Upper Leg Vaser with Lipoedema and tattoos - London, GB

Ugh, I am so swollen. I went to work on Tuesday and it was HELL. I was in so much pain by the afternoon, I had to take a whole bunch of codeine. On Wednesday I was so swollen. I had cankles. Turned out my leggings bunched up behind my knees on Tuesday, but cause my sensation was still weird I didn't notice that, just the resulting pain.
Today is Thursday and I am still swollen. I am almost back to previous size with this swelling, although the front of thigh doesn't seem to be swelling at all. I am trying to keep my spirits up, but it's a little hard right now. And these leggings are doing my head in, they just won't stay up! I need to make sure they are pulled up right to the groin and not ending on my inner thigh, but then I also need to make sure they are not bunching behind my knees and it's virtually impossible to do both. It's harder with the M's than the L's, I assume because the M's get stuck on my calf and pull down. Ugh. Anyway only one more week of these compression leggings full time left.
I have had 3 MLD sessions so far and I have 4th tomorrow, I am glad that I can actually enjoy them now rather than endure so thats a plus. Also I can walk fine, and only get a bit of tightness when I first stand up. I even sort of hobble-jogged for the bus today, and I could kinda feel the swelling in my outer thighs jiggling. Kinda gross, kinda reassuring.
Oh yeah, I also put on my jeans today (over the compression leggings) and they fit the same. But hey ho.
My MLD theraphist said the worst swelling is usually between days 10-14 so looks like I have that to look forward to..
In the mean time, I am drinking loads of water, sleeping with my legs elevated and trying to reduce my salt intake.
Photos are from yesterday, so day 6

Ok so I had my op on Thursday and it's now Saturday evening. I had my first MLD on Friday and I had another one today. Next one isn't till Wednesday.

On Thursday I was taken home and while I was trying to help make food I got really dizzy. I forgot the MLD lady advised me to have lucozade after! My friend made me a sweet drink and I felt better. I ate food and my friends hung out with me. I didn't have much problem sleeping but I did wake up with lower back pain due to sleeping on my back and my bum being quite big!

On Friday I had to take the initial dressing and compression pants off and shower and put new ones on. The new compression garment was smaller and it took me 20 minutes to put it on! I even broke a sweat. I'm a bit torn because the larger leggings slide down a bit but the smaller were so hard to put on. But I was really sore yesterday and my skin feels really strange to touch. I will try the smaller ones again tomorrow. I asked Dr. Wolf if they are supposed to be different sizes and he said yes, but they sent me a second larger pair. Though they tried to deliver it today (Saturday) and I was out so I have to pick it up from the post office.. which won't be till Tuesday. So don't know if I'll need them after all.

I am sore. Walking is a struggle. Though today is much better than yesterday! Last night I slept with my legs raised and I woke up still sore but noticeably better. And no back pain! So I really recommend that! Still though, I walk funny and I got really exhausted in the middle of the day, which I didn't yesterday. I feel nauseous a lot but I think thats to do with the meds.
I am due to return to work on Tuesday so I hope the soreness and stiffness improves by then as I don't want too many questions I don't want to answer.

Yesterday I loved the way I looked. Ok maybe it was the extra small compression leggings but even without them I could already see a huge improvement in my two main pain points: the wide outer thigh and the curve on the front of the thigh seen from profile. Though I am seeing a noticeable difference between my left and right inner thigh so that's slightly worrying... but my right leg seems to be more swollen on the whole so I won't be panicking yet. Although it's more the shape that's the worry for me - the left inner thigh is pretty straight now but on the right one there is that curve out right at the top.

I have an appt with the surgery on Wednesday so I will flag it with them then.

I don't have a full length mirror, or any mirror of decent size so I can't post proper photos right now. I took some at the MLD session yesterday but it was after I put my tiny compression pants on and I wasn't about to be taking them off again. And today I was late so I didn't have time. So in attach is the comparison of the before and after in tiny compression leggings. Obviously I'm super compressed but also swollen, and my knees were worked on too so they will thin out as well, but last apparently.

Yesterday I was so happy with the photos I almost cried. Today I think I am more swollen and a bit upset about the inner thigh situ so less happy. Overall still good though.

Ok so, I am going to have my vaser in 2 days. I am so excited. I'm not even nervous! Only about what to wear over my compression tights (i'm usually a skinny jeans kinda girl) and if people at work will notice/make comments. A little about me: I'm 30 years old, I am generally in good shape and fairly slim... apart from my legs. My legs have always (at least since puberty) been somewhat bigger than my upper body. And recently it got worse. I could spend hours at the gym, eat super well, have actual 6 pack but my legs would only change slightly. If anything they got bigger when the muscle grew but the fat didn't really shrink. So I'm something like size 10 on top and 12-14 on the bottom. And the texture isn't very nice thanks to the lipoedema so I hate having my thighs out without tights and I tend to wear jeans.



I went for my initial consultation with Dr Wolf at the Private Clinic 2 years ago, but then decided to spend the money on travel.. fast forward 2 years and I thought about it a lot, in recent months it's been every day. And so here I am. About to do this!



So 2 years ago I went to see Dr Wolf and then another Dr at another clinic, but while Dr Wolf was calm and professional (and actually wouldn't let me book it the same day) the other doctor was almost trying to pressure me into it with an offer. HMM. Also the second clinic had a kind of basement feel.. which is not really reassuring.



So this time round I went to see another new Dr. I got on really well with him, and while he sounded like he knew what he was doing I did get a couple small red flags.. but he would do everything I wanted, ie., the whole leg (upper leg, knee, calf and ankle). However I then couldn't find any of his credentials online, other than one review here. No photos on his site, nothing. So I got cold feet.



I decided to go back to Dr Wolf. I knew he was going to be more expensive but I knew I would be in good hands and really, with something like surgery I think it's worth paying extra for good care. After all it will cost more to have it fixed! And that's not even talking about the physical and mental wellbeing.



So I have taken my "before" photos, I had to use a TopShop fitting room as I don't have a full length mirror at home.... I have even taken measurements all down my leg to really judge the improvement (in my lower leg too to see if it helps with the swelling there), so I will be posting actual size difference in the future.



Here we go. EEEEK!