Hi everyone - it has been a while since I posted but I see a lot of new names here! I am 4 months post-lipo and I thought I would post my results so far so the new members will know what to expect -it helped me ALOT to hear stories of people who were farther along in their healing than I. So...I hope this helps some of you. I'm a classic pear-shape with a 36C bust, but even then I looked out of proportion (always did).
I am 35, had two kids and not a terrific body below my waist! My measurements before lipo (how embarrassing) were a tight 14 jeans, 37 bust, 30 waist, 41 hips, and I am 5'4". I had hips, thighs (outer and inners) and knees done under local with sedation at the doctor's office. I was prepared to be in a lot of pain afterwards, and I was! I was a bit nauseous the day after. The day after lipo was pretty bad, but I was able to shower 2 days later. I drove a car (had to) on day 4. Took Percocet but it did not seem to cut the pain much.
As soon as my doctor said I could, I switched to Ibuprofen. I fit into pre op clothes from the time I got home but they were snug and I wore sundresses around the house. Swelling REALLY set in from day 2 but even with swelling, my measurements were down (I couldn't help I had to check). Oh...when I got home from the lipo I HAD to weigh myself to see the amount of fluids still in me, and I was up 7 lbs from the morning before lipo. The way I could tell when my swelling and water retention set in was because I was not urinating much, so I started really pushing the fluids with lemon water (a Godsend).
I am a redhead and I bruised pretty badly, but it was all gone in 2 weeks. At week 6 or 7, I started to swell again but I knew this was "normal" from this board. That slowly started to go down, then up again, and BOOM at week 13 or so, I swell AGAIN. I was a little panicked because I thought I was getting fat again, or something was wrong, even though I weighed 12 lbs. less than pre-surgery.
Then one morning about a week ago, I woke up and I can tell an enormous difference...it was so sudden. After each big swelling episode, it was followed with a dramatic shrink for some reason. My skin has not reattached, and I may need a touchup but I know I still have some residual swelling in my mid-thigh and one outer thigh has a soft lump of what feels like missed fat. I am looking forward to my skin reattaching because right now, my skin looks kind of...umm....jello-y with some slight indentations and just not smooth. No one can see this through my clothing, however. I keep telling my husband that when my skin reattaches it will look better (I hope).
My hips are very slim (lost 4.5 inches), thighs are much better (lost 4 inches in each thigh), lost 1.5 inches in my knees and they look good now. I have generally watched my eating and if I have a couple of days where I overeat, I follow that up with eating very light for a couple of days with low carb. My measurements are now 37-26-36 and I look in proportion now. I am a size 10 jeans, but I have wide hip-bones (no fat left on them) and I have a butt on me. If I had more money, I would have had the entire upper thigh done, but the cost was prohibitive (my surgery was $5k).
I am very happy thus far but I hope my skin looks better after reattachment and that my mid-inner thighs continue shrinking. I can still feel swelling and a little pain in my inner thighs when I rub them, as I can with some other areas, so I believe these areas will diminish eventually. Lipo has given me the freedom to wear anything I want to wear and for the first time that I can remember, I look proportional and I feel so good about myself. I would do it again in a heartbeat - it was well worth the $ and pain. I hope this helps some of you.
- Anonymous