Painful experience. I feel ruined.

I went to Sono Bello for a consultation due to unwanted fat on my abdomen and waist. I was not overweight, it was more for contouring. I was 133 lbs and 5 ft 6 inches tall with a BMI of 21.

The staff are friendly and helpful and also professional. My surgeon was Dr. James Lyons, who is a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon. He claims he has done thousands of these procedures. You will be sent home with your peri-operative instructions and prescriptions to be filled prior to surgery, consisting of a course of antibiotics, phenergan for nausea and tramadol for pain. They also send you home with arnica- a homeopathic medicine to be started 2 days prior to your procedure. Arnica is supposed to help with bruising, swelling and pain.

I had the procedure done on December 18, 2018. The areas done were my upper and lower abdomen and my waist. They say the procedure is performed under local anesthesia but what it actually is, is a" twilight cocktail" and also numbing medication injecting into the treated areas. They tell you that you will actually be awake but on the twilight meds, you will not remember it or "care" whats going on during the procedure.

My personal experience with the procedure was that I was given the five pills to take prior to the procedure while still in the exam room. I don't remember much after that. I do remember waking up briefly and moaning in pain and saying ouch during the procedure then going back out. Also remember being shown the containers of fat suctioned out. After that, I have no memory of leaving or going home.
I woke up in the dark at my home around 8pm hurting. I called a family member to come over and check on me and she made a checklist of my scheduled meds so I could keep track of them. I didnt have good short term memory while taking the tramadol- so couldn't remember if I took my pain med or not. It was crucial to keep track on paper of when I took it.
You will be sent home with a tight fitting compression garment. You will need to wear it to help keep the swelling down and that helps with pain also. I have been wearing mine 24/7 only taking it off to bathe and laundering the garment while I bathe.

On my 1 week follow up appointment. I didn't see the doctor.( I was disappointed by this). I had a lot of swelling and was given a foam 3m board to place over the swollen area under my compression garment to add more pressure. I have very uneven lumpy areas and looking in the mirror is upsetting. I was told this is normal and will get better. The staff tell you that you look good and all is normal.

I returned back to Sono Bello 2 weeks after the procedure to have a Venus Legacy treatment (included in my package). I discussed again my concerns with the esthetician about the lumps and hard places. She said that it looked good and that this was normal. The wand that she used was warm and had light, vibration and also suction. Its supposed to help smooth the skin out. It was too painful on my abdomen still to have the vibration and suction so she changed to just a warm wand. She instructed me to start massaging the treated areas with my knuckles and a little pressure using orange oil at home daily.

I am still in a lot of pain any time I move or change positions using the abdominal muscles. The skin and under the skin is so so painful. It feels like I was repeatedly beaten in the areas and like its burned under the skin....like there is a scratchy brillo-pad under the skin that burns and scratches with movement.
I still bend forward when I stand up-right after sitting or lying down. It takes a while of standing to stretch out the abdomen enough to stand upward with good posture. This feels like under your skin is a tough layer of "beef jerky" that doesn't want to stretch!

I am now 17 days post op. I am still in so much pain, have a hard time stretching when standing upright to have good posture and also the lumps/ swelling is still bad. The sight of my abdomen and belly button when I take off the compression garment is still very upsetting. Right now I feel I looked better prior to the procedure. I hope this improves soon!

Still in a lot of pain. I woke up this morning feeling like my abdomen was just super tender maybe a little swollen but when I took off my compression garment and took a shower I was disgusted looking in the mirror at my abdomen. It looks like there are so many lumps it looks like a horrible case of cellulite across my abdomen my belly button looks diagonal. Also, in the depression areas between the lumps the skin looks very wrinkled there are wrinkles all over from where there used to be fat underneath I guess. Right now I feel sick looking at myself I feel disfigured I hope and pray that this changes soon.

Yesterday, I went back to Sono Bello for my 2nd Venus Legacy treatment following the procedure. I had two treatments included in my package. It was very painful as I expected, just because my abdomen is still so sore that merely touching it with any pressure hurts still. The procedure itself wouldn't normally hurt. I could not endure the full time, so only did 15 minutes on the abdomen. I voiced my concerns for the lumpiness and wrinkled skin and the technician recommended 6 of the venus treatments..saying that the treatments would smooth the lumps and tighten the skin while promoting new collagen. SO- then he went into a sales pitch about buying the treatments. You feel like you are going to be mutilated looking unless you agree to pay for this! Also, a tube of Skin Medica Glypro Skin Tightening Cream was recommended and then thrown in with the 6 treatments to sweeten the deal.So, I ended up spending another $1,000.00! So upsetting! I will be doing these sessions weekly for the next 6 weeks. I won't post a pic today since, I just did and there is still no difference in the way I look.