22 Years Old, Vaser Lipo to Upper Abdomen, Lower Abdomen, Flanks and Inner Thighs - London, GB

The past week has been a dream - Day 8 marked the beginning of the end for me - I was walking around London all day with no pain at all. It's still only in the mornings that occasionally I wake up and feel quite stiff, particularly in my thighs, as well as at the end of the day if I've been quite active. I haven't had any itching for a long time now, and with each day that goes by my garment is getting easier and easier to squeeze into - signs that the swelling is gradually subsiding! I actually find the garment really quite comfortable to be in, when I take it off to shower I miss having it on!

I had two Manual Lymphatic Drainage massages during this second week which I found really relaxing. A lot of people tend to get out of their garment and have a massage in the first couple of days following surgery. I was advised this was a bad idea - not only should you keep your body compressed for 5-7 days after surgery 24/7, but having a massage straight after surgery would be extremely painful and therefore not very beneficial. You still have all your stitches in and wound dressings on straight after surgery, so I would advise people to wait a week before beginning these. By this second week, although still a little bit bruised, I found the massages almost painless and my masseuse was lovely and knew a lot about the recovery for Vaser Lipo. Your lymphatic nodes are just under the skin so these massages are very gentle and soothing. Following a 45 minute massage I genuinely felt a lot less stiff and swollen, and I was able to move around with a lot more ease afterwards. My masseuse said I was looking really really good, probably the best she'd ever seen, which is always good to hear! She advised me on what kinds of food I should be eating, such as berries, pears, carrots and avocados etc. Any food with high water retention is great. She also reminded me of the importance of drinking loads and loads and loads of water! I keep a water bottle in the office at work and fill it up 5 or 6 times a day to ensure I keep drinking enough.

The massages are very expensive though - so I think I'll book in another 2 more sessions then try and mimic it on myself at home - I know there are a few youtube tutorials that show you what to do! For my next post I will get some progress photos up.

I had my my first wound care appointment this morning, which I was really excited about. Just to be reassured that everything was healing okay made a big difference to how I felt, and more than anything I was ridiculously happy to be able to start showering again and to be able to remove my blood-stained garment!

My nurse was absolutely lovely and answered all my questions. When I removed my garment I felt quite faint, so my nurse suggested I lied down on the bed so that she could remove my stitches, as opposed to me standing. I was a bit worried about this, thinking there would be some sort of pain, but I felt absolutely nothing when she removed the dressings and cut the stitches out, to my relief! This was the first time I was able to see my whole body - I had some yellowish bruising on my abdomen and quite a lot of purple and green bruising on the sides and backs of my legs - but from what I could see lying down I was really happy and I could already see a difference!

There was one stitch on my bum that she was unable to get to - I stood up to make it easier for her but the leg of the stitch wasn't coming out whatsoever. I started to feel faint again and wished I had eaten more than just pineapple for breakfast, but the nurse fetched me some biscuits and water and I felt better almost straight away!

What surprised me more than anything was how TINY the incision marks were. They were barely visible even after just one week and all of them had healed really well. Unfortunately I realised my surgeon decided to make one incision right where the hole for my belly button piercing was (which I removed for surgery) so that was the only disappointing discovery of the day!

I brought with me my new black garment with shorter legs, which I squeezed into - I found putting it on for the first time really hard, but the nurse showed me it was all about where the seams of the garment were - it would only fit if the seams were along the insides of my legs, so finally I was able to do the fastenings up! Getting my bruised body back into the garment for the first time was quite uncomfortable - I could really feel the bruises but it was definitely bearable. It's supposed to be quite hard to get back into the garment after you've taken it off, as the body swells a little bit when the compression is removed, but once fastened in I felt great, if a little claustrophobic.

Below is a photo of me at work after 7 days in my new black garment - as you can see from the photo my waist is looking noticeably smaller. I was really excited to have my first full glimpse in the mirror at myself with no garment when I got home after work that evening.

It’s the first day I haven’t taken any painkillers, only my antibiotics, and I feel surprisingly okay – there is a slight ongoing ache but it is not painful enough to notice. I’m still walking with the posture and speed of someone four times my age but my muscles feel a lot more relaxed now when I walk and I can stand upright. It's mainly in my legs that I'm feeling the pain, probably because my legs are by far the most bruised part of my body - at least from what I can see as I still haven't removed my garment yet, just peaked underneath.

I went back to work on day 5 with a pillow for my chair. I was no longer feeling lethargic and was able to get on with work just fine, but getting in and out the car was a struggle. I actually felt quite well at work - I got up every now and then to walk around as its quite uncomfortable on an office chair - I was still limping around slowly too - but again I only really felt pain when moving from a sitting to a standing position or vice versa. Once I was sitting/standing I was fine.

I'm still taking arnica tablets to help with the bruising and swelling which I think are working. What's bothering more than anything is the itching! From about day 4 I began getting really itchy, particularly on my lower back where most of my swelling was. I tried to just gently rub the itchy area over the garment as opposed to scratching as I didn't want to agitate the wounds. I've been told the itching is just a result of the nerves fixing themselves and completely normal!

I decided to take 1 pain killer before bed, as I usually wake up once in the night feeling a bit of pain, particularly when moving positions. I have been sleeping on my back each night though as this is the best position for keeping the garment smooth with no folds.