Chin Lipo Encinitas, CA

I am scheduled for wide awake local anesthetic chin lipo tomorrow and I am nervous and having second thoughts reading horror stories about sagging skin and lumpy bumps. I am having it done by a board certified plastic surgeon whom I trust and whom I have seen his work on onther patients and it has all been good. But, what I have now isn't ideal but it's not terrible...I would hate to have it turn into something worse though...

What an experience, I was surprised how you don't really feel anything except a few initial pokes while they inject the lidocaine. Even then you can hardly feel those, everything numbs up so quick. The incision you don't feel at all, it isn't until the cannula is inserted that you feel anything. It's like the pressure of something forcing its way into a small space but it doesn't hurt at all. Apparently the fat has to be jabbed away from the skin so it can be sucked out lol. The good thing is you know it's happening but you can't feel any pain and the doctor and his assistant keep you very informed of what is happening the whole time. You lay on a neck roll to keep you in the right position so you can relax. At some point the push to break through fat is so forceful I wondered what if it stabs right into my trachea Ha Ha. In all seriousness though the doctor always pinches below where he is going so his fingers stop the cannula from ever drifting into the wrong area. The suction machine was quiet, nothing as scary as I had imagined, honestly it was over before I knew it. Wide awake, no pain meds, no Xanax, nothing but lidocaine and that was really all I needed, this was a very manageable procedure. They put a strip of tape over the small incision line and a pad and then wrapped me with a head ace bandage chin strap contraption.

This part is annoying, you want to look at your results, it's kind of itchy and when the numbing medicine wears off there is a dull ache but nothing that can't be managed. This is not my cutest Thanksgiving, we spent it with just my husband, my brother and my son as I was in no way going out with this chin strap on! It didn't interfere from me eating the tasty food in moderation and two Motrin easily takes care of the dull ache when it returns, day 1 post op down. So far so good, I only readjusted the strap once and took a quick peek, swollen yes a little with a few small pin point bruises but certainly better than before already.

The importance of the compression garment was stressed, I am only 31 and not trying to have loose skin so I am wearing it faithfully and will post pre and post pics after the 3rd day. I am told to wear the strap almost 24/7 for the first five days and then after work and at night for the next ten days.

So I wore my chin strap 24/7 for 5 days. Then I had to go back to work so I was transitioning to only wearing it at night. The first day back to work was ok but swelling started and kicked in by the end of the day. In the car on my way home I put my chin strap back on and kept it on overnight. However, as soon as I took it off in the morning swelling kicked back in. Worse than ever and yes I am taking motrin. My Plastic Surgeon said motrin every six hours and chin strap as much as possible. UGH....it is depressing to go from the before pic to slightly improved and to now looking even worse! But, I am told in time this swelling will resolve and my new improved chin line will magically appear. I really hope so....I am at day 9 so I guess it is still early...