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*Treatment results may vary
2nd post-op
Had the post-op about 2 weeks ago, all went well. No more binders or anything which caught me off guard, expected to wear them for 2 months but only just over one month. Everything has been perfect. Swelling down tons, almost completely gone already (I think), and no complications. However, I now suffer from the inability to find shirts small enough as a guy! The scar looks thin and is fading well. Again, I highly recommend David Robins. I think he may be slightly more expensive than some you could find (keep in mind my cost includes removal of Gynecomastia which was about $2,700) but with something as major as a tummy tuck you absolutely do not want to go cheap. I feel incredible, and finally happy about my body!
Would Happily Go to Again if I Somehow Had to Get a Tummy Tuck Again
I'm a 24-year-old guy, and after losing 100lbs and having waited 3 years I decided it was time to chop some skin. After hours of research I ended on Dr. Robbins because all I could find (except for on yelp for what it's worth) were only good reviews, along with him having multiple board certifications and many years of experience and tons of before/after pics on the website. While I will summarize it a bunch, I will describe pretty much my whole experience in detail to give a good idea of what awaits you and what I went through. Just for reference as of writing this, I'm 18 days PO.
I had a tummy tuck without muscle repair with VASER lipo to remove gynecomastia and both went fantastic. before I get to that though, one thing I really want to note is you can get a consultation pretty close to when you schedule. I had 2 months wait with Dr. Robbins, while the one my GP recommended (who I found out was somewhat new in plastic surgery and I decided against) had about a 4 month wait just for consultation. Another top plastic surgeon in the state had almost a 5 month wait.
As for consultation itself, pretty simple. I only waited in the lobby for about 2 minutes, and in the actual consultation room for about 5 minutes before a nurse came in, asked me medical questions, then left. Dr. Robbins came in just a few minutes later, examined the parts I wanted to operate on by looking at them, telling me how it may look and complimenting me on how I lost the weight without any help from bariatric surgery which was nice.
I will say, one big green flag for me was that I was curious about thigh lifts, and wondered why he didn't have them on his website. So, I asked, and he said he did not feel comfortable doing something with such a high complication rate, and to me a plastic surgeon who makes his money off of operating, not wanting to do an operation that could make more money because he just does not like how risky it is (even if the complications are almost always minor), that tells me personally he wants the best for his patients.
Pre-op was simple. Got a big packet of what to expect, things I need, measured for compression gear and so on. Got a cream to put on twice a day where the scars would be to help it heal. Otherwise, pre-op was not too eventful.
Day of surgery:
The day of I went into a room where I put on surgical clothing, we did before pics, and after meeting both the anesthesiologist and Dr. Robbins again I went to the surgery room, laid down on the operating bed (which is heated and feels nice) and a few seconds later waking up in a chair. It was very quick and simple. I was scheduled for 8AM, I was on my way home by 11AM.
After surgery I'll be honest, I was in very minimal pain. The only pain I ever had was due to the drains, which I learned to hate so much. They pinch when getting up/sitting down, and only learned a few days in to not have your clothes laying over where the drain enters your body, it makes the pinching sooo much worse. As for the scar itself, gross sure but that's expected. Not that painful, just very numb and swollen. Also, be ready for an outie belly button for a while as it swells too. As for my chest, the VASER lipo made it extremely tender to the touch, but it was not that bad after a few days.
After 4 days, I felt maybe 40% back. All you do for the first week is sit and do nothing. Don't eat anything that will bloat you as it is very uncomfortable with the compression gear and swelling. Day 6 I had my first post-op and drains were removed. After those things were gone I immediately jumped to maybe 70% back. I felt normal except for pulling along the scar if I tried standing straight. I would say by day 14 I felt 90% normal and by now (day 18 as of writing this) I feel 95% back to normal. My nipples are still fairly tender and numb but otherwise my chest is mostly healed. As for my stomach, swelling has slightly gone down but is still there. Even with swelling, my waist is almost 4 inches smaller than before surgery, and all my shirts feel so big. I actually feel comfortable in my body now, and it feels fantastic.
Will update once I do my 2nd post-op middle of May to add how that goes. My experience was so good I'm tempted to one day get an arm lift too from Dr. Robbins, but I don't need another month of recovery so soon, maybe in the far future.
I had a tummy tuck without muscle repair with VASER lipo to remove gynecomastia and both went fantastic. before I get to that though, one thing I really want to note is you can get a consultation pretty close to when you schedule. I had 2 months wait with Dr. Robbins, while the one my GP recommended (who I found out was somewhat new in plastic surgery and I decided against) had about a 4 month wait just for consultation. Another top plastic surgeon in the state had almost a 5 month wait.
As for consultation itself, pretty simple. I only waited in the lobby for about 2 minutes, and in the actual consultation room for about 5 minutes before a nurse came in, asked me medical questions, then left. Dr. Robbins came in just a few minutes later, examined the parts I wanted to operate on by looking at them, telling me how it may look and complimenting me on how I lost the weight without any help from bariatric surgery which was nice.
I will say, one big green flag for me was that I was curious about thigh lifts, and wondered why he didn't have them on his website. So, I asked, and he said he did not feel comfortable doing something with such a high complication rate, and to me a plastic surgeon who makes his money off of operating, not wanting to do an operation that could make more money because he just does not like how risky it is (even if the complications are almost always minor), that tells me personally he wants the best for his patients.
Pre-op was simple. Got a big packet of what to expect, things I need, measured for compression gear and so on. Got a cream to put on twice a day where the scars would be to help it heal. Otherwise, pre-op was not too eventful.
Day of surgery:
The day of I went into a room where I put on surgical clothing, we did before pics, and after meeting both the anesthesiologist and Dr. Robbins again I went to the surgery room, laid down on the operating bed (which is heated and feels nice) and a few seconds later waking up in a chair. It was very quick and simple. I was scheduled for 8AM, I was on my way home by 11AM.
After surgery I'll be honest, I was in very minimal pain. The only pain I ever had was due to the drains, which I learned to hate so much. They pinch when getting up/sitting down, and only learned a few days in to not have your clothes laying over where the drain enters your body, it makes the pinching sooo much worse. As for the scar itself, gross sure but that's expected. Not that painful, just very numb and swollen. Also, be ready for an outie belly button for a while as it swells too. As for my chest, the VASER lipo made it extremely tender to the touch, but it was not that bad after a few days.
After 4 days, I felt maybe 40% back. All you do for the first week is sit and do nothing. Don't eat anything that will bloat you as it is very uncomfortable with the compression gear and swelling. Day 6 I had my first post-op and drains were removed. After those things were gone I immediately jumped to maybe 70% back. I felt normal except for pulling along the scar if I tried standing straight. I would say by day 14 I felt 90% normal and by now (day 18 as of writing this) I feel 95% back to normal. My nipples are still fairly tender and numb but otherwise my chest is mostly healed. As for my stomach, swelling has slightly gone down but is still there. Even with swelling, my waist is almost 4 inches smaller than before surgery, and all my shirts feel so big. I actually feel comfortable in my body now, and it feels fantastic.
Will update once I do my 2nd post-op middle of May to add how that goes. My experience was so good I'm tempted to one day get an arm lift too from Dr. Robbins, but I don't need another month of recovery so soon, maybe in the far future.
Provider Review
Board Certified Plastic Surgeon
6420 Coachlight Dr. W., West Des Moines, Iowa