Thigh lift Nightmare

38-42yrs old, in shape but had elasticity from yo yo dieting in my youth. The most being 20-25lb overweight. Made a mistake of getting lipo inner thighs 2017 which made my upper thighs more bulgy. I was unable to find any photos of women that looked like me and the two surgeons I was interested in would not provide it so I decided to take the risk. I think its because most of their patients are huge weight loss patients. So many women request photos from people that post their reviews but I understand why they don't. Surgery can be an emotional rollercoaster and even if you're happy with it, some words can trigger.

The healing process and recovery was longer than average. I had open wounds and I don't know if it was from the medical transport to the required aftercare center. I felt they were pretty rough and flipped me over on the wrong side of the bed. I addressed my concern to the doc when he came in to see me but I was told something about the difficulty of removing the garment. When I got home I noticed my garment was wet on some areas but had to wait until I went in for my first post op. I was scabbed up and had pads placed along the incisions with new garment when I went in. My drains took forever to be removed, I think it was 5-6 weeks I can't remember. I did not start working out until the 8th week.

I am 7 months and these photos are recent. I think I would be happy if it wasn't for the scarring and obvious scar tissue forming on my right hamstring. The scars may be "normal" and I honestly did not know what to expect. The doc seems pretty confident that I will heal nicely. I was being told this from the beginning but at 7 months I do feel frustrated. There is this bruising that has not gone away and was told its not hemosiderin. You can see a weird dent in the middle of the right leg that you can't see on the left. Anyways, I don't want to show befores because the last thing I want to hear is how much better it was before or why did I do it. I think in the before pic you can't really see the loose skin that well in the front. However I do think the back of my legs also look a little more collapsed and it may be due to the scarring who knows.

There is so much to say really. I might just add more as I go along. If you have questions, you can message me.

I hate to be negative but there has been zero improvement. I tried stem cell injections about three weeks ago and seen no changes. I will do aerolase in upcoming week for the discoloration. I am seeing my surgeon in Feb to follow up on the discoloration. What I really liked about this doc is that he tries really hard to be nice and patient but at the same time I’m trying SO hard to be patient.
It seemed like he was going to let me go as a completed happy patient if I didn’t persist on the discoloration and scarring . I tried so hard not to nag but I had this feeling it just didn’t feel right. The office wasn’t really on it that I actually was the one that called 6 months in to take my post op pics. I addressed the issue that the back of my legs looked worse and when he said well let’s look at the before. I didn’t realize until later we never got to look at the before. I mean I do have them now obv cuz I bugged them for it. He had taken out the tablet but something happened were my attn was directed to something else and we didn’t compare. Also, I noticed he didn’t take post op pics of the back of my legs but they were taken before.

Anyways here are the scars. I don’t think anything will change in one month either. I am a week away from 8 months.

I will add some pics later and in two weeks . It’s been a slow progress so I knew there wasn’t going to be any major changes in a few months. This is why I keep coming back. He told me back in October to come back in February… the hemosiderin was still there. I was prescribed hydroquinone but I haven’t been using it. He used my ethnicity (I am a skin type 3 and pretty freakin pale) as the reason for my discoloration. I’ve had many cosmetic procedures before. I was even told that based on my scar from another surgery that I would scar well. The dents from both legs are still there. He wants me to wait to see if “fat will make its way there “ before considering fat transfer. What fat I don’t have any. I stupidly used most of it trying some other procedure years ago and being skinny there wasn’t much. He is also charging me to fix the groin area that is pulling my skin. The left leg still feels tight when doing leg abductor exercises. Legs still feel weird and tight when not wearing leggings. There has been improvements though. I am much better now than where I was 6 months ago. I been doing a lot of strength training specifically sumo squats and ankle weights to help the tightness in the thighs. There was a time I could not squat all the way down. I do work out a LOT.

I’ve had 2 aerolase sessions , one stem cell injection mixed with prp session, two micro channeling , and one vbeam session (only right leg). I also bought a mini thera gun as recommended by doc. I think the vbeam is where I saw plumpness and the most improvement. BUT no plumpness in the area that needed it because there is no fat.

If only my right leg looked like my left. My left isn’t perfect either but it’s a lot better than my right. He recommended I see a vascular surgeon which I have an appointment in three weeks. I’m thinking that’s where I will be doing the sclerotherapy. One more year to go…