Welcome back to my Plastic Surgery Journey for my Tummy Tuck and BBL recap of Week One postop! Feel free to catch up on the previous posts here, here, and here.
We spoke previously about my actual surgery day and what that was like. After getting back to the hotel and having Ashley, my nurse, set me up in my room the next few days are honestly kind of a blur between lots of naps, taking meds, getting up a few times a day to take some small walks, the new struggle of peeing, and just watching tv.
My surgery package came with 30 hours of a nurse’s help which was AMAZING. The nurses work for MedMiami, not the actual doctor, and the massage therapist has her own company as well. I had Ashely as my nurse for 12 hours my first day, 12 hours the second day, and then Jenna for 6 hours the third day. They made their own sort of schedule, but I found out later that if you have a schedule in mind you can request that prior to time. I was not aware of this and would suggest that you probably don’t need 12 consecutive hours the first two days since you are sleeping quite a bit. If you can also get your massages scheduled to when your nurse is there that would be ideal.
On Day 2 (the day after your surgery) you get your first lymphatic drainage massage. My package included three so I had one each on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. You will need more than three so be sure to schedule more on your own prior to surgery to be had after your first three. This is one of the things that I had only recently seen when doing my research and had never heard of before in my years of watching plastic surgery on TV so I’m really glad I knew beforehand what it entails. Lymphatic Drainage massage for lipo is VERY different than a normal Lymphatic Massage that you would get from a regular masseuse so make sure to emphasize that this is a post-surgery drainage massage when choosing your provider. If you’re not sure where to look I suggest asking your plastic surgeon their recommendations or looking on IG. Yelp was not incredibly helpful for me, but I found a ton of girls on IG (obviously do more research once you find your person).
TMI Portion:
The massage is NO JOKE. They are basically squishing out allllll of the extra fluid your body has produced as a result of the “trauma” of the lipo. If your companion is squeamish at all I suggest not having them in the room while this is happening. You will be very leaky, bloody, and gross; it is just part of the process. It’s also kinda noisy so have them watch something else in another room or listen to music. It was awesome having Ashley there while the massage was happening because I did really start to feel like I was going to faint. Think about it: you just had surgery, you’ve been in this tight, stage 1 faja for probably 24ish hours at this point, then suddenly you’re out of the faja and someone is pushing on you VIGOROUSLY and you’re expelling tons of fluids out of your lipo holes. You’re probably going to feel a little (or a lot) faint and maybe even a little nauseas. I suggest having some juice/water nearby as well as an alcohol wipe you can smell to kinda revive you. If you feel weird at all definitely tell whoever is helping you right away. The massage lasts about 20-30 minutes and then afterwards your nurse will help you take a quick shower to get all of the grossness off of you. Then you need to lay down for a bit before putting on your faja and make sure to drink a lot of water since you just lost so many fluids.
Prior to the massage your nurse will help you take off the faja and go wash it for you so it’s ready to be put back on a little after your shower post-massage. They recommend that you do not take off the faja for more than 3 hours at a time per day for several months (this varies per surgeon). My faja is a black, open-bust, shorts, bodysuit situation with lace on the legs. The straps are adjustable, but honestly unnecessary since it’s so tight it will stay up on it’s own. It has a zipper on the crotch/butt area so you can open to use the restroom and then zip it back up if you are walking around. There are Spanx shape wear bodysuits that are really similar that I’ve worn before to smooth things out, but this is like a step above on the compression level. I am still in a Phase 1 Faja for probably around 8 weeks and then I will transition to a Phase 2 Faja that is more compression, less stretch.
During phase 1 after you’ve have a few massages you can start to see your swelling go down considerably. Your doctor may also have you take Arnica pills/use Arnica gel to help with swelling/bruising. Mine provided me with this, but you can also buy on Amazon or at the drugstore over the counter. Your faja will be less tight since you are also now a bit smaller (even though you are still swollen) so you will need to add compression with foams. My doctor provided me with these as well, but again you can also purchase on Amazon. They can sometimes get a little gross so even if you are given them you may want to buy more as backup just in case since you can’t wash them. You’ll have some open wounds from where your lipo was and where the swelling is getting pushed out from so an easy solution is to just use those overnight Maxi pads to cover those areas before layering your foams and faja. My doctor has me wearing my foams (1 in front, 1 in back doubled up, 1 cut in half on each side above my hips) for 4 weeks. After the four weeks I will transition to adding a waist trainer (also provided by my doctor) for another 4 weeks.
That’s about it for week one observations. Stay tuned for week two up next!
Happy Reading!
-Savvy
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