Skinniest Calves/Shins/Ankles, Underwent Fat Grafting Today! - New York, NY

Hey guys, so quick summary followed by my surgery outcome, ive had the skinniest calves/ankles/shins imaginable ever since i was born. I specifically noticed it in 5th grade and through middle school when the entire playground would make fun of me when i wore shorts. I still remember the last day I wore shorts to school, in 8th grade. Since then Ive gone through high school, undergrad, medical school, and half a year of residency without ever wearing shorts. Ive avoided tropical vacation destinations and cruises when all my friends went because I just couldnt wear shorts.

So in undergrad I began researching calf implants, but I knew this would only augment the upper half of the leg. My primary problem was the lower shin/ankle where there isnt any muscle so no implant can be placed. I also knew it would be my late 20's before I had a job and money to afford any procedure. In Med school, through just googling "skinny ankles" on the internet, I came across fat grafting as a new method of doing calf augmentation. Immediately I began to think, if fat can augment the calf then why not the shin/ankle. This blew my mind, and I began doing a lot more research. I came across Dr. LG's website and I sent over some pictures and they said they could do the procedure with permanent results! BTW Ive always had a gut, love handles, and man boobs so the donor fat site was a non issue.

So anyway, I still didnt have the money as I was knee deep in med school loans and all my credit cards were in my dads name. I started my Internal Medicine residency in Chicago in June 2013 and finaly had a source of income, and so I applied for a few cards and got a credit line going. My vacation month was in February so i made the decision that I would fly to NY to Dr. LG's office, get a consultation and a surgery done in one trip.

So yesterday I flew up here, had my consultation. Dr. LG initially was surprised at how tight my calves and ankle/shin area was. I think because I had tried to correct the problem with calf workouts that really tightened the area. So this did limit how much fat was able to be put, because if too much is put in a tight area, you can lose circulation. Anyway, he said he could fix the bowleg problem and would try to put as much fat as possible and he thought I would like the results. And besides I had to start somewhere, i wasnt anticipating being 100% happy with just one surgery. The site stores fat for 2 years and does touch up treatments if needed for 1000-2000 dollars.

So today was my surgery, immediately after I am ABSOLUTELY THRILLED with the results. The entire medial aspect looks significatnly bigger. Im sure some of this is due to swelling, but Dr. Grossman expects most of the fat to survive (he uses stem cells to enhance the viability). So even if I get 75% of the current results after swelling goes down and some fat is reabsorbed, i would be thrilled. The ankles/shins are still skinny because not much could be put down there. But again, I had to start somewhere. The fat placed plus the swelling will loosen up the skin and allow a futher treatment to be more successful. Right now Im immediately post op so Ill keep u guys updated with photos.

So the recovery is going great. I had to travel back to the midwest via airplane the day after surgery, and it was a little difficult. But not too bad. Today, the stiffness in my legs is improving. The back/flank area where they did lipo is still really sore, a little worse than if i did a real solid back workout. The area is still numb, which is expected. My legs still look great to me. I think the swelling has gone done a bit, but for the most part, the volume is all still there. I had a little concern yesterday because the fat that was grafted was colder than the other part of my leg, but today its warm! So i think that means blood has started to supply the area. We'll see how much is retained but Dr. G told me he expects my current result to be the final result. Im still planning on getting a touch up procedure in 3-6 months to the shin/ankle area. So far so good! Ive attached some new pics from today.

Hey guys, so its been one week now and every things going good. My calves are still a little stiff and im still not walking completely normally, but there isn't any pain. My ankles are swollen today after walking around a lot yesterday. The fat that was grafted is all still there! I can tell because i put my feet completely together and i can measure the distance of the gap in between my calves, and its been the same. The flanks where i had the lipo is still sore/swollen/numb. This is expected for 1-3 months. Attached is a picture. I go back to work tomm and ill keep you guys updated! Dr. Grossmans staff followed up with my recovery today which i thought was nice.