Dr. Svehlak fixed my botched Torso and arms

Hello everyone! I am posting a review of my doctor, Dr. Svehlak in hopes of helping others who are currently where I was; botched by liposuction and searching for a revision. I wanted to include pictures from his website, but I do hope to include more selfies I took while I excitedly documented my swelling progress, so you know I am a real person writing a real review. I joined RealSelf in 2015 or so because that was around the time I had started to hatch a small, tiny hope that maybe I could improve my condition. I was botched back in 2007. What these before pictures don’t show is the nerve damage, the permanent itching in places where the skin and had attached to muscles. There was permanent damage to my skin and nerves under my skin. The backs of my arms looked like that of a burn victims and I didn’t wear short -sleeves for 10 years. After my initial liposuction my weird uneven body was noticeable under most clothing, so I switched to a wearing loose tops that hid the weird lumpy shape of my torso and arms no matter the temperature. During the 10 years I was botched I tried to just accept my body as it was, and I sorta did, but only by never looking at it and sorta just pretending that it wasn’t there. I created a sort of wall of denial about what happened and what I looked like. I also had a hard time trusting my body to more liposuction. I thought with all the gouges of scar tissue that ran down to the muscle fascia combines with hard ropey tunnels of fibrous scar tissue, this was way beyond simple liposuction. I thought more liposuction might even make it worse and cause more scar tissue and more lumps or even tissue death. I can’t remember how I first heard about Svehlak but I think it was in the comment section of RealSelf(?). Like someone saying they had revision Lipo with him and they were happy with it. I met with him and a couple of other doctors, too. The thing that was different about him in that first consultation that made me pick him? I could see him thinking and planning what he was going to do, as soon as the exam began. I really sensed he was a problem solver and a creative thinker, and my case required these things plus a certain amount of care and delicacy. This wasn’t an easy blank canvas. He told me what he would do, what he could do and what to expect. My arms needed to have all the scar tissue broken up, detached from the muscle and then layered back in with my own fat. This was the worst part of my revision, recovery wise. The numbness lasted for over a year, but the fat lived (yay!)and my arms looked so close to normal I was blown away. I never thought I’d have non-deformed arms! I wear short sleeves now. My torso as you can see in pictures, was a lumpy uneven mess. He removed fat in under-suctioned places to create a more, even proportionate body shape. He wanted to graft fat into some of the gouge marks but I declined because for some reason that idea made me uncomfortable. I guess it was really hard trusting a doctor completely.( Maybe some day I will do that. You can still see a couple of trenches in my stomach in the after pics )He was conservative to avoid any more over suctioning, dings or dents..but we planned to do small touch ups when the swelling resolved. I did one touch up under local about 6 months after these picture and I have a picture of the touch up I will share. I’d like to get one more touch up still. We are very careful. I have taken a break from my recovery process because I am very happy with my body. I feel like a normal person. This has changed my life and lifted an enormous burden off of my shoulders. One I carried for so long I didn’t realize how heavy it was until after it was gone. Dr Svehlak is a real doctor, one who really wants to help and one who wants to heal people. I never felt like he thought my case was hopeless, but rather a problem to be fixed that he was happy to help with. I describe Dr. Svhelak as easy to talk to, he listens carefully and is thoughtful, measured and intelligent. I like Veronica the patient coordinator. She really helped ease whatever concerns I had not just by speaking with me, but I could see a sincere enthusiasm on her part for her boss. I could see she believed in him without her saying that in words. And I really needed that reassurance. I was SO CLOSE to not doing this revision at all because, as anyone who is botched knows..there is so much hopelessness. Which brings me full circle as to why I am writing this review. I hope this helps someone. If you are botched, there is hope. I had a good experience with this doctor. I liked how he treated me, the recovery check ups and my ultimate aesthetic results.

Photos I took yesterday with my trainer. How 8 look 2 years post revision. You can see my arms but not the best arm selfie. I’d like to add an update with a close up. I need to get the before pics from doctor since I never took photos of my arms when they were damaged looking!

Photos I took yesterday with my trainer. How I look 2 years post revision. You can see my arms in the back and side photos but not the best arm selfie. I’d like to add an update with a close up. I need to get the before pics from doctor since I never took photos of my arms when they were damaged looking!