I had done a decent amount of prep work and research before hand. I started looking at the potential of the procedure in the middle of September of last year. I wanted larger breasts but didn't want to do implants, as I'm not a huge fan of the shape most of the time, didn't want to have to replace them, etc. Not sure how, but when looking at natural alternatives for increasing breast size, I stumbled upon fat transfer to breast. I was thrilled. I live in Fort Worth, TX and did a search of doctors who preform this procedure around me. To my luck, there was a doctor one mile away. He had great reviews and even does a segment weekly on my local news. I made an appointment to have a consultation.I had my consultation around 10/20. I had a ton of questions and pictures. How large could I go, where could it come from, etc. I left feeling confident in the procedure and the price. They had a 'special price' where if I did it in 90 days from the consult there was $1000 off. I booked the procedure for the end of the 90 days as I wanted to lose some weight and get in better shape, I'm 5'7" and 145 pounds. They had told me during my consult that I wouldn't actually want to gain weight for the procedure but lose it. That the size I am during the procedure I'd want to be comfortable maintaining. When I spoke with the person doing the consult, I was a little disappointed with the amount of size increase he said that I could get, however they do discounts on consecutive surgeries so I was planning on doing two.There weren't a lot of before/after pictures so I still had a handful of questions on the increase I could get on the first time and also the size I could get to. I asked about the brava system, and they did not require it. I was happy to hear that as the reviews I read about it sound miserable, but if it increased the results I was open to do it. I asked about it and they did say that it isn't proven one way or the other but that if there is stretched skin from things like breast feeding I could transfer more fat. I actually ended up ordering these pills.
They did work to make my breasts larger during the first and second months of taking them, so much that I started to get some stretch marks on my breasts and quit taking them. When I quit taking them I lost some of the volume I gained, but not all. I think it was enough to stretch my skin a bit but also made my breasts more saggy and one grew more than the other...which made me even more excited for the procedure. Naturally, my left breast was always larger than my right.I had a second consultation with the Dr. We looked at areas to lipo. At my first consult we talked about doing my inner thighs. However, when I met with the Dr he suggested that I would do my knees and inner thighs together because I don't have a difference where they connect so to keep the straight line I would want to do both together. I've always been most unsatisfied with my upper thighs/outer saddle bags anyway so we decided on that area. He thought that he would be able to remove 300 cc from each leg to put into each breast and that he could get 500 cc from each knee/inner thigh for the following time, but that we wouldn't use all of it. He suggested that I do the smaller area first because my breasts would keep more volume the second time around if I decided to do it.I didn't end up losing any weight before my surgery but I did work out a bit more and stayed extremely hydrated about 3 days leading up to my surgery. I picked up many liquids, food, Tylenol, and a compression garment the night before the surgery. I was nervous to get the surgery done but today is only Saturday, 2 days after, and everything so far has been great.
I had my procedure 1/22 @ 11 am. I arrived at 10:20p, they checked me in, confirmed the details, and took my payment. I waited about 5 minutes before I was taken to the back into a room while the Dr. finished up another patient. Then the doctor came in and marked where he would take the fat from and the areas he would transfer the fat to. He discussed the desired outcome/shape I was looking for. The nurse then came in to take my blood for the PCP. She also took my before pictures, measurements, vitals, and then gave me some meds. I was given 2 extra strength Tylenol, an antibiotic, anti nausea pill, and a sedative. They had to give the sedative 20-30 minutes to kick in. Once it did, it was not so strong that I could not walk or comprehend on my own, but I was a bit dizzy when I would make fast movements or turn my head. After this they took me into the procedure room. I laid down on the table and they began giving me tumescent fluid. This fluid 1) provides local anesthesia, 2) constricts capillaries and prevents surgical blood loss 3) provides fluid to the body by subcutaneous injection so that no IV fluids are needed.
He added the fluid to both of my outer thighs and also my breasts. After this was complete, he then began he lipo suction. The lipo didn't cause too much discomfort. There were a few of the outer areas that seemed a bit more stretched and painful during the lipo than the others, but then there were some areas where I just felt movement and no pain at all.After the fat was suctioned there was a PRP solution added to my fat. Here is the description and my doctor talking about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl_76arN8Cg
Once this was complete he began injecting the fat into my breasts. The doctor pointed out that my breasts were fairly fibrous and that the fat transfer should actually help with mammograms in the future. During the procedure I was talking to the doctor and it was very tolerable. The hardest part was keeping my leg straight as in a walking position and there were couple times that the pain was a bit much but it did not last long. During the procedure there were only a couple glitches, one of the assistants seemed a bit confused about what concentration of PRP she should add to my blood but Dr. was right there helping her. It also seemed like they were trying a new injection gun. They could not get it to work with my fat in, but could get it to work with just liquid in. They tried it a few times unsuccessfully and then went back to the old method that they knew worked well. Not idea, but didn't cause any big problems either.After the procedure I walked back to my room on my own and changed into my clothes on my own. The Dr. then came to check on me one more time and I was able to go home within about 5-10 minutes. I was at the clinic a bit longer than expected, they had anticipated I would be done around 1 or 1:30 but I ended up leaving there at 2:45p. The time still went very fast.Upon going home I was still numb and had the medication so I was walking around a bit and doing fine. I then decided to sleep. I slept for about 3-4 hours and when I woke up that's when there was the most pain the whole time for me. I took the pain meds I was given and tried to distract myself my listening to an audio book. Although again it was clearly not enjoyable, it was tolerable. The biggest problem I had that evening throughout the night and into the next morning is that when I would get up to go to the bathroom, after urinating, when I would stand back up I would get extremely dizzy, nauseas, and hot. I did a bit of research and it seemed I was having a bit of post-micturition syncope. From doing my own research, I found this can be caused by decompression of the lower extremities upon removal of postoperative compression garments and that for 24 hours after tumescent liposuction, patients are generally in a milld state of fluid overload. This was the worst part for me as I was trying to stay hydrated but hated going to the bathroom, however I had the last episode around about 10am the next day and things were up hill from there. As for the breast area, many people compared it to sore muscles and I would agree. My pectoral muscles felt very sore. At times I felt like there was someone sitting on my chest, and when I would get up out of bed, it felt like a had a brick around my neck as a necklace.In the packet of information I received, it said the day after the lipo was the most painful, however the day after wasn't too bad at all for me. After the dizziness and nausea stopped, I was able to eat and it gave me good strength. I worked from home in bed most of that afternoon but it felt good to get up and walk around every once and while to keep from getting stiff. I was warned that I could have heavy drainage but barely had any drainage at all. I had gauze put on the incisions by my breasts and there was about dime size drainage. There were 4 total incisions on my legs and 2 of them had slight drainage and 2 of them had practically nothing. The tape started to bother me where the pads for the draining were taped on. Removed them slightly and waiting for my boyfriend to be done with work so he could be home while I showered incase I needed anything.It felt great to take off the tape and pads and shower! Part of the pain that I was experiencing in my legs was clearly just from the discomfort of the tape. While it felt great to shower, I did start to get light headed and dizzy after being in there for about 5 minutes. I rinsed my incisions with water first and then lightly used antibacterial soap. The breast incisions did not bother me at all. The incisions on my legs stung a bit when the water first hit them but were good after the shower. After being dizzy in the shower I laid down for a little while and it went away. I then used peroxide and water to clean the wounds according to my post op instructions. I then added a bit of polysporin and just covered the 6 incisions up with bandaids as there was no draining just 24-30 hours after the procedure. I do have some swelling around my legs, but there is practically no bruising on my legs or my breasts. I was able to eat a healthy dinner and sleep well that night.Today is just two days after the surgery and I feel very good. I haven't taken any pain meds. I have been up walking a bit and I have no more dizzy episodes. It still hurts a bit to get in and out of bed, but it's not bad. I also try to avoid bending down too much. The fat in my breasts is still very hard, but the Dr said this should become soft in 3-6 weeks. They are a bit stiff and are a bit sore when I move in certain directions, but it is nothing compared to what I expected. Same with the lipo, after reading other reviews I was expecting much worse. Today the only annoying this is not being able to sit down normally to use the bathroom since they did the lip mainly on the back of my legs. Well, and not being able to sleep on my side.I am very impressed with the results. Although they thought they would be able to take out 300 CC for each breast, they were only able to get about 225cc into one and about 275cc into the other. At first I was disappointed to hear this as I did not expect the difference to be very dramatic, but I am very pleased with the results so far. I just hope I don't lose a lot of volume. I will update again in a few days, I have an appointment on Thursday for the Dr to check my incisions. If I want to have a second procedure I can in 6 months...although I'm not sure how much more increase I'd want after this. I think it will depend on how they look when they soften.
They did work to make my breasts larger during the first and second months of taking them, so much that I started to get some stretch marks on my breasts and quit taking them. When I quit taking them I lost some of the volume I gained, but not all. I think it was enough to stretch my skin a bit but also made my breasts more saggy and one grew more than the other...which made me even more excited for the procedure. Naturally, my left breast was always larger than my right.I had a second consultation with the Dr. We looked at areas to lipo. At my first consult we talked about doing my inner thighs. However, when I met with the Dr he suggested that I would do my knees and inner thighs together because I don't have a difference where they connect so to keep the straight line I would want to do both together. I've always been most unsatisfied with my upper thighs/outer saddle bags anyway so we decided on that area. He thought that he would be able to remove 300 cc from each leg to put into each breast and that he could get 500 cc from each knee/inner thigh for the following time, but that we wouldn't use all of it. He suggested that I do the smaller area first because my breasts would keep more volume the second time around if I decided to do it.I didn't end up losing any weight before my surgery but I did work out a bit more and stayed extremely hydrated about 3 days leading up to my surgery. I picked up many liquids, food, Tylenol, and a compression garment the night before the surgery. I was nervous to get the surgery done but today is only Saturday, 2 days after, and everything so far has been great.
I had my procedure 1/22 @ 11 am. I arrived at 10:20p, they checked me in, confirmed the details, and took my payment. I waited about 5 minutes before I was taken to the back into a room while the Dr. finished up another patient. Then the doctor came in and marked where he would take the fat from and the areas he would transfer the fat to. He discussed the desired outcome/shape I was looking for. The nurse then came in to take my blood for the PCP. She also took my before pictures, measurements, vitals, and then gave me some meds. I was given 2 extra strength Tylenol, an antibiotic, anti nausea pill, and a sedative. They had to give the sedative 20-30 minutes to kick in. Once it did, it was not so strong that I could not walk or comprehend on my own, but I was a bit dizzy when I would make fast movements or turn my head. After this they took me into the procedure room. I laid down on the table and they began giving me tumescent fluid. This fluid 1) provides local anesthesia, 2) constricts capillaries and prevents surgical blood loss 3) provides fluid to the body by subcutaneous injection so that no IV fluids are needed.
He added the fluid to both of my outer thighs and also my breasts. After this was complete, he then began he lipo suction. The lipo didn't cause too much discomfort. There were a few of the outer areas that seemed a bit more stretched and painful during the lipo than the others, but then there were some areas where I just felt movement and no pain at all.After the fat was suctioned there was a PRP solution added to my fat. Here is the description and my doctor talking about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl_76arN8Cg
Once this was complete he began injecting the fat into my breasts. The doctor pointed out that my breasts were fairly fibrous and that the fat transfer should actually help with mammograms in the future. During the procedure I was talking to the doctor and it was very tolerable. The hardest part was keeping my leg straight as in a walking position and there were couple times that the pain was a bit much but it did not last long. During the procedure there were only a couple glitches, one of the assistants seemed a bit confused about what concentration of PRP she should add to my blood but Dr. was right there helping her. It also seemed like they were trying a new injection gun. They could not get it to work with my fat in, but could get it to work with just liquid in. They tried it a few times unsuccessfully and then went back to the old method that they knew worked well. Not idea, but didn't cause any big problems either.After the procedure I walked back to my room on my own and changed into my clothes on my own. The Dr. then came to check on me one more time and I was able to go home within about 5-10 minutes. I was at the clinic a bit longer than expected, they had anticipated I would be done around 1 or 1:30 but I ended up leaving there at 2:45p. The time still went very fast.Upon going home I was still numb and had the medication so I was walking around a bit and doing fine. I then decided to sleep. I slept for about 3-4 hours and when I woke up that's when there was the most pain the whole time for me. I took the pain meds I was given and tried to distract myself my listening to an audio book. Although again it was clearly not enjoyable, it was tolerable. The biggest problem I had that evening throughout the night and into the next morning is that when I would get up to go to the bathroom, after urinating, when I would stand back up I would get extremely dizzy, nauseas, and hot. I did a bit of research and it seemed I was having a bit of post-micturition syncope. From doing my own research, I found this can be caused by decompression of the lower extremities upon removal of postoperative compression garments and that for 24 hours after tumescent liposuction, patients are generally in a milld state of fluid overload. This was the worst part for me as I was trying to stay hydrated but hated going to the bathroom, however I had the last episode around about 10am the next day and things were up hill from there. As for the breast area, many people compared it to sore muscles and I would agree. My pectoral muscles felt very sore. At times I felt like there was someone sitting on my chest, and when I would get up out of bed, it felt like a had a brick around my neck as a necklace.In the packet of information I received, it said the day after the lipo was the most painful, however the day after wasn't too bad at all for me. After the dizziness and nausea stopped, I was able to eat and it gave me good strength. I worked from home in bed most of that afternoon but it felt good to get up and walk around every once and while to keep from getting stiff. I was warned that I could have heavy drainage but barely had any drainage at all. I had gauze put on the incisions by my breasts and there was about dime size drainage. There were 4 total incisions on my legs and 2 of them had slight drainage and 2 of them had practically nothing. The tape started to bother me where the pads for the draining were taped on. Removed them slightly and waiting for my boyfriend to be done with work so he could be home while I showered incase I needed anything.It felt great to take off the tape and pads and shower! Part of the pain that I was experiencing in my legs was clearly just from the discomfort of the tape. While it felt great to shower, I did start to get light headed and dizzy after being in there for about 5 minutes. I rinsed my incisions with water first and then lightly used antibacterial soap. The breast incisions did not bother me at all. The incisions on my legs stung a bit when the water first hit them but were good after the shower. After being dizzy in the shower I laid down for a little while and it went away. I then used peroxide and water to clean the wounds according to my post op instructions. I then added a bit of polysporin and just covered the 6 incisions up with bandaids as there was no draining just 24-30 hours after the procedure. I do have some swelling around my legs, but there is practically no bruising on my legs or my breasts. I was able to eat a healthy dinner and sleep well that night.Today is just two days after the surgery and I feel very good. I haven't taken any pain meds. I have been up walking a bit and I have no more dizzy episodes. It still hurts a bit to get in and out of bed, but it's not bad. I also try to avoid bending down too much. The fat in my breasts is still very hard, but the Dr said this should become soft in 3-6 weeks. They are a bit stiff and are a bit sore when I move in certain directions, but it is nothing compared to what I expected. Same with the lipo, after reading other reviews I was expecting much worse. Today the only annoying this is not being able to sit down normally to use the bathroom since they did the lip mainly on the back of my legs. Well, and not being able to sleep on my side.I am very impressed with the results. Although they thought they would be able to take out 300 CC for each breast, they were only able to get about 225cc into one and about 275cc into the other. At first I was disappointed to hear this as I did not expect the difference to be very dramatic, but I am very pleased with the results so far. I just hope I don't lose a lot of volume. I will update again in a few days, I have an appointment on Thursday for the Dr to check my incisions. If I want to have a second procedure I can in 6 months...although I'm not sure how much more increase I'd want after this. I think it will depend on how they look when they soften.
