Lip Lift & More - Dr. Sigler - Tijuana

As some of you know, I was scheduled to have a rhino with Dr. Grigoryants in Glendale, CA in March. Due to life circumstances I decided to go another route for now and get some work done with Dr. Sigler. I loved her work on real self, so I contacted her for an online consultation. She answered all my (many) questions and I always felt we were on the same page. I booked my procedure shortly after, flew to Tijuana and had a wonderful experience. I am only 4 days into recovery but overall I've experienced very little pain and a LOT of swelling and bruising (as expected).

Hello friends.

Procedures:

I had a bullhorn skin only lip lift, 5mm sliced off my philtrum, with the incision going into my nose (rather than cut straight across).

I also had chin/jawline liposuction and fat transfer to my lower face and anterior cheek. The fat was taken from just below my belly button (yay goodbye extra pooch fat!!!)

Initially it was supposed to be local anesthesia with sedation, but Dr. Siglers anesthesiologist explained to me how painful chin lipo can be (as one of the reasons she suggested) I would be more comfortable with general anesthesia. I was against this because I dabble in holistic medicine (with a science medical background) and read somewhere about the long term effects of anesthesia and I felt like I hadn't drawn a satisfactory conclusion and didn't want to risk it. I felt a bit like a bad/annoying patient for asking her more questions. She tried explaining things and brought in a nurse to help translate so there wouldn't be any misunderstandings (my Spanish is conversational at best). I asked what the long term effects of general anesthesia were and they said none which made me even more uncomfortable because I'm in the medical field and that just is silly...everything has side effects. So I just asked if we can do it without general and she hesitated but agreed, mumbled something about propofol and they took me off into surgery. I kept saying things like I have a high pain tolerance and I'll be fine blah blah blah. In the surgery room she asked me something about my career aaand WHITEOUT !! Next thing I know, I was being shaken awake by a nurse telling me the surgery is over. Wow. I've never been so amazed and grateful in a hospital setting. I felt no pain, I was crying with happiness after the procedure and apparently I became fluent in Spanish and was telling Dr. Sigler how much I appreciate her work with the children (cleft lip etc). I'm still not sure what type of anesthesia was used on me, but honestly I think this is an example of a really good call by the anesthesiologist and it makes me trust Dr. Sigler's team even more. Despite my alleged high pain tolerance, I looked at some surgical videos on YouTube about the procedures I had done and I am *so* glad I was out cold. So, for anyone who is a little hesitant to do general anesthesia, I was too, and I hope this experience gives you an idea of what it's like. Although I felt no nausea or weakness or dizziness or anything, so maybe she did keep her word, but honestly whatever magic she did was perfect.

Pain:

What pain? Maybe a little pulling and pressure and a sense of longing for family/friends since I traveled alone, but I meditated and I was fine. They gave me a couple pills for pain the first 12 hours and that's it. You get a prescription for pain meds after but I was fine without anything after the first 12 hours.

Accommodation:

I stayed overnight at the clinic in Tijuana and received very good care by the night shift doc and the nursing staff.

The bed was comfortable, there was a flatscreen tv for those who like to watch, a private bathroom, plenty of space and a nice fluffy couch for your loved one to hang out on if you've got company.

I brought raw fruits and veggies with me from home because I'm familiar with hospital food and I wanted to feed my body the best nutrients after surgery. I should have anticipated the difficulty moving my mouth and jaw though so dates and an apple probably wasn't the best choice (duh). I advise you have soft/liquid food available post op.

This was $150 for me. I decided to do this rather than stay at a hotel for safety (both medical and otherwise). I would recommend this, and it also allowed Dr. Sigler to easily pop by the morning after to check up on me. She's so sweet.

Travel:

I flew into San Diego the day before my surgery and stayed at Days Inn near Seaworld. Really nice, safe. $83. I took an uber from the airport for $9 and I tipped him $5 because he told me all about Tijuana and how he grew up there and how it's not as bad as people say it is, you just have to use common sense like anywhere else. He recommended food from food carts (damn maybe next time).

The day of surgery I was picked up at the hotel by a driver affiliated with Dr. Sigler's clinic. Super kind and he arrived 15 min early. It took about 45 min to drive to Dr. Sigler's clinic, absolutely no hold up at the border. He's $70 per trip, I tipped $10.

The same driver took be to San Diego airport the day after surgery. Actually he took me to the pharmacy first to pick up my prescriptions and helped me translate a few things. Very sweet man. Make sure to ask Dr. Sigler for a medical note which will have this guys license plate number on it so you can use the medical lane when driving back across the border. Again, no holdup whatsoever.

The Flight:

Dr. Sigler recommended waiting at least 24 hours after surgery to fly, so I flew at 25 hrs. I felt no discomfort except feeling like this compression bandage was pressing my inflated cheeks together while choking me ever so slightly. I kept trying to adjust it to avoid it pressing too tightly on the fat transfer, I was afraid about interfering with blood flow and messing up graft viability. It's not the most comfortable little accessory but you get used to it. I just keep envisioning my slender tight neckline and all of a sudden it's not so bad. I'm to wear this nonstop for a month.

Also I knew I looked like some kind of mutant hamster freak and would get stares at the airport but alas I put some makeup on, steri strips across the stitches and a poncho and made it through just fine. Stay hydrated on the plane, though, and make sure to keep your wound and lips moist.

When I got back to Canada the immigration officer gave me a strange look, half disgusted half concerned and asked what I was doing in San Diego. I said competitive sporting event to be funny. He checked me out carefully, hesitated and mumbled "welcome home", probably decided not to ask anymore questions in case I was contagious. Okay I didn't look that bad, but after traveling 6 hours the day after surgery I felt goopy.

I've been getting a lot of very sweet comments from the community! Thank you so much. Some of you are wondering why I got any work done at all, so I would love to share my thoughts with you.

When it comes to plastic surgery, the "why" varies for us all and can be a touchy subject or at least challenging to explain, or even understand ourselves.

In a nutshell, I've always been quite nerdy and tomboyish and overall happy with my appearance. Recently, however, I have reached a point in my life where I want to make small changes. I also just reached a big milestone in my education and wished to treat myself! I wanted to add femininity and sensuality to my existing features, as well as invest in my future appearance.

While being obsessed about the esthetic, artistic and medical aspect of plastic surgery, I never really seriously considered having any work done on my face until the last couple of years. I've lost approximately 20lb and my journey continues. I've also experienced a significant chunk of school and personal stress, and I watched as my face changed, almost overnight. I've always liked my face and its plump nature, and I even liked my nose. I tried some fillers in attempt to restore my face and they helped for a while but I didn't feel I looked like myself.

Over time, as my body was getting more toned, I was losing fat on my face. I think this projected my nose, thinned out my lips, and distorted my face in a premature aging sort of way.

I began getting fillers in my lips and while it added volume, it failed to restore youth or my former appearance. One dude said my lips "absorbed" the filler, another said a bit of Botox will turn the lip outward and correct things. Neither of these philosophies served me and I turned to the lip lift! It's permanent, its natural, and cost effective. Even if I want fuller lips in future, the fillers will look a lot better now that the anatomy of my top lip is fixed. Yay!

The fat transfer decision is likely obvious to you by now - I lost much of my youthful plumpiness with fat loss and stress, and I felt I was aging too quickly for someone in her late 20s. I began enjoying working out regularly and found this extremely beneficial for my body and soul. However, there was always an anxious voice at the back of my mind wondering if my face will continue to change for the worse. I even considered putting the weight back on to preserve my facial features. I didn't like this mindset and didn't want it to set me back in terms of my overall health.

So I'm investing in my appearance to attain momentary confidence but also to age gracefully and feel confident about my continued fitness journey. What I love about fat transfer is its permanence (once the fat establishes blood supply), cost effectiveness, natural appearance, autologous nature (it's my fat cells I grew them myself!), the skin benefits, and its ability to add substantial volume (many syringes worth of filler.)

Granted its predictability may be one limitation, though the benefits for me outweigh the risks of treatment failure. So far! I trust in Dr. Sigler's skill and esthetic sense and I am confident once the swelling goes down I'll love my results.

What else! The chin/neck lipo. This is another one of those little procedures that can make a big difference. I wanted to achieve a classy, feminine profile without invasive surgery. I was originally planning a rhinoplasty to achieve this but it is too expensive for my current life circumstance (hello student loans, why isn't education free in North America??). As I was losing weight I realized the fat and skin on my chin/jawline wanted to stick around, and looking at my beautiful mother it seems like it's somewhat hereditary as well, so again, I wanted to be proactive and invest for my 40-50 year old self. Maybe I just saved myself a facelift? Hey!

If you are considering fat transfer, I really love Dr. Lam's videos/lectures on YouTube about fat transfer. He explains things very well including why a lot of the problem with aging is volume loss rather than gravity, and how fat transfer is much preferred in many cases to a facelift or any "lifting/tightening" procedure. I enjoy his representations and feel like his logic is sound.