29yr Old, Smart Lipo to Flanks, Hips, & Inner Thighs - Marin County, CA

Hi All-

If you were following my surgery, it would be important for you to know that today is the day of my revision surgery (i.e. lipo / fat transfer)! As you can see, my lipo procedure for my love handles and lower back was done too low and was uneven, at best. My hips have a large section missing (see left side), which will hopefully be "filled in" today. Also, my inner thighs were supposed to have some space in btwn - I see no difference from before my initial smart lipo procedure. That will be addressed today as well.

I decided to post images of my "before" (a.k.a. my today) and plan to post photos and updates along my journey of healing. Hopefully all turns out well! Will keep you all posted!

I am a very active person - exercising 5-6x wkly. However, I had stubborn fat deposits on my flanks, hips and inner thighs that just would not go away no matter how much I worked out.

During my initial consultation with Dr. Poulos (for a breast augmentation) I asked about adding on Smart Lipo to be performed during my surgery. He looked at my problem areas and confirmed that I would be a great candidate for Smart Lipo. We agreed that it made the most sense for him to perform this operation during my breast aug procedure, vs coming in at another time and going under anesthesia twice.

The day of the surgery came and went without any initial complications. I did experience severe bruising and "oozing" however - which is completely normal . . . not fun, but normal. My initial post op was positive - the Dr said everything looked great. However, it was all pretty vague for me - there was so much bruising and oozing that I didn't know what "good" meant, so I trusted the Dr and waited for the bruising to dissipate.

Before my second post-op, I noticed what looked like a chunk of my upper left buttocks was gone. There was still a lot of swelling, so I wasnt sure what exactly the issue was. During the second post op, I asked Dr. Poulos about the chunk and he said the area surrounding that "divot" was swollen, and that the pocket would dissipate as the swelling reduced.

By the time my third post op came around, the swelling was almost all gone, but the huge divot above my left buttocks remained. Not only that, but it looked as though Dr. Poulos performed my "Flanks" lipo about 3 inches too low - so there is a horizontal line across the top of my butt where it looks like the top of my butt -the "shelf" portion - is just gone. Because of this mistake, from the side it looks like my back goes directly into my butt - there is no curve at the top of my buttocks. It looks awful.

During the third post-op, Dr. Poulos agreed that there were "inconsistencies" with the result of his procedure, and recommended that I purchase 8 sessions of the Venus Legacy treatment (an additional $1800 fee, offered at no discounted rate) as this would completely resolve the issue.

After completing 6 of the 8 treatments, I saw absolutely no difference and requested to speak with Dr. Poulos again. He agreed that I would need to have a revision Smart Lipo/Fat Transfer procedure (an another unexpected cost of $1500 for the OR fee). This procedure is scheduled for June 16 of this year - exactly one year after my initial Smart Lipo surgery.

This has caused me a ton of anxiety and undue stress this last year. This mistake has created a horizontal divot in my backside between my lower back and my buttocks, causing underwear and bikinis to not fit right, causing them to "collect" in the divot. From the side, it looks like my back goes straight into my butt.

In total, I have paid almost $9000 for Smart Lipo to Plastic Surgery Specialists and have yet to achieve my desired results. I will keep you updated about the how my June 16th procedure turns out.