Guys, can you believe it’s been one whole year since my extended tummy tuck and BBL plastic surgery?? The time has really flown by so let’s go over my observations and some of the questions I’ve gotten.
If you are confused as to what I’m talking about or need a recap, I’ve written several other posts here, here, here, and here going over my experience during the thought process all the way through the surgery up to 6 months post-op!
As a little highlight//recap I struggled with my weight literally all of my life. After failing on diet after diet I eventually was able to qualify for the VSG (vertical gastric sleeve) and underwent that procedure in October 2018. I lost over 100lbs in about a year, which felt incredible, but also left me with a lot of loose skin on my stomach. I have always had a really flat butt, so when looking into a tummy tuck I knew that a BBL needed to be included as well. I found my surgeon through Instagram out of Miami, FL and in May 2021 I spent a little over a month there for my recovery as well.
Now that you’re all caught up let’s go over some questions I get:
1.) Are you still happy with your decision?
YES 100,000,000% YES
I would totally recommend it especially if you have a crazy amount of loose skin, are young/healthy, can financially manage the cost, and can take sufficient time for rest/post-op care. The post-op care is also something to consider within the overall cost since most people just look at the surgery cost and think that’s it. You’re probably going to need around $3k saved just for post-op depending on your situation.
2.) What was the hardest part of recovery?
There are definitely post-surgery blues that I think most people get if they need to remain immobile for a length of time, doesn’t matter the type of surgery. That was surprisingly a little difficult for me, but keeping your eye on the prize, getting enough sleep, and keeping your mind busy with lots of different things instead of obsessing over like the news or friend drama can really help.
I had my surgery at the beginning of the summer so staying cool was difficult as well as the feeling of FOMO when everyone else was going to the beach or the pool and the best I could do was sit on the edge and put my feet in. I am making up for it this summer though!
3.) How often do you need to wear your faja now, or what does post-op care look like at this stage?
I try to wear my faja every night when I sleep. (As a reminder, a faja is a tight shaping garment that you wear post-op at different “strengths” and lengths of time) Occasionally I will give myself a night off, but I would say in a 30 day month I probably only take off 2-3 nights and I try not to make them consistent.
There are mixed messages at this point in recovery about how much faja time is required, but in all of my research the people with the best results are the people who in addition to working out/eating right still wear their faja really consistently. I work from home so it’s pretty easy to wake up and keep wearing it for a few hours to see if I can get around 12 hours in for a day, but I don’t worry about the actual hours as much anymore. I also like wearing it on planes since I tend to swell a bit after flights. Haven’t had an issue w/ TSA thus far! *fingers crossed* Wearing it consistently really helps still with general swelling and keeping the shape that I paid so much money and worked so hard to attain.
4.) What would you have done differently?
I probably would have chosen a different post-op lymphatic massage place back in Dallas after my month in Miami. They ended up being very unreliable, more expensive, and farther away than some other choices in my area. Other than that, I just wish I could have done it sooner! However, no one knew what was happening with Covid and I needed to be so far along post-op from my VSG in order to be eligible for my tummy tuck from my surgeon.
There were several different kinds of tummy tucks that I could have gotten, but I chose the extended tummy tuck. I had enough loose skin to potentially have done the Fleur de Lis tummy tuck that in addition to pulling the skin down and across your bikini line it would also have an incision down the center of your stomach and pull the skin in tight that way too. If I was older and wasn’t interested in wearing bikinis I would have been more interested in that, but I didn’t want a large scar down the middle of my stomach in addition to the large on I have from hip to hip. It’s something I think about occasionally, but it’s not something I ever worry about or second guess my decision on. My current scars are not bad at all and are fairly easy to cover up in a swimsuit, but I find that I don’t really care if they show anyway.
I also would have tried to get more time off for recovery. My work was very understanding that I wasn’t feeling 100% (they knew I had surgery, just not what kind) so it was a fairly easy transition back after about 2.5 weeks, but my meds just made me so sleepy that it was difficult sometimes to attend many meetings. I did not need to be on camera though which was a huge help!
5.)Are you now addicted to plastic surgery and are going to spend all of your money on it and look like a totally different person??
YES TOTALLY.
No, but that’s hilarious. I still get botox and lip filler, but I don’t think I’ll be doing any large procedures anytime soon. I do still have loose skin on my back that my surgeon told me he could combine with a breast procedure if I so choose to get one. I don’t think I am interested in that at the moment, but could see that being a possibility in the future. I also had lipo on my chin when I did the BBL/Tummy tuck and I don’t think it really did what I wanted it to do so I will probably be getting a neck/face lift when I am older as well. I think it’s safe to say I am probably 5-10 years away from anything else I would even potentially be getting.
This post was supposed to go out a few weeks ago, but had some technical difficulties with the blog. After a few meltdowns and phone calls to tech support, we are back up and running! Hope you all are having a great summer and keeping cool in this unbearable heat. Dallas is having it’s Third Hottest Summer on Record…. potentially moving to second, but we will see.
I’m potentially going to be going through some drafts that I forgot to post a long time ago so be prepared for some throwback adventures!
Happy Reading!
-Savvy