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Provider Review
Many years ago, I was a regular poster on cosmetic surgery forums as SaraDancer and even ran my own forum for a brief while. I miss interacting on a cosmetic surgery forum. I have had a LOT of work done with many doctors (upper eyelid surgery (twice), liposuction, non-surgical rhinoplasty, breast augmentation (twice), labia majora augmentation, otoplasty, neck lift, cheek lift, Thermi, Ultherapy, Fraxel, Smartxide CO2 laser, blue peel, phenol peel, endermologie, botox and fillers. Over the next month or so, I will post as many reviews as I can. Out of all the procedures I have had, liposuction was the best one. This review is for liposuction with Dr. Gaston de la Garza in Tijuana, Mexico. I originally posted a review on my own message board and my results were so amazing that Goodplasticsurgery.com at the time even stole my before/after photos. I was wearing the same bikini in each picture. The results were drastic. In the before pic I looked like an overweight housewife. In the second (3 months post-op), I looked like a fitness model. In reality, getting liposuction changed my body so drastically and improved my self-esteem so much that it actually led to a brief modeling career. Before surgery, I did a ton of research on doctors. Back then, there was a man who had completely changed his appearance through numerous surgeries who posted the the cosmetic surgery forums. I don’t remember his name and haven’t seen him online in years. Anyway, he told me that Dr. Gaston de la Garza did the best surgeries he had done. When I contacted the doctor, he even referred me to a patient of his in my hometown, whom I met and talked wit. Back then, going abroad for surgery wasn’t common. Everyone said I was crazy for going to Mexico. Yet, I trusted Dr. Gaston de la Garza more than any local US doctor. Since one gains weight first wherever they have not been lipoed, I chose to have the majority of my body lipoed at one time. Now when I gain weight, it goes to my boobs first. WIN!! I had 10 spots done: inner/outer thighs, knees, upper/lower abdomen, upper/middle/lower back, flanks, upper arms. The US had laws to limit how much fat a doctor could remove in one liposuction surgery; in Mexico, I had 50% more removed. In preparation, I bought my own compression garments from Design Veronique, Sinecch, Arnica gel, and lots of frozen peas. The doctor provided a compression garment, but I liked the ones I purchased better. Getting to Mexico was easy enough. We flew into San Diego, crossed over the walk bridge, and taxied to Grand Hotel Tijuana. Both the doctor and the hotel are in tower buildings that connect on the bottom floor. Dr. Gaston de la Garza speaks excellent English. I brought someone with me who spoke fluent Spanish, but I didn’t need his help at all. The doctor was very good at informing me what to expect and had an excellent bedside manner. I knew I chose the right doctor. After surgery, I did not want to stay at the surgery location so a nurse wheeled me back to my hotel room. The hotel was great. We ordered oatmeal around the clock. The hotel was very professional and I must say that I was super impressed with their level of service. In addition, despite me getting blood on sheets, they did not charge me for any additional charges. The recovery was much more painful than I anticipated. The two spots that hurt the most were my back and my labia. I could not lean against anything without my back hurting. With all the spots I had done, sleeping was very challenging. My bra strap constantly hurt, as did driving. The reason my labia hurt was because swelling goes downward. I had so many spots above that done that my labia swelled up like a baseball. I purchased a labia support garment because of this and was surprised at how well it worked. It looked just like a normal thong but the difference was night-and-day. No more labia pain. I mention this because it is so rarely mentioned in reviews and there is an easy solution. I wish I would have bought mine before surgery. I have always bruised badly. It has been this way for generations for the women in my family. Knowing this, I purchased 3 post-surgical packs of Sinecch instead of just one. Even with three, I was so extremely bruised I became. I do know that the Sinecch dramatically sped up my recovery. Sinecch is high dose arnica meant for ingestion. It works from the inside out. For on top of the actual bruises, I used Arniflora Arnica Gel. I wore my compression garments 23 hours per day for a full 6 weeks. Because of this, I timed my surgery so that it would be in the winter. I swelled up excessively. I was a size 8 pre-op and I swelled up to a 14 at my biggest. Yet, even on the day of surgery (and every day since) I had a flat belly. No more pouch. I attribute my excellent long-lasting results and my skin immediately reattaching to me following the doctor’s support garment advice. Sitting on the toilet backwards allowed me to use the bathroom without making a mess on my garment. ** Keep in mind, we earned this fat. Liposuction isn't a cure-all by itself. You must take care of yourself going forward. I achieved my excellent results by using liposuction surgery as my springboard for a future of eating better and exercising...and my results have been permanent. ** All of my post-op photos were professionally taken so I need to find ones that I own the copyright for. I should have my liposuction before/afters up within a week.