Disappointed with Thigh Lift - Fairfax, VA

I think your expectations need to be managed. If I learned anything from this procedure it is this: it will only *improve* your legs, NOT fix them. If you are comfortable with that in your mind and assume that your surgeon is going to be conservative, then I would say you are mentally prepared for a thigh lift. If you are worried about scars...it comes with the territory. If you are worried about them migrating, then you are trying to fight the laws of gravity. Fruitless effort! If you are worried about the cosmetic appearance of the scars, then ask yourself if you really want to trade off losing excess skim for a scar. I was a no brainer to me...I don't care about scars. If you feel you have unanswered questions from our surgeon then call his office and see I he can meet with you again. In hindsight, I wish. We,d have stood in front of a full length mirror, had the surgeon pull my skin on my legs, and demonstrate what type of result I could possibly get. I think I would have immediately noticed that the result would have been short of my expectations, and it would have caused me to seriously reconsider not having the procedure done. Now I am trying to figure out the soonest I can have them revised.

I did this with my surgeon the first time - stood in front of the mirror and he pulled my skin. Later I felt that I still did not fully understand what my results would be. So I went back for a second consult and he pulled my skin again. This required me traveling to NJ from the Midwest. I had him show me what my results would be like if he did a shorter incision versus a longer incision. That was a worthwhile thing to do because it was clear to me to get the results I wanted that I would have to go with the long incision. I no longer have the mental image in my mind of what my legs looked like but I do recall that I liked what he showed me. I have high standards like you and I hope that I will be thrilled. But sometimes I get scared that I won't. I know if anyone can give me nice legs it is Dr. Capella.

I wish my surgeon would have done that with me. I have been the one pulling and tucking showing him what results I am expecting

Ask him to show you.

I just came back from my follow up and my surgeon was the surgeon I wish he had been when I went to see him. We both agreed that if he had been as thorough and upfront with me during my consultation that I would not have had such a negative experience and I may not have gone through with the surgery. I'm glad we learned the air. That doesn't mean that I am so disappointed that I spent the money, risked my life, but still didnt get what I wanted. It is unfortunate and There is nothing I can do to get a partial reimbursement for my unhappiness wth my legs. I feel and felt that I had expressed what I wanted he was just not on point during the two consultations prior to surgery. I never doubted his surgical abilities because I did my due diligence. My lesson here, and perhaps for others is, don't go to a doctor that is getting ready to go on vacation or one that is tired during your consultations. They are not at there best. Even though I believe it is their duty to inform their patients completely and make sure everyone is on the same page prior to surgery.

Cleared the air .. That doesn't mean that I'm still not disappointed that I spent the money. Sorry I type to fast for I pad

My surgeon told me today that he old not have recommended the vertical incision for me because there are a lot of problems with wounds opening and he didnt think I had enough problems to warrant that type of incision; although that would have given me the smaller tighter thighs I wanted. This is what he should have told me prior to my surgery and we discussed that and he apologized for not understanding me.

This really sucks. I am so sorry. It is not right that he isn't doing anything for you. I have heard so many patients not happy about their results lately. SMH. I am clear on my thighs, but there are other areas of my body that my surgeon is operating on and which he did not pull my skin. I got very emotional on the phone yesterday because I know that he has in his mind what he is going to achieve but he has not shown me. He assured me what he would do and that he would show me when I come back for my pre op... but I am a very visual person, I need to see it and I am concerned that the pre op consult is too close to surgery day. My rational self knows that he does fabulous work but my emotional self says "but what if..." I am getting anxious because I like to be in control (especially of my body) and since I have these unanswered questions I am feeling the loss of control.

You don't have to worry he is in Orange County California.

I don't think there is such a thing as a free revision. What he probably means is he waives his surgical fee but you still pay for anesthesia, operating room, etc.

Correct, if you have to go into the OR then you have to pay that fee and anesthesia. If he can do it in his office then there is no fee for those services. If I recall correctly, I believe that I read somewhere that Dr. Lomonaco paid for part of the OR fee for a patient he had to revise. I do not recall the details of it.

Agree with this. I had a revision of lipo on my hip (wasn't symmetrical) and there was no charge at all, as it was done in his office. Also, when one of my implants ruptured, my only cost was the replacement of the implant itself, no charge for local anesthesia or his time as that was in the office as well.

I thought the implants come with a warranty. I was told that there would not be a charge for replacement.

Mine was about 6 years old. Spontaneous rupture the morning after Thanksgiving. Doc sent it back to manufacturer and they refunded most of it. Looked pretty funny for a couple of weeks though until I could get on the schedule for the replacement!

Who was the manufacturer? I assume this was saline. If you had to do over would you do silicone?

I will have to go look up the manufacturer. Don't have my card with me now. Yep, they are saline and I'd go them again. Doc recommended against silicone for first ones. Mine move/look/feel just fine so I'm happy with saline.

Thank you

That is true. Other services are not responsible. Just doctor.

Where is the Dr located? I'm in Charlotte NC

Why was it the hardest surgery to recover from? I think this one is a lot easier than the LBL. This thigh lift is more annoying for me...walking and feeling the raised incision line rub together, not being able to fully stride my legs yet, but the pain level is much less than the LBL. That was horrible!

Why did the scars migrate?

He said that the tension on the thighs basically pulled the scar/incision line down. And I understand that, I just don't like it. He's a phenomenal surgeon and I've used him prior and would (WILL) use him again. I'm an RN and worked with some cosmetic surgery recovery patients before, so I have a lot of confidence in him. Could revise the scar, but am pretty sure I'd get the same result.

I did tummy tuck and LBL, along with breast augmentation and some lipo all for my first surgery. That was WAY better recovery than the thigh lift. The office staff even told me that the thigh lift is one of the harder recoveries. (I'm a pretty tough girl, too: 8 years Army officer, natural childbirth, emergency bilateral surgery for MRSA on legs two weeks after c-section...no problem!) Swelling from lift was awful (legs looked like tree stumps from groin to ankle) and range of motion was pretty decreased for quite a while...then again...in the groin, so that makes sense.

I never did quite get the scar revision approach. I do not understand how cutting out a scar, leaving a new incision, results in something other than a new scar??? You are scaring me with the pain, woman! I am having my TT converted to an LBL, mons lift revision, arm lift, flankplasty, breast lift, and medial thigh lift with the incision down to the knees. No muscle tightening, as that was done during the TT.

My pain was mostly from the swelling. Not having full range of motion was less discomfort than the swelling. At two weeks post op, I was doing phenomenal. "Better than most" he said. At two weeks and two days, I ballooned up and was miserable. He gave me HCTZ to get the water off. It took almost a week to get it all out but felt much better when I did. Just do NOT over-do it and if you start noticing the swelling, ask the doc. Some swelling is expected...that's a result of trauma to the tissue. Uncomfortable swelling is different. Do not let it go. As for the scar revisions, I've seen a few friends do them for the TT scars with great improvement. It was basically to "move" the scar to a less noticeable location. My TT and LBL scars are beautiful! The thigh scars hyper pigmented and nothing we put on them will make them lighten up, so, dark scars, on my legs, visible in panties/swimsuit and the worst part (too much info I know!) is that the (pubic) hairline was pulled down with it!! Thinking of laser hair removal now but I hear that can scar/burn, which leaves me no better off.

This sounds horrible. So do you think he cut to much skin is what caused the scar to migrate outside of the panty line

I really don't think so. I think gravity just sucks. Lol.

Thanks!

Hi I had LBL and tummy- arms done all at Once hugggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggge mistake!! results are 1 yr fabulous but the lbl and tummy NEEDS your arms!! any doc doing this all at once wants your money and not your safety- please slow it down in sections- I just had tons of fat removed in thighs - lipo- going in 4 weeks for medial thigh lift scared to death cause I hear sooooo much the worst of all them alone!! you need upper body to help you with anything below the belt!

I really want to do my arms!! Good luck on the MTL. Guess I can say this, yes it is harder than the others, but I've had way worse (non-cosmetic) and survived...though at times I questioned whether I would, lol! I think if you go into expecting it to be a difficult recovery, that will help. Otherwise, if you think "no big deal" and you find it IS harder, you have less chance of post-op depression. Keep us posted. In the end, it will be great.

The thighs for me were nothing pain-wise. However, it is a very frustrating recovery. I am 5 weeks out and still cannot run. I would say I am walk-striding 85 percent normally. I cannot ride a bike because the incision line rubs right where the seat is. For an active person like me, this has been frustrating because I am relegated to walking until my mobility improves.

Havanahipster, did you have a revision on TL? Were you able to work things out with your PS? DebRN

No revision. I am only 5 weeks out from my thigh lift surgery.

Are you still very discouraged? I am so afraid of having this done because I don't want to be regretting it. Any words of advice?

I'm happy with the actual results of the surgery. Legs don't rub together. Don't have to keep pulling my shorts down. Things like that. So in that respect, it was great. The scars wouldn't have been so terrible either, if I didn't hyper pigment. I'm of Mediterranean descent, so my olive skin darkened where it scarred. Funny, my tummy tuck and LBL scars are super LIGHT. Guess it's just the legs. Had another surgery for MRSA years ago and those leg scars are way dark too. Anyway, if they had been lighter, I wouldn't have minded the migration. All in al, the battle wounds are worth the result.

I'm glad your thighs are nice. My thighs didnt touch for 3 months after surgery but now they do and it has only been 7.5 months.

Have a very honest conversation with your surgeon about expected outcome. Have him pull the skin on your thighs to represent what the outcome may look like.

mml, do you mean your thighs are larger now? Have you gained weight? If not, why would they be rubbing together now?

DebRN. No I am about 5 or 6 pounds lighter. Because I had lost 10 pounds with surgery and looked great for the first 3 months smooth.... But as I recovered and started to heal and put weight back my thighs started to sag. I also don't believe that my doc lippoed my inner thighs because there was no bruising at all. Not like my outer thighs which are still bruised ( or just darkened) 7.5 months later. I was concerned so I got his surgical report, which he didn't even have done on my second visit nor could he tell me how much fat he had transferred to my butt. It took me a week or two to get the report and it didn't say anything about doing lipo to my inner thighs. when I asked him about it he said he couldn't put everything that he did to me in the report and it is assumed by the type of procedures done that it was done. I have never seen such a small surgical report that left out so many things. i thought docs had to put down what they did to you in surgery. Anyway my skin has sagged all over. I must say that when you look at my rear there is a difference in how it looks but my skin is saggy and my cellulite is back and I think worse then before surgery. I told my doc that thighs were my priority, I just wanted to be firm and be able to wear shorts and a swimsuit without having saggy skin and cellulite. He never said anything about my skin quality or that he couldn't do that. He just said I can't give you a 20 year old butt. Then at my 7.5 month visit he told me that the goal was to deal with laxity not size of thighs. I said well you should have said that before I had surgery because that was not what I wanted. I don't know how he old not have known what I wanted when he asked me I grabbed my thighs front, back, and sides and said,"I want this fat gone, my thighs tighter and I want to be able to wear shorts and a bathing suit. He apologized for not understanding. This was not the same dr. That I had been seeing the last 7 months. He was totally talkative and explaining this and that but it only made me more angry that he hadn't been present during my two consultations prior to surgery and told me all this before. I probably would not have done the surgery.

If you don't mind me asking...how long did your legs feel hard and swollen and heavy? I had t.lift done on Sept. 4 And i am miserable. not the pain so much, but the constant aching, burning and stabbing is driving me crazy. I feel like the fat roll was moved to the back of my thigh at the top. Probablly just swelling though

mml, That is terrible. You should have been able to see little puncture wounds at the inner thighs if he lipo'd them. Was there? After reading your story, makes me want to forget the thigh lift. I don't want to regret having it done and don't have money to throw away. Was your doc highly recommended?

mml, That is terrible. You should have been able to see little puncture wounds at the inner thighs if he lipo'd them. Was there? After reading your story, makes me want to forget the thigh lift. I don't want to regret having it done and don't have money to throw away. Was your doc highly recommended?