Tummy Tuck and Breast Lift in Bolivia - Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Today is the first time since I had my surgery that I have actually looked at the pre op pictures of my body before I had everything done. I could have cried. My body was hideous and I was extremely insecure about it. Even though my boyfriend told me he was fine with my body and he did not want me to change a thing, I am so happy I went through with surgery.

I honestly was not planning to show anyone my post op pics because they are still very embarrassing to me, but since I see that this community is filled with brave women that are willing to share their experience, I have decided I will share mine. The pictures speak for themselves. My stomach was massacred with stretch marks from top to bottom. The picture that I posted is approximately one month after I gave birth to my child. If you look at my post op pic you will see that although I still have stretch marks, there are nowhere near as much as there was before.

Although I lost a bit if weight since the date this pic was taken, my stomach was still horrendous pre op. I also have pre op pictures of my breast, and to me this is the most dramatic change. After seeing my pre op pics of my breast I am astonished all over again of how good of a job my surgeon did pulling them up and reshaping my nipples. My breast was even more horrendous then my belly--trust me that is not an overstatement. It was so bad that I am actually too embarrassed to share the picture.

I am still very young and my breast looked like they belonged to an 88 year old woman. Post op I was a D36 but most of it was sagged skin. My breast literally scraped my belly. They were atrocious. Now they are amazing. After looking at my pics again I feel an obligation to emphasize what a good job Dr. Ligeron did. I think my breast are now a C36 and I love them!

I had actually made a video journey of my experience, but had decided that I was just going to keep it as a personal item on my computer. But now I'm thinking about making it public. I haven't decided yet.

I am now 3 1/2 weeks post op and I literally just discovered how to get my swelling to subside. In the beginning I really questioned whether the compression garment for my tummy was really necessary. I honestly did not believe it was helping with my swelling. In fact, I thought it was making my swelling worse. I have the underwear type of compression garment that pulls all the way up just below my breast. What I just recently discovered is that I was wearing it wrong--or rather the way I was wearing it was not conducive to bringing my swelling down.

I was wearing it the expected way and pulling it up just under my breast, but I just discovered that wearing it that way was pretty much pushing my stomach up and causing the swelling to flare up just above my incision. Now I pull it up high, and when I'm finished clipping everything in, I pull the compression garment down as low as I can get it so that the tigthtest part of the compression garment is where the swelling is.

I hasn't even been 24 hours since I've been wearing it this way, and my stomach is so flat. Also, the inflamed stretch marks that were left over from my belly button down are pretty much non existent!!! Its so weird how they just evaporated. Now the only place that I can see stretch marks is around my belly button.

I have been using mederma for my stretch marks, and me erma scar gel for my incisions. I will be taking pictures to see if its been making any difference. My breast still look amazing. I am still shocked at how firm and perky they are. I couldn't be happier. :) I will be posting new pictures soon.