My Experience and Tips for a BBL

Hello ladies!!
This web site was so helpful to me that I decided to post a brief review of my experience, hopefully it might help some of you during the process. I'm 32 years, never had kids, and I decided to do a BBL in Mexico city since I'm living nearby due to my husband's temporary job assignment. I've never heard of my doctor before, I found him on google and did some research (Dr. Hermes Avila). I went to see a couple of doctors and in my opinion he was the best option. He performed BBL with traditional liposuction, he removed almost 4 lt of fat from my belly and back through 8 small incisions. I love my lipo results, my waist is so small and he got rid of my big back rolls so I love it! the problem is my butt :( let's just say that it's exactly the same....I don't know what he did with all that fat! right after surgery I could barely tell the difference..he said the shape will improve with time but now I'm almost 8 weeks post op and the very little fat he had injected has disapeared! oh well...after crying a lot I decided to move on and be happy with my lipo results, my butt will have to wait and I might go for a second round next year. I will not go into details on what went wrong with my doctor, I will post a review later focused only on my doctor's performance. Now I could only recommend him for liposuction, not BBL. I will post some pics of my whole body later.
My experience has been very good in general, I had excruciating pain only for about 20-30 min after surgery (mainly on my abs and a burning sensation on my butt) after that the pain was moderate I guess the pain meds kicked in and made my life happier haha! Don't be that scared about pain! all of us react in different ways. I've read about girls with horrible pain issues for several days but I'm telling you in my case pain was not the main issue. It was more the discomfort of going to the toilet, bathing, sleeping on my abs, swelling, etc.
I had surgery early in the morning and went home by 9:00pm. I was able to tolerate food 3 hrs after surgery, I also had something for dinner and didn't have any nausea. I was able to sleep on my abs with minor discomfort and had a good sleep! the next day I felt like throwing up a few times and a bit dizzy. After that I never felt nausea again and been able to eat pretty good. The first week is the toughest, I had bad nights but as days go by I felt better.
My doctor didn't use drainage tubes. He stitched my incisions but I still drained for three days specially when I stood up to go to the toilet. I only had one garment so it got soaked pretty quickly, they had to remove it a few hours later and use bandages on me. My husband had to wash my garment and use the hair dryer so I could put it on again ASAP. So my first recommendation would be to have two garments even if your doctor uses drainage cuz eventually it will get dirty. That way you can have a clean one while you wash the other.
In my opinion these are other MUST HAVES! they will make your recovery a lot easier:
-Toilet raiser (I still use this one after 7 weeks post op! since you have limited mobility and everything hurts, sitting and standing up from the toilet is very difficult if you don't have someone to assist you all the time)
-Female urinal (I didn't get this but I wished I had! It would have been so helpful the first week, garments have small open crotch design so I got it wet sometimes since you can't open your legs a lot.
-Inflatable round cushion (this is a life saver! it made my first car trip a lot more comfortable and I still use it whenever I sit)
-Loose clothing (I bought loose pants, shirts and underwear, I was not able to wear a bra or anything tight for the first 3 weeks, skin was very sensitive)
-Ensure nutrition shakes (it's good to have a few bottles to drink during the first days post op)
-Bed absorbent pads
-Arnica pills (help a lot with swelling)
-Baby Wipes (lots of them! they keep you clean and fresh
-ScarAway silicone gel or Mederma to reduce appearance of scars (since I develop queloid scars I started using it the 2nd week once they started to heal and changed color)
-Stretch marks cream (I started using this everyday after the 1st week, at first it was a bit painful to put on but it helps a lot with the itching and dryness of the skin)
-Gauzes and wound spray cleaner (I cleaned my incisions daily for the first three weeks til' they close completely to avoid infection)
-Recovery Vitamins (make sure they include vitamin C and E which will help your skin recovery process)
-Natural coconut oil and vitamin E gel caps (I started using these at week 6 post op, I noticed some red spots on my skin and wasn't sure if they were early stretch marks so I found this tip on google: I mix 1-3 vitamin E gel caps with a few drops of coconut oil and put it directly on my skin. I put my garment back on after 1 or 2 hours to let my skin absorb some nutrients. I put my garment on and leave this overnight, take a shower next morning) I've seen some improvement on my skin so I recommend it
These are not "must haves" but they have worked for me:
-I bought a juicer and have been making 1 vegetable juice everyday, I still took my post-op vitamins but I think veggies are even a better way to help your body with the recovery! I use 3 carrots, 3 celery stalks, 1/3 beet, a handful of spinach, 1 tomato, 1 orange, 2 slices of pineapple. It tastes soooo good, try it!
-I also try to eat healthy and I must say I eat A LOT! I cook salmon with broccoli or cauliflower, lentils, chicken breasts, brown rice, different types of fish, beans, no red meat, and for dessert I only eat fruits.
Well girls I hope you find this helpful, ...do your research, be selective, and go for it! good luck! after all it is worth it :)