Liposuction: Info, Prices, Photos, Reviews, Q&A

1) Everything is going ok so far. I’m more sore than I thought I would be though. If I lay too long, I get really stiff and achey, and once I get up and moving around the house, it gets easier, but the doctor said I really need to rest with my legs elevated. I will say..yesterday when they took the garment off, it killed when they had to put it back on. My skin/muscles are really sore to the touch. The doctor did say the second and third days are the worst and then it gets better from there. Still lots of swelling but I can tell my ankles already look a lot slimmer! …

2) Yesterday was my first day back at work, and I felt fine all day at work, but last night I was extremely tired and achy. This morning I was stiff and hurting, but as I got moving around, I started to feel a bit better. However, my legs are really swollen today. I think it’s because I was on my feet a lot yesterday at work and wasn’t able to keep them elevated much. So I really do recommend keeping them elevated as much as you can. I go to get my stitches out in two days. I do have a bit of bruising, but nothing major. My doctor gave me arnica tablets and bromelain to help with swelling in bruising. I take the arnica orally but I also bought some oil to rub on as well. As for a massage…my legs are tender to the touch so a massage would be painful. However, I’ve read that it helps. I will ask him when I go back this week how and when I can incorporate it into the healing process…

3) I had my second post op appointment today and had my stitches taken out. My legs are still really swollen, almost to the point where they look bigger than they were before! But, again, the doctor reassured me that it will go down but it does take time. The incisions look great, you can hardly tell there was one. My doctor did mention that massaging upward towards my thighs will help with some of the fluids and swelling. I’m also still pretty sore but I am getting around better.

4) After the removed the stitches yesterday, this morning I woke up and noticed my left leg drained/oozed a lot. It had leaked through my stockings and onto my sheets…ew! The doctor said it was normal, and actually good to help with swelling. Do you know if they are actually conducting liposuction after your smart lipo? Smart lipo is just the process of “melting” the fat with a laser – then they have to actually liposuction it out. The “liposuction” portion of it is was makes you really sore, i.e., the jabbing of the cannula. If you are having the suction portion, I would say the third day is probably going to be the worst for you as far as being sore. My doc explaining it like being sore from working out, i.e., it’s always worse on the 2nd or 3rd day.

Lipoplasty Of Ankles By Dr. Shahram Salemy, MD, FACS, Seattle Plastic Surgeon

5)The sensation is still numb and tingling. It has maybe gotten a little better, but I really hate when something touches the back of my leg where it’s sensitive b/c I get that weird tingling feeling. In my experience, b/c I’ve had breast implants, it takes a while for the feeling to go away – especially around the incision sites. It’s essentially severed nerves that take a long time to repair themselves and regenerate. With regards to my implants, I would say it took about a year for it to completely go away. :\ As for swelling, it definitely got worse before it got better. At the end of the day, I was pretty discouraged b/c I felt my legs looked bigger than what they were before. This week I’ve seen some improvement and my legs don’t “feel” swollen, i.e., that heavy achy feeling. I think it takes about 3-4 weeks though before the swelling goes down little by little. Compression garments are a pain, but they help a lot. My doctor has insisted that I wear them 4-6 weeks and then after that, just at nights for up to four months. I know, yikes, but he swears that it makes a huge difference to eliminate ALL swelling faster.

6) four weeks and still swelling and that tingling feeling. I had really bad swelling in my feet to…it was pretty funny looking. I also bought some new stockings too that were a little lighter (use ameswalker.com – they are cheap!)

7) Mine were itching severely and even started to get like a little rash with lots of red bumbs on my legs. I even starting mixing in hydrocortisone with my lotion to help. When I went back for my 4wk post-op appointment I showed my doctor and he said that it definitely wasn’t normal. He said it was normal to get dry and itchy but not to break out like I was. We concluded that I was probably allergic to something in the compression garments. They were nice enough to replace them with a brand that don’t have some sort of “coating” on them. I will say that it has helped and the itching was gotten better. I just started exercising again and am feeling good. The swelling has definitely gone down but still not 100%. I still have that numb feeling on my legs though and it’s sore around the incision sites. I plan on taking some better pictures this week. Getting better day by day though!

8) So I’m now almost six weeks post op! I’m still wearing my garments all day long and at night as well. My doctor really wants me to wear them about eight weeks. Everything is feeling better finally. My legs are no longer sore, but they are still numb and sensitive to touch. My biggest issue is I’m still swollen. Sometimes it doesn’t even look like I’ve changed at all. I was just about to take some more pictures, but really, they don’t look any different. I would have thought they’d look somewhat better now, but they really don’t. My calves and knees I can see the most improvement, but to me, my ankles still look really thick. I’m prayyyying this is just swelling and that I didn’t do this for nothing. Also, I’ve noticed in the past week or so that my incision sites are dents in my skin now. I’m realllly hoping that goes away too!

9) I’m in the same position I was about two months ago. They look great in the morning, but by the end of the day they are still really swollen. I had my six week post-op back in October and we re-took pictures and there was no improvement to be seen except for in my knees. The nurse and doctor both said I’m still really swollen and probably will be till about March (6 mos. post-op). So my next appt is in March and I’ll have my final pictures done then. I do have pretty bad “holes” where the incision sites are that the doctor will have to excise with just a simple procedure. He said my skin tone (olive) is a worse for scarring. I’ve also noticed that my diet has had a lot to do with my swelling, i.e., salt vs. water intake, so I’ve adjusted it accordingly and have seem some decreased swelling. Definitely, when I exercise my legs swell a lot so I still wear the compression garments when I run. I will say though, even with the swelling, I have much more room in the boots that I wore last year, so there has been improvements! I would say I’ve probably lost around 2-3 inches of circumference on my calves. Again, the swelling tends to subside in my ankles so they still look “unshapely.” I actually went to Dr. Pratt here in Charlotte, NC. He’s great and I would highly recommend him. My knees were the less painful in the recovery process so I’m sure you’ll be ok

10) I’m having swelling around my ankles at the end of the day and numbness. I just got back from vacation and did a lot of sightseeing and walking and by the end of the day my ankles were soooo swollen and even sore to the touch.
The incisions are healing well and it turns out that I didn’t need to have the scar incised, as it healed nicely. I have noticed that when I swell though that you can see the wounds’ indentations in the back of my calves. I’m hoping that will correct itself as well. I did have my six months post ops pictures done but you really couldn’t tell a big difference b/c I had them done at the end of the day so I was swollen. I can tell a difference though, especially in the morning. I’ve lost an inch in my ankles and two inches in my calves 🙂 I never measured my knees but that is where I can tell the biggest difference.

11) I’m six months post op now and I’m finally starting to see the swelling go down and see my legs much slimmer now. Yes, so far I would definitely say it’s worth it. I’ve lost an inch in my ankles and two inches in my calves. I’m still swelling at the end of the day but they do look and feel much better. I wish I would have had it done sooner!

Second Review

Ankles Lipo With Doctor George Lefkovits, MD – New York Plastic Surgeon

1) Today is Post-op Day 4 for me and it’s getting easier to move around. I do have more swelling today I think because of being so active yesterday with my dinner party I attended. But I am trying to keep things low-key today. Overall, I think I am doing really well. The day after I felt like I had done 200 toe-lifts! haha but I know it will be all worth it. As, for my ankles, they are sore and swollen but I mainly feel my calf muscles being the tight/sore ones at the moment. I feel my ankles more when I try to walk up a slight incline, it’s hard to bend them too much because of the swelling. The doctor was able to go pretty low on my ankles, where the fat was just above the joint. He also sculpted the back side around my achilles, which I am sure as the healing progresses, that area might be really sore as well…

2) Yeah I wasn’t sure how long the numb/tingling is around but figured it was for quite some time since it is nerve damage repairing itself. That is good to know it could be up to a year for the feeling to totally come back.
The swelling is what is soooo annoying to me right now because it seems to be mostly in my feet and it’s hard to wear all of my shoes outside of flipflops and a canvas pair mary jane type shoes. I also have a lot of heat in my legs right now which is also really annoying. I have to run my legs under cold water or use cold compresses to keep them from being so hot. My doc told me 6 – 8 weeks for pretty much most the swelling to go away. I am still wearing my garments but only for 12 hrs a day and that ends tomorrow. They told they didn’t want me to wear the heavy duty compression garments after 10 days but to go to a lighter compression garment and wear for 12 hours if necessary. So I’ve ordered some light compression panty hose to wear for a few more weeks.

3) I know our procedure is not as common in the body contouring world as other areas. I am really happy there are surgeons that have started performing it more and more to help those of us where genetics were not kind.
For me, the actual painful parts of this recovery have been first thing in the morning. I think from sleeping with my legs elevated and not moving much, when I first put my legs down on the floor, the blood running back down to my feet, makes them intensely throb for about a minute or two and then I have to slowly stand and stay there for another minute or two to let my muscles relax before walking. And this feels like they are ripping. After a few steps everything loosens up and feels fine.

4) I have a small low grade hive on my left inner part of my leg above the ankl. It doesn’t itch but it’s red and hot. I’ve tried hydrocortisone and Benedryl cream, nothing really makes it go completely away other than cold water. My doctor said to keep an eye on it and to let him know in a week how it’s doing. I hope it goes away soon.
Great news about the swelling, I think this morning was the first time I saw my right outside ankle bone! Haha, funny how the small little things are so exciting during recovry. I think shaving my legs is the strangest feeling while the legs are still numb, just feels so weird.
My recovery is going well. This week I have been able to walk the best and each day more swelling leaves my feet so they are not so uncomfortable. I am most excited in the morning because I have the least amount of swelling and it’s a glimpse of what my results will look like.

5) My doctor told me the major swelling will last for 6 – 8 weeks maybe even longer, depending on the individual. I am not wearing my garments so much but I still sleep with my legs elevated. I am still swollen by the end of the day but not nearly as much as I was before. I think my legs look the best in the morning. I used Arnica cream along with the tablets a lot and that seemed to help with swelling for me. I still swell but it seems to help move it for me. As for the scars, I have 8 small ones and about 3 of them indented. I think that is from swelling while the scar is trying to heal. I am using Mederma gel on them as well as Palmer’s Skin Therapy oil on my legs/scars.

6) I definitely notice when I eat foods high in salt, I swell a ton! I can still see the incisions on my ankles, they are really dark still. I keep using maderma so I hope that works.
I am just a few weeks away from my 6mth post op date and I am sooo happy with my results but I think I will be taking a little longer to heal than 6 mths.
I still have some slight swelling around the lower parts to my ankles and they are still numb. I also have some discoloring on the inside of left calf/ankle, I think that is where I had a few hives so not sure if these will go away but hopefully they do.

7) I am at my 1.5 year mark as well and I couldn’t be happier with my results. I look at old pictures of my “old legs” and I think….OMG were those really my legs?!?!?! I agree, the best is advice is to be very patient. I still have some swelling at the end of the day but I had swelling in my legs pre-surgery; it’s not as bad now but there is still some. I also still have a spot on the back of my ankle that does not have all the skin sensation. It was definitely all very worth it and I’d do it again 100 times for what it’s given me.

Others Reviews

– I had Smart Lipo done on my entire circumference of my thighs and they were swollen for a LONG time. I’m actually having Smart Lipo done on my knees in a few weeks with the local anesthesia (last time I had general). I’m actually pretty nervous that I’m going to feel him doing the procedure.

– It has been one month since my knee, calf and ankle lipo. My calves where a gigantic 17 inches. They r defiantly smaller but not enough to get boots on. The surgery was definitely easier than I expected….
2) Well worth it. The surgery itself was a breeze. Felt like I had ran a marathon for 2 days. I am almost 2 months post op and still can’t get my boots on. They were 17 inches r down a couple of inches my ankles and knees look great. When I go back in Sept going to ask if she can take more off the thickest part of my leg. They say be patient but it is hard. Would not hesitate to have it done again.