My Experience with Smart Lipo & More

Here are my before and after pictures from 3 weeks after the procedure.  Not a whole lot of change in the last two weeks.  Just like the first time.  All the major changes happen in the first two days.  If I would have thought about it, I could have pulled my belly button apart to ensure it looked more normal.  The skin would have adhered accordingly, but instead, I'm stuck with this one.  But I'm ok with it :) I slept without the garment on for the first time last night.  It was nice.  I'm still wearing it during the day while I'm at work as I do a lot of sitting.  I'm still really happy with my decision to buy maternity pants.  I think they've really helped with the smooth healing of the skin.

So, I'm almost three weeks out since my procedure.  I'm still having weird pains.  I guess it's just all part of the healing process.  It's funny how it's only been 6 months since my first procedure and I've already forgotten how I felt 3-4 weeks after getting the procedure done. My skin has retracted so much that my stretch marks have caused my skin to look crinkly.  You can see what I'm talking about in the picture below. This was taken right after I woke up too - if you're tummy has a time when it looks it's best, that would certainly be it! It upsets me a little bit.  I knew it was a possibility but it looked so good after the first week I was really hopeful that it wasn't going to happen.  But, the skin does continue to tighten for up to three months so I guess my optimism was a little premature. The massage therapist thinks that it could potentially get better once the hardening and softening of the skin has gone through it's cyc...

Just a random comment that I wanted to share with those considering Smart/Laser Lipo.  You may think that having the fat sucked out of you would certainly cause you to weigh less.  That's what I expected anyway.  This is not, however, true.  You don't lose any weight on the scale due to the procedure.  You will certainly lose inches.  I tell you this so that you do not go into this with false hope or expectations.

I went again today for another lymphatic drainage massage.  The massage therapist told me that I had a lot of fluid congestion in my hips.  I also have a crease right above my pubic area that just seems to be where my skin naturally folds when I sit down.  It's so deep that when I lay flat all night long, it's still hasn't worked itself back to normal by the next morning.  She spent a lot of time cupping that area, drawing the fluid to the top to pull out the skin. Today's appointment was pretty painful, I'm not going to lie.  But it's also very obvious that I still have a lot of swelling and fluid in the tissue.  It's been two weeks since I had the appointment.  It usually takes about 3-4 weeks for the swelling and fluid to finally dissipate.  One interesting thing that she told me was that our skin will take on the shape of things.  This is why it's important for us to wear a variety of clothing, particularly panties.  If you alway...

I cannot tell you how happy I am that I decided not to have a tummy tuck and choose the smart lipo option first.  This picture alone should persuade anyone who has lost weight and is debating on which route to choose that it's not worth the risk with the tummy tuck or having that scar when you can spend less money and less time recovering to have smart lipo done.

As promised, here are more before and after pictures! So far, I'm extremely happy with the results!  It was well worth the pain and the $2,000 to help resolve some of the lingering issues from the first procedure.  One thing that I didn't realize the first time is that because this is an out patient procedure, the doctor is only allowed by law to remove a certain amount.  Like I said before, I had 4 liters removed during the first procedure.  As there are only 4 one liter contains on the machine, my guess would be that is the legal limit.  During my second round, I had two and a half liters removed.  There was enough wiggle room for the doctor to fine tune the areas that needed it, whereas before, she was limited to what she could do.

Well, the doctor is very pleased with my progress.  I pointed out two areas that concern me.  They are a little more puffy than other areas and to the touch, they don't seem to be as attached as much as the rest of my skin feels.  The doctor wanted to make sure that I did not have a seroma, essentailly, a pocket of fluid under the skin.  So again, she stuck me with a very large needle to try and get out any fluid that may be lingering under the skin.  There was next to none, which she said was good.  I was holding gauze on the needle insertion point on my left side while she did the right and you could tell just from putting pressure on it for a short while, there was still a lot of swelling. There is some crinking of the skin under my stretch marks on both sides of my belly button.  I knew that this could happen.  I guess, considering how many stretch marks I have on my belly, I should be grateful that this is as bad as it is. I'll go back i...