Should Have Done This Years Ago, Love It!!

Let me start off by saying, I’m not the type to leave reviews, or if I do, I never elaborate, just leave star rating, but in this case I MUST! When I became pregnant with my first child 14 years ago, I was very naïve and had no idea that stretch marks were a thing in life. Needless to say, I developed a lot of stretch marks on my upper and lower abdomen. I mean, they were high up my abdomen, well above my navel.
I knew I wanted to have a tummy tuck, I would always talk about it for years. I worked out a lot but there was nothing I could ever do that would make me feel confident about my abdomen. I was always self-conscious when I went swimming. I’d wear the high waist bikini bottoms, or a towel covering my complete abdomen. Finally, it was time, I started getting quotes and evaluations for an abdominoplasty. I followed people on social media, watched You Tube testimonials and saw endless before and after pics. One year, I put money down to go out of state to have my procedure done, I ended up losing that money because I cancelled. I had told them I didn’t have the recovery time off, but realistically, I was scared. Even though it was something that I deeply wanted, I was scared of recovery, scared of such a big procedure, scared of something going wrong. Instead, what I did was get liposuction in my hips, flanks and upper abdomen. I thought it would be a less invasive option and I would be just as happy with the result. …. Wrong.
Fast forward to the beginning of this year (which is two years later), I was mentally ready and knew what I was looking for. I knew my stretch marks were very high, but I didn’t want a surgeon to bend the table, I didn’t want to be in more agony (back pain) than I had to be with recovery. I had realistic expectation to get rid of the excess skin I had that I referred to as “rising dough.” I wanted to make sure pain control was covered and that a realistic timeframe was given for how long I had to be off work.
After searching through some very good surgeons, I found Dr. Rahban, and boy, I’m glad I did. My first consultation I had with him was via FaceTime due to the pandemic. Throughout the consultation he was very thorough with every piece of information. He did not rush in giving me the education I needed to make a sound decision. We had a good conversation about my concerns and he addressed each of them very well. When the consultation was over, he told me to “take in everything we discussed and think about it, make the right decision for you.” A few days later I contacted his staff, who were overwhelmingly kind throughout the process, and scheduled my surgery. Yeeee!!!!
Day of surgery I was still scared, terrified. But, I feel like it was normal looking back now, I had amazing support by the medical staff and the people caring for me post op. I just remember waking up and it being time to change and go home. I found out later, Dr. Rahban had found a lot of scar tissue from the liposuction I had before. Even though it was just the upper abdomen that had been treated with lipo, the scar tissue was throughout the abdomen, which caused my case to become very difficult. Luckily, Dr. Rahban is a very experienced plastic surgeon and was able to take care of the issue very tediously. (Which of course took extra time.)
I literally cried in the clinic when they removed the bandages to show me my abdomen for the first time. I was so overwhelmed with emotions, for once I loved what I saw in the mirror even though it was still in a healing phase. I wanted to give Dr. Rahban and his staff the biggest hug for taking such great care of me and giving me something back. He truly has no idea what he’s done for me.
Now, I am only 2 months out and able to work out again and wear whatever I want. Even though it’s winter and I really don’t have anywhere to go (stupid covid), I already feel so much more confident, even when I work out. I am still swollen, but I know it takes time to heal completely, I will trust the process.
If you get nothing else from this review, please hear these words. Dr. Rahban is an excellent surgeon, one that truly cares about his work and the patient outcomes. In my case his level of expertise was truly appreciated with the unknown scar tissue I had and he was still able to complete the procedure well. I am so happy with my results. If you are contemplating getting liposuction v. tummy tuck, don’t waste your time, money and resources. Have a consultation with Dr. Rabhan, if nothing else just to have your situation evaluated and to have your questions answered honestly. Can’t recommend him enough.
Well, that was my story…
Best of luck to y’all on your journey :)