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*Treatment results may vary
Almost 1 year post-op
Hey ladies,
I hope everyone is doing well. Its been quite some time since I've been on real self. After going back and reading my review, there were so many spelling and grammar errors. I hope you were all able to understand. I would usually update realself at work where we are not allowed to be on the internet. SHHH. Which is why I would have to type so fast and could proof read my posts. You may have been like "wtf is she talking about" during some of my posts lol.
Anywho, I am feeling great. my results are so-so. No fault of Dr. Ortega's. I have been partying with friends a lot and have been consuming alcohol almost every weekend so of course, I'm not as flat as I should be. My incision looks great for someone who was cut from hip to hip, especially being a black woman. I am continuing to smear shea butter on my incision religiously and have added some bleaching cream to my regime to lighten up a little dark area that I have.
I did reach out to spectrum for a revision. Not that I need a full revision but I am experiencing a bulge in my upper abdominal area. This is because Ortega does not perform aggressive lipo with his TTs. He did advise me that women who experience issues with their incision such as necrosis, or their incision opening up usually comes from their doctor performing aggressive lipo which compromises blood flow to the incision.
Spectrum quoted me $1,500 for upper lipo only. UMMMM no thanks. The area I need taken care of is not worth the cost for flight, hotel, and $1500 for the procedure. When I inquired about 360 lipo, I was advised that that would be something that Dr. Chang would need to perform at a cost of $4000. I was going to go with that but then got quoted that same price for a doctor in Dominican which includes a recovery house stay. Now I know, we all hear stories about the Dominican but this doctor im looking at seems safe and you know when you go to the Dominican your getting everything sucked out. Plus, the amount of horror stories that are coming out of Miami right now, Domincan and Miami are on the same spectrum (no pun intended). So at this point, I'm leaning toward the DR.
Please let me know your thoughts.
I hope everyone is doing well. Its been quite some time since I've been on real self. After going back and reading my review, there were so many spelling and grammar errors. I hope you were all able to understand. I would usually update realself at work where we are not allowed to be on the internet. SHHH. Which is why I would have to type so fast and could proof read my posts. You may have been like "wtf is she talking about" during some of my posts lol.
Anywho, I am feeling great. my results are so-so. No fault of Dr. Ortega's. I have been partying with friends a lot and have been consuming alcohol almost every weekend so of course, I'm not as flat as I should be. My incision looks great for someone who was cut from hip to hip, especially being a black woman. I am continuing to smear shea butter on my incision religiously and have added some bleaching cream to my regime to lighten up a little dark area that I have.
I did reach out to spectrum for a revision. Not that I need a full revision but I am experiencing a bulge in my upper abdominal area. This is because Ortega does not perform aggressive lipo with his TTs. He did advise me that women who experience issues with their incision such as necrosis, or their incision opening up usually comes from their doctor performing aggressive lipo which compromises blood flow to the incision.
Spectrum quoted me $1,500 for upper lipo only. UMMMM no thanks. The area I need taken care of is not worth the cost for flight, hotel, and $1500 for the procedure. When I inquired about 360 lipo, I was advised that that would be something that Dr. Chang would need to perform at a cost of $4000. I was going to go with that but then got quoted that same price for a doctor in Dominican which includes a recovery house stay. Now I know, we all hear stories about the Dominican but this doctor im looking at seems safe and you know when you go to the Dominican your getting everything sucked out. Plus, the amount of horror stories that are coming out of Miami right now, Domincan and Miami are on the same spectrum (no pun intended). So at this point, I'm leaning toward the DR.
Please let me know your thoughts.
3 months Post op
Hey Ladies,
I hope everyone is doing well. Shout out to all the ladies recovering as well as those preparing for surgery.
I have so much pics and videos that I know you would find so helpful but Realself needs to update this site. I want to pixel out my face and they don't give us an option to just slap and emoji on things we don't want shown.
I've been slacking on wearing my faja. Not gonna lie, its so annoying wearing that to work with the foam and boards. Now I have no problem wearing the actual garment, the issues is when its time to use the bathroom. I don't know about other girls but I have to wear underwear under my faja. I cannot have my raw vagina rubbing up on the crotch are of the garment. Not to mention you have to be careful that you don't accidentally pee on it (which happened to me at work). If I'm home, im fine but going to work; Having to quickly unclipp your faja, take your lipo foams and board and place them on the floor (I take paper towel in the stall with me to place these items on) is all a bit much. I still compress of course, but I been using a waist trainer and top it off with the binder I got from Spectrum
I need to get my act together. I have not been eating great, have not been working out and sometimes I slack on wear a compression garment. Don't be like me ladies. We paid too much money to be lazy.
Scar Treatment: Not sure if I mentioned this in a previous post but I started my scar therapy 2 weeks post op. DO NOT DO THIS! WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE AT LEAST 4 WEEKS POST OP BEFORE YOU PUT SILICONE STRIPS ON YOUR INCISION. I put the strips on after 2 weeks which was a disaster. When I took them off to shower, all the scabs came off with it which caused my incision to not look as neat as it did before. Now the instructions on the strips state you must wait until all scabs are healed however, mine looked heal from the outside. I literally had no idea I still had scabs until I seen them on the sticky part of the strips. For this reason, I advise you all to wait until the end of 4 weeks post op.
Ohhh.... Tea Tree oil. Ladies after 2 weeks post op, Purchase some tea tree oil and cotton balls. In a container, place a cap full of olive oil and add 5 drops of tea tree oil. shake the container a bit to mix the oils around and rub it all over you incisions. Wait 5 mins and slather raw shea butter all over your incisions. Start this after 2 weeks post op and continue till at least 2 months post op. Not only will this kill and form of bacteria or infection, it will also keep your incision hydrated and prevent a keloid from forming. I also soaked a cotton ball with the oil mixture and stuck it in my belly button from 2 weeks to 2 months post op. My belly button looks so natural and scar free.
Now that everything is healed and closed up, I used a exfoliating body gloves and scrub my incision while in the shower to prevent the incision from looking so harsh... you want your incision to blend in with the rest of your skin.
As of 2 weeks ago, I have been experiencing this tight feeling on the left side above my incision. Its kinda like a burning sensation when a lat down a certain way. Keeping my eye on it.
I hope everyone is doing well. Shout out to all the ladies recovering as well as those preparing for surgery.
I have so much pics and videos that I know you would find so helpful but Realself needs to update this site. I want to pixel out my face and they don't give us an option to just slap and emoji on things we don't want shown.
I've been slacking on wearing my faja. Not gonna lie, its so annoying wearing that to work with the foam and boards. Now I have no problem wearing the actual garment, the issues is when its time to use the bathroom. I don't know about other girls but I have to wear underwear under my faja. I cannot have my raw vagina rubbing up on the crotch are of the garment. Not to mention you have to be careful that you don't accidentally pee on it (which happened to me at work). If I'm home, im fine but going to work; Having to quickly unclipp your faja, take your lipo foams and board and place them on the floor (I take paper towel in the stall with me to place these items on) is all a bit much. I still compress of course, but I been using a waist trainer and top it off with the binder I got from Spectrum
I need to get my act together. I have not been eating great, have not been working out and sometimes I slack on wear a compression garment. Don't be like me ladies. We paid too much money to be lazy.
Scar Treatment: Not sure if I mentioned this in a previous post but I started my scar therapy 2 weeks post op. DO NOT DO THIS! WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE AT LEAST 4 WEEKS POST OP BEFORE YOU PUT SILICONE STRIPS ON YOUR INCISION. I put the strips on after 2 weeks which was a disaster. When I took them off to shower, all the scabs came off with it which caused my incision to not look as neat as it did before. Now the instructions on the strips state you must wait until all scabs are healed however, mine looked heal from the outside. I literally had no idea I still had scabs until I seen them on the sticky part of the strips. For this reason, I advise you all to wait until the end of 4 weeks post op.
Ohhh.... Tea Tree oil. Ladies after 2 weeks post op, Purchase some tea tree oil and cotton balls. In a container, place a cap full of olive oil and add 5 drops of tea tree oil. shake the container a bit to mix the oils around and rub it all over you incisions. Wait 5 mins and slather raw shea butter all over your incisions. Start this after 2 weeks post op and continue till at least 2 months post op. Not only will this kill and form of bacteria or infection, it will also keep your incision hydrated and prevent a keloid from forming. I also soaked a cotton ball with the oil mixture and stuck it in my belly button from 2 weeks to 2 months post op. My belly button looks so natural and scar free.
Now that everything is healed and closed up, I used a exfoliating body gloves and scrub my incision while in the shower to prevent the incision from looking so harsh... you want your incision to blend in with the rest of your skin.
As of 2 weeks ago, I have been experiencing this tight feeling on the left side above my incision. Its kinda like a burning sensation when a lat down a certain way. Keeping my eye on it.
Before and 7 weeks Postop
The first pic after Ortega marked me up. The second pic is 7 weeks post op. On the counter, you will notice my scar strips layed out on some parchment paper. Parchment paper is one of the best methods I found to keep you scar strips clean and safe.
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