27 Years Old, Male, Fit but Pudgy Stomach and Small "Man-boobs"

A little about me. I am a 27 years old male, and have always been relatively fit. My entire life, I’ve been able to work out, exercise and build great muscle in my arms, legs and chest. My only problem has always been my stomach/abs area.

I thought by dieting, I would easily get rid of the unwanted belly-fat. However, even after I lost weight, I never lost much of anything in my abdomen. Just in EVERY OTHER area of my body! I tried EVERYTHING! Yes, that means greens only diet (as long as I could last without fainting), Naked Juice only diet, cutting back on this and that. It was a frustrating battle because quiet frankly I loved my weight, but hated that I could not rid myself of my belly-fat. I always “LOOKED FULL.” Even when I was freaking hungry and hadn’t eaten.

CoolSculpting (Non-Invasive Route First!)
Last year, I tried CoolSculpting with Dr. Coleman at Etre Dermatology New Orleans. I wrote a separate review, but I’ll flatly recommend to NOT do it. I did not see any results and quite frankly the recovery was EXTREMELY PAINFUL. My nerve endings were going haywire from having had been frozen. I’d never experienced so much pain in my life to where I could not sleep for more than 10 minutes at a time for 3-4 days. Once I’d gotten steroid shots from Dr. Coleman, the pain went away. I should have called the doctor earlier to get meds, so I’ll fault myself. I was promised better results over time, but as I hit 5 months, then 6 months, then 7 months, I was like doc, I still look the same but my pockets are $600 slimmer. They recommended I do Laser Liposuction.

NOTE: I was told that I’d get a referral discount (10%) being that I recommended another patient to the office who immediately got liposuction. I got nothing. I moreover expected some type of commensurate discount for not having seen any results for the CoolSculpting…What I got was $2 off what my referral paid for her Liposuction. I am not joking and can prove this easily by uploading our quote papers, but I wont. This was a HUGE point of discontent with me. Nonetheless, I trusted the doctor and his skills after having seen the results from my referral.

LaserLipo (Time to Dig In)
WHAT I GOT DONE:
Upper & Lower Abdomen
Chests
Flanks/ Love Handles

After having felt robbed of my money but not of any fat from the CoolSculpting, I finally convinced myself to do the liposuction. I went in yesterday. This was my experience.

Woke up at 8:00AM. And took the prescribed dose of Lorazepam. This apparently makes you relaxed and is like a valium. Boy did it make me chill! I made it to the doctors office and they began taking before pictures and measured my weight. Thereafter, I was led to the operating table and made to put on a garment.

The nurse, Tammy, is a COMPLETE SWEETHEART! She saw how nervous I was and was constantly rubbing my shoulders and telling me how to breath, what was going on etc. Dr. Coleman cleaned up the area, and began his markings of where he was going to do the incisions and remove fat. I received numbing injections right above my pubic area on each side and on the side of my chests (to suction out the man-boobs!!). Here are my pain measurements of the LipoSuction procedure.

“Hey-Hey’s” are when he tried to liposuction an area that wasn’t quite numb yet. Which Dr. Coleman immediately stops suctioning and reinserts the Tumescent Cannula to numb area. Then begins liposuction-ing again. My skin was exceptionally tight so the tumescent didn’t reach every inch as it would in larger people.

ON SCALE OF 1-10 (10 being the worst pain)

Markup with marker: 0
Numbing injections: 1.5
Cannula Incisions(cuts where the tube goes in): 0
Tumescent Insertion Cannula Numbing(this stings/burns): 3
LipoSuction-ing with Cannulas: 0.5
“Hey-Heys!”(had about 3 of those): 3.5
Post-Liposuction Pain(right after): 0
Post-Liposuction Pain(after numbing wears off): 2.5 without meds

I WAS NOT given the laser skin tightening part of the procedure. As my skin was already tight, Dr. Coleman said it would inflame my skin more and/or make it extremely stiff. I accepted his recommendation not to.

I was sent on my way with pain medicine and wrapped in 2 compression garments. One for my chest and one for my abs.

It is now 24 Hours later and BOY AM I PLEASED WITH THE RESULTS! I’m not taking the Hydrocodone for pain, but simple Alieve/Advil works just fine and keeps the post-op pain at 1. Now all of my friends want to go to him. I gave them his contact information, but forewarned, get a referral discount in writing as part of the quote up front. Lol

In all, I expected way more pain as I lay here on my stomach typing this some 23 hours later.

The team at Etre Cosmetic Dermatology is amazing, the ambiance of the office is spectacular and Dr. Coleman and Nurse Tammy did a wonderful job. Pics attached. I'll add more a week from now, then 2 weeks, then a month, then 3 months.

I recommend them for Laser Liposuction for sure!!