can meet my Dr in person before the surgery, and check out the facility

Also, I haven't seen too many pics of Dr Pelayo's BBLs.. but his lipo is AMAZING.. and that right there is worth it to me. I also read that he trained Dr Salama.. who was my first choice when I started my research.. but I noticed that he was getting lazy.

I think Dr Pelayo is the best of all worlds... comments?

If I stay here I also don't have to take two weeks off of work.. since I work from home I can lay in bed and be productive. And my phone will still work. I can also do the surgery when I want instead of doing it in the two week timeframe I have off school. I also go to an online school... so I can do everything from the comfort of my own bed...

sorry in advance about this post. I need to say things out loud (or type them) to talk myself through it and come to a decision.

I had my consultation with Dr P today. First off, I've been researching BBL for two years now, and I thought I knew what to expect. I knew all Drs have their own opinions and own ways of doing things but Dr P's answers kinda threw me for a loop so I need to decide if they're good or bad.

I emailed two days ago (Tuesday) to setup an appointment. His surgery coordinator emailed me last night in response and when I told her I wanted their first available appointment she set me up for today. Good turn around, I'd say.

Let me point out that I've read every review on this site about Dr Pelayo. I've read many negative comments about his staff. He has his own office AND he practices at a facility called the Vanidides (?). I went to his office and his staff was amazing. Apparently the problems come from the other facility. If those are the comments that turned you off of him... then go to his personal office.

Also, I read a comment from one of his patients saying that when she showed up on her surgery day he handed her off to another Dr. I asked him about this because it concerned me. I want my surgery to be done by the Dr that I've met with and paid for. The one that understands what I want and the one that I've researched. He claimed that this patient had only done an email consultation and that she looked different in her pics than in person. He said after examining her in person he wasn't comfortable doing the surgery because with her weight and skin problems she woulnd't get good results. He said he then advised her to use another surgeon on the facility. I'd be pretty upset about that too... but I understand him not wanting to tarnish his reputation with a patient he knew he couldn't get good results with. I heard both sides of the story and whichever way it happened... he said he's confident doing my surgery so I'm not worried.

Ok so, at the consultation.. the office is in Hialeah.. which is pretty ghetto. I wasn't impressed with his office. It was an old house converted into a medical office.. with bars on the windows and all. Creepy, lol. He brought one of his nurses in with him, which I'm not sure if it was because he wanted a woman in the room for liability reasons, or if he did it because he has a heavy accent and I dont speak Spanish. She came in handy many times when either of us needed to clarify a point. I feel like the entire time his attitude was basically "Im the best at liposuction and you just need to believe that, and I don't need to explain myself to you..." Which was annoying, but I'd rather have a good doctor with good results than a nice one with bad results. Between him and his nurse, all my questions were answered. I showed him some of my wish pics, which clearly annoyed him... because every body is different and there's no way to know what your body will look like after surgery. I know all of this, I just wanted to give him an idea because some girls just want a little volume and some want a DONK. I wanted him to understand my general expectations, even if I can't get exactly like the pictures. He told me he will suck out ALL my fat.. and transfer as much fat as my body can take.. unless I ask otherwise. This is what I want, because I know I will lose some through re absorption and weight loss afterwards.

Basically, he told me between my stomach and my back I will reach the legal limit of liposuction. Which is NOT what I wanted to hear... but I'm glad he was honest. I've seen so many pics of girls who only get a little bit of lipo on each area they paid for. I want ALL my fat gone in those areas.. which is what he does. He told me if I lose 15-20 pounds he MAY be able to also lipo my arms, otherwise I need to come back a month later and get my extra lipo. This was odd to me.. but the more I think about it the more I realize that I want the best results possible, not just the quick fix. Also, it's only an extra $400 to do them separately. And this saves me the worry of "will he be able to do it??" Because if I go a second round of lipo.. he can do ANOTHER 4 liters, Instead of just the first set. If I go a second round I can also get my thighs done. I feel like I should lose about 10 pounds before surgery either way, though, since he said I'm already at the limit. I want to make sure he doesn't have to leave anything behind.

The prices they gave me include the lab work (done at their office), one garment, lipo, and transfer to butt. The garment pads are extra and that massages need to be done through a different place.

Full stomach, side, and back lipo with BBL: $3,300
Arms and inner thigh lipo (second round): $1500

OR

All areas (minus inner thigh, which I added after the quote) with BBL: $3,900

His prices are awesome, which I guess shows why his office is in the ghetto lol. The nurse told me the down payment is $300, which is due when I get the labs done.

Another thing to mention is that he does the BBL under local anesthesia, not general. Which means you will be awake the entire time. This freaked me out at first, but I'm starting to believe it's better. For one, local is cheaper... which means his prices are better because he doesnt have to add $1200 for an anesthesiologist, not because his work is lacking. Also, is safer... because there's no chance of "not waking up." He also said it causes an easier healing process, AND it makes the surgery better because you are easier to move and flip over when you're awake. In the end, it's supposed to give better results.

To sum it up...
Pros:
-good price (which is not my main concern, just a bonus)
-local, so no need to get a hotel or flight
-BEST lipo I've seen
-honest and realistic
-available whenever I want the surgery

cons:
-office in the ghetto
-not getting promises that I want
-having to go through two surgeries to get the results I want

Oh, and my tentative surgery date is Sep 21st, which is a saturday!! I've never heard of surgeries being done on the weekend, but that's amazing for me. That means I don't have to take that day off of work and neither does whoever will be driving me... which means it'll be easier to find someone lol.

Thank goodness I'm dating a personal trainer. He's going to give me a diet plan to lose the excess weight before surgery and get me in PERFECT shape afterwards. No sense in sucking all the fat out if you don't have toned muscle underneath.

At the point, I'm pretty sure I'm going to use Dr P... just need to settle me few hesitations first.

Dr Pelayo trained Dr Salama... so I'm basically expecting better results, for half the price. Heh!

I'm also getting fat added to my hips.

I asked to see the surgery room, which they had no problem with... which is good. The room was pretty creepy... but what surgery room isn't? lol. At least it was clean!

I still haven't seen too many pics of his BBL work. The few I've seen were great, but hard to judge by only a few. This is one of my biggest hesitations... I don't want to go into this blindly.

Overall, they all seemed to be very honest and transparent.. and completely focused on safety. That should be number one on anyone's priority list.

So a week an a half ago, I emailed Dra Duran for a quote. I wrote out a nice email, had my husband translate it to Spanish for me, and attached all of my pics. I knew some people said she sometimes takes a while to respond, but since I want to have my BBL in the next month or two, I needed a response ASAP.

So then I added her as a friend on FB and sent her a short email on there saying I emailed her my pics and asked for a quote.

Finally, last night she messaged me on FB and asked me to send her pics on there so she could evaluate me. What...?!???!!? Does she not check her real email?!! And it took her over a week to ask me a question and not even give me a quote?? I'm super annoyed that I took my time to make my email as easy for her to respond to as possible. I know she's super busy... but that's SO unprofessional -_-

I know everyone's experience is different... but I am now for sure going with Dr Pelayo. I can't be this unsure and fly to another country for surgery

I haven't updated in a while... so here goes!

I called Dr Ps office last week to schedule my labs (which are included in the BBL price) and they told me to call back next week because the girl that does appointments wasn't there. So I called back this past Monday and told her I wanted to schedule my lab work and confirm my surgery date for the 21st. She confirmed my date and said to do it that soon I'd need to come in for labs this week.
So yesterday (Thursday) I went in to do my bloodwork. I paid the $300 deposit and they gave me all my pre and post op information, I filled out all the paperwork, then went back to do my tests. They had you leave a pee sample and blood. I've always had problems giving blood though, they can never find my veins -_- So she tried my arm and it didn't work so she tried my hand... and I passes out, literally lol. She was genuinely concerned and ran to get another nurse. They had me sit in another room in a big comfy chair in front of a fan and brought me water. Once they knew I was feeling ok the new nurse tried my other hand. This time it worked, thank god!! I don't want to be denied for surgery because they can't get my blood lol

After that, I met with Dr P, who examined me again and wrote out all my prescriptions. He wants me on 2 antibiotics, a nausea pill, iron, and vicodin. Since everything was taken care of, I don't need to come back for a pre op appointment. I think they did this so I wouldn't have to drive down again, (I live an hour away). They said I can pay the remainder of the surgery cost ($3000) the morning of the surgery, in cash.

Oh, and they said Dr P will be out of town the day of my scheduled surgery for a conference, so they rescheduled me for Sep 7th!!!! Thats only 2 weeks!! AHHHHH. So excited yet SO nervous.

I was completely prepared except for setting up my massage appointments. I googled everything last night and there aren't many options in my area for lymphatic massages. I found one place that will come do them at your home, but they're $115 each... and since Dr P insists I need to get 10 massages.. that's just not going to happen. I've read a lot of girls went to Massage Envy, so I called there this morning. The receptionist asked me to hold, then hung up on me. When I called back, she didn't even know what a lymphatic massage was... after I rolled my eyes, I explained what it was and she went to ask someone else. Turns out they do offer these massages, thank goodness!! It's $49 for your first massage, then $79 for any after that if you don't become a member. If you DO become a member, it's $59 for the next massage, then $39 for any after that. She made my appointment for Sep 8th, but said I'll need a Dr note saying it's ok to get massaged. Which is kind of ridiculous, but whatever. I'll call Dr Ps office next week and have them email me a note. I'm told I need a massage the two days after surgery and every other day after that to finish draining all the fluids. It's adding up, $$, but it's worth it to get the best results.

So now... I just wait :)

So last week someone hacked my bank account and stole the money I saved for surgery :( They said it would take up to 10 business days to get my money back but my surgery was only a week away! So I called Dr P's office and rescheduled to the 14th. It's only one week later... but I'm sad lol. I was supposed to get my butt this weekend!!

I rescheduled my massages and everything.... only ten more days!!! :)

Ok so I had my surgery yesterday morning. Got there and they took my vitals, got me in the gown and whatnot. Dr Pelayo came in and took my "before" pics and drew on my body where the lipo and the injections would be. Made it to the OR and they couldn't find a vein to put the IV in so they said they couldn't do it and I should just drink a lot of Gatorade after.

I had no idea how local anesthesia was given... I thought it'd be through shots.. but no. He sticks the cannula (?) deep into your skin and releases the anesthesia so it can spread. He had to do this alllllll over and it hurt SO BAD! Finally when he was done he started the lipo. With LA you're supposed to feel pressure and feel what's going on but it's not supposed to hurt. I FELT EVERYTHING! There were a few patches where the anesthesia worked, but for the most part it didn't. I was crying the entire time and squeezing the nurses hands. It was bad enough that I was screaming through most of it. Dr P stopped and said he didn't want to continue and that he coudn't work on me in so much pain because I kept moving and that he'd just give me money back. He said this had never happened before and that I just needed to relax because I was just nervous. WTF?!?!? Being nervous and feeling the entire surgery are completely different! He was acting like it was all my fault. So I told him I wanted to continue, I didn't want to find a new dr and wait again.. especially since he had already one lipo on half my stomach. so he finished my stomach and back, with me screaming... but didn't do as much as he should've. He said that was as much as I could handle... so I still have a lot of fat left :(

Then when he started injecting the fat into my butt he told me if I was good, he would give me the big butt that I wanted but if I wasn't, he wouldn't. I'm pretty sure I didn't even get anesthesia on my butt.... this also hurt like hell!

What happened after surgery is all kind of a blur... but I remember them putting the garment on me and laying in the back of the car the whole way home. When I got home I took a nap then had to get up and look. Later in the night the garment was hurting wayyyyyy too much so I decided to take it off and change my bandages. Especially since the blood was leaking everywhereeee. Dr P doesn't use the drains so it just soaks all your clothes!! Yuck! I had to cut the front crotch part of the garment just to get it off bc it didn't fit over my butt! Now when I put it back on my stomach is squished out through that hole... so it probably wasn't a good idea. I changed all the bandages and even with help it took foreverrrrr to get the garment back on. Finally got it back on and went to bed. I knocked out, which is unusual... but couldnt move the entire night because it hurt too much. In the middle of the night my neck hurt to bad so I decided to sleep on the couch. I have a sectional couch so I took one of the pieces and put it in front of the other.. with about a foot wide gap. So I could lay of my back and let my butt hang between them.

Today I was allowed to take a shower.. thank god because I was covered in sweat and blood. So while I had my garment off I could look at my body. I am sooooo depressed. He didn't lipo my sides so I didn't get the small waist I wanted. I asked him to inject fat into the flat part of my hips so theyd be round but he injected it too high now it looks like a gross lump of fat n still have flat hips!!! I still have a gut and a super lumpy stomach. And my butt is big but it looks like he just slapped butt pads on there. It's not smooth on my legs at all. U can feel on all the sides that it goes up like a cm. And on the top... OMG, I have a shelf!!!!! SOOOO gross! . And on the bottom he injected like a weird lump so I have a nasty double cheek on the bottom.

I have my massage in about two hours and Im reallyyyyyyy hoping she can fix all this. The lumpy stomach, and the sides of my butt. I know they aren't supposed to massage your butt because you'll lose volume... but thats exactly what I'm hoping for around the edges. I'm just not looking forward to how bad it's going to hurt :(

I googled a while ago who does lymphatic massages... and found very few in Palm Beach. Everyone kept saying they went to Massage Envy so I called them and they said they do these massages so I made my appointment. Dr P says I need a massage the two days after surgery and every other day after that, minimum of ten massages. Massage Envy told me I needed a Dr note to get that type of massage (wtf) so I brought one with me. The girl just looked at me weird and made all kinds of excuses not to do it! She said no one there was licensed in lymphatic massage and I'd have to go somewhere else. WTF?!

So I made an appointment to go to one of the recommended masseuses in Miami tomorrow after my follow up with Dr P.... but I need to find someone closer for the rest of them. Since I can't even drive right now.. I won't be able to drive an hour each way every day!


Speaking of... anyone have tips to driving? I made little cushions with a yoga mat and a cushion around it to sit on.. but my butt is too big LOL and still gets pressure on the seat.

And I've heard a few people say they didn't do the massages and they were fine... but with him not finishing the lipo I think I have to. And I keep leaking fluids so I want to get it alllllllll pushed out before the incisions heal. I need to do damage control!

See the fat squishing out the top of the garment by my armpits? That was lipo'd and isn't being compressed. I hate when girls get back lipo and then there's still a ton of fat up there. It messes up the shape. Any suggestions how to compress that?

Any tips for driving? I made the cushion things to sit on but my butt is too big lol

Also... Sleeping? My neck is killinggggg me from sleeping on my stomach. And it seems whenever I sleep on my sides my arms fall asleep really fast.

I also need someone to promise me my butt is going to drop! Lol it's too high... Which makes short girls like me look fat. I want it round and squishy at the bottom

that my sides aren't even? lol I realize I look a ton better than just two days ago.. but Im nervous that my sides are going to settle differently.

Also, just ordered this arm faja http://www.ebay.com/itm/121170426187?var=420169102407&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
for about $50 to compress my underarm fat that was lipo'd but is being pushed out the top of my garment.

Also... my friends keep bailing on taking me to my massages :/ any tips?

I haven't been on here in a while because frankly I hate my results. I know it takes time to see the full results... but I don't think time will fix this. My measurements are now 33-30-42, which means my butt is only 1 inch bigger than it was before surgery. WTF?!

I also have these red lines all around my belly button (ill post a pic) that look like stretch marks, but I never had stretch marks on my stomach, why would I get them now!? and no they're not lines from my garment or anything... and they're not going away!! Its disgusting. My main goal for this surgery was to get a flat stomach but now I just want to keep it covered. Its still full of lumps... hard lumps under the skin and pockets of fat all around my belly button. I know the swelling needs to go down, but these are legit fat pockets, not swelling.. and theyre horrribleeeee!!

My sides are also not even... one side is curvy and the other is just a straight line. He left a huge chunk of fat of my side that would've completely changed my shape. Now I just look ridiculous because they're different.

I feel like the only difference in my butt now is the big bubble/shelf thing at the top. Im sooooo disappointed :(

Like Ive said before, I gained weight for this surgery. I know it snowballed and I gained too much, but I looked so much better before any of this. Total waste of time and money.

Wishing I had gone to Duran....