Lower Body Lift I've Been Dreaming of for Years! - Newport Beach, CA

I am already a week past my lower body lift and I'm still trying to decide if it was worth it. I mean, I look COMPLETELY different, but I didn't expect the mental strength needed to cope with this surgery. I had a lower body lift, breast lift with fat transfer, and lipo of my thighs.
I originally chose Dr. Agha because of his work in inventing the spiral thigh lift. Dr. Fisher was my other choice, but Dr. Agha sent me a million research papers and photos of his work and that won me over. He was very confident in how much extra skin he could remove and how much he could help my cellulite whereas Dr. Fisher basically said he couldn't help my cellulite at all.

The Sunday after my surgery I started feeling really bad: hard time catching my breath, heart pounding, dizzy. I called the Dr. Who told me to call 911 in case I had a blood clot. I called 911, got to the hospital and after 6 hours of tests, they found out my blood count was very low. I had lost over 1/2 my blood count since surgery. I needed a blood transfusion. I was admitted to the hospital and ended up staying 3 days. The blood thinner I was put on after surgery made me lose a ton of blood.
Of course, this experience caused my anxiety to skyrocket. My heart rate would not come down below 120 because I was terrified of dying or having more complications. The hospital put me on a medication to calm my heart rate, which I'm still on. This is what I mean by mental strength. It's hard to feel like crap everyday for 2 weeks. I'm not feeling pain, but just not feeling well, if that makes sense. It's hard to be so tight and numb where your body doesn't feel like your own.

I still sleep a lot and activities exhaust me. Dr. Agha uses a wound vac machine on the body lift incision on the back 1/2. This way, the wound has a lesser chance of opening and heals twice as fast. I think this is awesome because I can tell how the majority of the strain when moving around impacts the back 1/2 of the incision. I had to go to the office yesterday to get a leak in the bandage patched and that trip exhausted me for the rest of the day.
Today I am feeling good and I actually have an appetite!! I am craving the chocolate pudding from the hospital lol.
I forgot to mention that my dad is staying with me for support and I really recommend having someone with you to help you through this.

Today I had my follow up with Dr Agha. He said I'm healing so well in spite of all my set backs and he thinks I will be cleared to return home at 3 weeks! He removed 2 out of three drains and some stitches around my waist and belly button. I still cannot shower.....not until all drains are out and the hole is healed (couple days) and my vacuum sealed wound wrap is taken off. All in all I probably won't be able to fully shower until the three week mark. Ewwww. I wash my hair in the sink and use these bathing wipes I found at a medical supply store to wipe down daily.

I saw the Dr on Friday for my 2 week check up. I got my last drain out and I'm just waiting for that to scab over so I can take a shower. I got my wound vac off too. He said I can't go home until next weekend which devastated me. He said people usually open up if they are going to in the 3rd week because people feel better and do too much. I am slipping back into a depression being here so far from home and just being uncomfortable for so long. Yes, I do feel better than the 1st week, but the numbness and tightness of my stomach really messes with my head for some reason. I don't like how it feels.
If the Dr gets done early with his surgery Wednesday he said he'd see me to see if I can go home (3 week mark). Otherwise I see him Friday again.
I'm going to try to lay low and just heal, but it's hard to do. If I sit/lay around I get more depressed than if I'm out and about (I rented a wheelchair so I can go out and not have to walk to whole time. Highly recommend), but now I'm so scared of opening that I think maybe I should just lay here.
Either way, I must take it day by day.

Just finished at the Dr and I am cleared to go home tomorrow!!! Yay!!! I'm healing well. There's a small area on my backside that's puffy, but not open. I'm so happy to go home and finish healing there. Fingers crossed for no openings!!

Hi everyone! I just changed my status from "not sure if it was worth it" to "not worth it." I want to clarify why.

This has absolutely nothing to do with my results or with Dr. Agha. My results so far are pretty amazing. The reason I am changing to not worth it is because of my own anxiety issues. I have had an anxiety disorder for 16 years. I have it under control and have had it under control for close to 7 years. I never thought it would come back with a vengeance during recovery.

I think the complication I had with the blood loss that landed me in the hospital was what set it off. I now struggle daily....hourly even with worry: what was that feeling? What if I spit a stitch and it gets infected? What if I tore an internal suture? What if my body never feels like mine again? When will I ever feel like ME again?

Feeling icky for this prolonged amount of time with no let up in the horizon has messed with my mind. I'm a go, go, go person and not being able to has really affected me.

I urge anyone out there that deals with anxiety and/or depression to triple think about this. Yes, the results are pretty miraculous, but prepare for the journey. Talk to your psychiatrist, warn your PS that you'll need extra care. Dr. Agha, a true magician with his craft, is so busy that I often don't get responses in a timely fashion. That sets me off even more: should I have gone with a PS close to home or one where everyone on here said the customer service was impeccable?

Thanks for listening, everyone, and truly taking the time to think of the mental side of the healing process as well.

Here are some more recent photos. Wish I would have taken off my compression stockings because my legs are a huge improvement, too! Probably 1/2 the size they used to be! My lumps and bumps in my legs and butt plagued me with each pound I lost. Much better now!

I'm preparing myself to start work tomorrow!! I can't say I'm 100% ready, but I think getting back into the swing and routine will be good for me. If I get exhausted or if my body starts to ache, the Dr told me to go home and rest. My desk chair is not very comfortable, so I've already been thinking of things I could do to remedy that (guilt trip a coworker into letting me borrow theirs? Lol).

Wish me luck!!

Hello Everyone!! Has anyone out there had a tummy tuck or lower body lift and still felt SUPER tight at 4 weeks? I mean, I have ZERO skin to spare and it feels like a blown up (to the max) balloon to the touch. I can stand up straight now, but when I stand up real straight with my shoulders back and everything my upper abdomen skin is so tight it's hard! Please tell me my skin stretches out because I can't live like this forever!

I thought I'd share some helpful tips as I continue my recovery. I've been back to work for a week now, and although today is only Monday, I feel better this week than I did last week. I'm still swollen, especially my lower belly area by my incision. My legs are still a little swollen from the lipo, too. It's not that the upcoming tips are my tips, but they are Dr. Agha's directives. I find it interesting that each plastic surgeon has his/her own timeframes and ideas about healing. You'd think they'd all agree.
-wear your compression garment/abdominal binder 24/7. Helps with support as you heal and reduces swelling.
-protein, protein, protein!! My favorite (and Dr. Agha's recommendation) is Premier Protein shakes. They have 30g of protein per shake and a ton of vitamins and minerals. Try to get at least 100g/day. 120 if you can.
-keep the ABD pads taped together like a belt around your incision for 6 weeks. This prevents too much rubbing or pressure on the incision line. I think it helps to protect the scar so it optimally heals. It sucks because those pads are thick and add bulk under your clothes. It also sucks because they are expensive, so buy them in bulk off Amazon.
-start gently massaging the areas around your scar after 3-4 weeks. It helps promote nerve regeneration and reduction in swelling.
-do not use scar treatments until the dr says so. Dr. Agha has yet to say I could, so I'm guessing it after 6 weeks.

So I pretty much feel back to normal in terms of energy. My swelling has decreased, but I still am swelled up at my incision line down by my pubic area by the end of the day. You can see a little bulge in my pics. My incision does have a couple small spots that had a tiny opening, but they have scabed over and I'm just waiting for them to heal. This morning I noticed a small spot on my incision line up front that looks like a pimple. I'm assuming I'm spitting a stitch and that area will open soon.

I checked in with my doctor and he said I can start scar therapy. He recommended the scar sheets you put on and keep on until they fall off and then you put on a new sheet. He said I still need to wear my compression tights and binder for 6 more weeks :(
I wrote back and asked if I could do Spanx instead and haven't heard back yet.

I have found 3 stitches I need removed but no plastic surgeons by me will take them out since I'm not their patient. Hope my regular Dr will!!

I think I'm at the 10 week mark now. Still have tightness in lower belly area and some instances of deep aching and occasional sharp pains. I think it's my nerves waking up. As you can see in my posted pics, I'm healing well overall. My dr took too much fat off during lipo of the back of my legs so now I have significant "banana rolls" under my butt, but I'm trying not to be too upset over it. I think he thought I was guaranteed to come back for a thigh lift and he'd fix it then, but I don't think I can do this again. Never say never, I guess. There are a couple areas of my scar that are pretty large that I don't love either (by my hip bones) but I'm hoping once the scars mature and turn white it won't bug me.
I bought a cute shorter skirt and crop top for an Xmas party that I rocked until 11 when I was too tired to stand anymore lol. I guess my stamina isn't fully there quite yet.
Happy holidays to all!

I was in CA for work, so I checked back in with Dr. Agha. He will do a scar revision for free since my scars widened at my hips (I'll post a pic later). He also wants to do my thighs (vertical and medial thigh lift), but I need more time to forget how much surgery sucked the first time and I'm broke lol. He said he can only fix my banana rolls if he did a spiral thigh lift and combining that with a vertical Causes complications, so I'll have to deal with those. Im going to change the procedure to "worth it" again because it really was a huge transformation, just hard on a person with anxiety.