For Me Smart Lipo Seems Like a Pretty Smart Choice

Hi!! Posted pics of me a month after my surgery.  My upper abs seem all healed.  There is no pain and I can see a difference.  The contrast between my upper abs and my bust is greater-making my boobs look bigger and my upper waist smaller (yah!!)  I believe my lower abs are still healing because they have tenderness when I push on my pooch area. I hope this is causing them to still be swollen since you can see that it still looks a little chubby/round in that section. I am working out as normal now except I am not able to run because the bouncing is painful on the lower abs.  I will post more pics as I progress.     

So my 29th birthday was rolling around, and because of recent success in my sales job I had some extra dough coming my way. I'm 5"5' and about 145-150 pounds. I would describe myself as quite athletic, and skinny but after 25 by metabolism slammed on the brakes and it was a lot harder for me to get rid of the jelly here and there. I spent a lot of time stressing and bitching about it so I finally decided that as a birthday present to myself I would do smart lipo. Initially, I was at first interested in some of the cellulite treatments but those cost $2,000+, wasn't permanent, and from the feedback on this site, seems like it barely worked. I decided why not spend a few thousand more and get something almost permanent. I probably spent a good 20% of my week obsessing about how to lose weight, what I did or didn’t eat, or going to the gym so to find a solution that could relieve some of that stress and time seemed like a good gift to myself.

Sooo anyways, I did the research, picked the place and got it done. After reading all the reviews on here I was really expecting a lot more fuss and muss. I had the procedure at 2:00 on Wednesday and I'm now typing away on my computer about it on Friday night feeling great. I almost feel like I had a different procedure than other people or that people were exaggerating because it was kinda (I hate to say it) easy.

Like I said I went in on Wednesday to {edited - provider information is located above the review for registered users}. My doctor, {edited - provider information is located above the review for registered users} (Harvard Resident, and Pres of the Massachusetts Plastic Surgery Association) performed the surgery. Here is the play by play for those who are curious:

They had me eat a big lunch, and not drink a ton of water so I wouldn't have to pee during the procedure. I put on a johnny and the doctor drew markings in a sort of pyramid shaped on my upper and lower abs marking where he would be doing his work. He also asked why my perfect abdomen would need work. I'm not fat but the chub pooch was obvious. The sentiment was nice though.

From there they moved me to the operating room and had my lay down. The doctor pinches the skin and gives you the pain shots all over the tummy. Then the put in i think IVs and filled the whole section of my upper and lower abs under the skin with lytocaine and saline. Your whole belly area fills way up. You feel pregnant or like you are going to pop. This section is the only part with pain, but it’s mostly just pinchy. I have to admit, I am pretty good with pain and tend not to get nervous or freak myself out with this kind of stuff so other people might have other experiences.

After this they leave the room and let you relax for about 10 minutes or so, so that the lyodcaine can work at numbing the whole section. I put my Ipod on and just chilled. The doctor and nurse came back and the doctor got to work on the laser portion. He threaded the laser into a long instrument about the length of your arm. This is the probe he then uses to probe all the areas of your stomach being treated. This took the longest. About an hour, and he really was going to work jabbing under the skin but I felt no pain.

Once this is completed they then lipo out the displaced fat. It only looked like about a cup and a half worth taken out, but they said the rest you just pee out. They finished that in about 15 minutes and I was done. The whole thing took less than 2 hours. The nursed showed me how to dress the drainage spots with pads, and then helped me put my compression garment on and I was out the door. I drove myself home and felt fine. I was even considered meeting my friend out for dinner but decided against it because even with the compression garment on you look about 4-5 months pregnant because of all the saline they fill you up with. She said that might also be the case for work the next day.

For the night, I took the Vicodin that was prescribed, lied on my stomach on my bed to help the drainage, chugged water, watched movies and was happy as a clam. When I woke up in the morning my stomach had drained enough that I just wore a normal shirt that flowed away from my stomach over my compression garment and went to work as normal. Bending and picking things up were kind of hard, but I just sit at my desk most of the day so it was no biggie. I took the train into work, walked to lunch and took the train home with no problem.

The look of my stomach is a little weird. It has a jigglie looseness but my skin already seems smoother (no cellulite bumps.) It's still swollen, but flat. I used to have what I called my loaf of bread, a section along my middle that stuck out and that's gone. There's no bruising or redness, but there is some pooling of blood in my pelvic area. I think because I wore my compression garment too tight, but the nurse said that was fine.

Basically, I am very happy. I feel fine. I see flatness and smoothness already, and I am just waiting on the final result. For me it seems to be a good choice. I believe i was probably a best candidate though because I'm in good shape, am fairly young and had some small pouching. I can't say that the same result would be true for someone older or with more of a problem.

Unfortunately I don't have before and after pics but I do have two from right after. You can see the red spots from where they put in the pain killer shots, and some of the marker.

Feel free to ask me any questions. I was happy to find info here when I was initially looking so I am happy to give others info.