Mom of 6- not enough skin for a tummy tuck

I planned on having a tummy tuck for over 10 years. I was just waiting for a stage in life when I could handle the awful recovery. I finally decided to get some consultations about it and was shocked to find out that despite my 6 pregnancies, I didn’t have enough skin for a full tummy tuck. I also have no stretch marks to remove, so tummy tuck seemed overkill.
I found a doctor who performed tumescent liposuction followed by a skin shrinking laser treatment. He agreed that I shouldn’t have a tummy tuck, and felt he could fix me up with his treatment. I debated doing it, but after seeing a picture of myself in a swimsuit, I immediately booked the procedure. The procedure was pretty easy. I was in the office for 3.5 hours total. Awake the whole time. He had me stand up toward the end and made sure the contouring was good both laying down and standing up. I admittedly felt the stitches, which was annoying, but knowing it was almost over I decided to just tough it out. That was my only pain. He did lipo of my entire abdomen, flanks, and from the bra line down on my back. I ended up with 8 “adits” which are tiny punctures instead of incisions. He left the lowest one open to drain. The girls put me in a diaper, ew, glued a foam slab onto my belly, compression garments, and back brace on my front. He said sometimes people can get a crease in the front when they bend, so the back brace is for the first week. The first night was tough. I had to double up on meds to fall asleep. The pain has been fine since then, just deep soreness. Sleep, in general, has been hard and uncomfortable. I am very very swollen, I definitely looked better on day 2 than day 10. But I decided to document my day 10 photos with my before’s for this post. I found these posts so helpful as I investigated these procedures. On day 10 I am swollen, sore, and very lumpy. Also still somewhat numb. My adits are scabbed over. I do feel each day gets better and better. Bruising wasn’t really something I experienced at all. In the picture, you’ll notice really wrinkly skin from the compression garment.

I finally took updated pics. They don’t look much better. I feel pretty good. No more pain, and the feeling is coming back. I’m still itchy, but I found a cream that is unbelievable at stopping the itch. I no longer wear the faja, and I sleep a million times better without it.

It’s definitely improving visually, but it is slow. Here’s hoping it’s all smoothed out by 6 months. I still have spots that are hard the create the lumpy look. My doc says it will get better, and I don’t see him again until my 6 month appt.

I did get 3 radio frequency treatments included, and they should speed up the healing and tightening.

I just had my first treatment yesterday, and I feel like it was really helpful. They call is thermacell, but idk what it is. Some kind of ultrasound thing. I think it helped some of those pockets of swelling. I still have some lumps, but better all the time. In clothes, I feel amazing. Not quite there in a swimsuit yet.