Worst PS and Recovery

Hi!  I had a face lift 9 months ago,  I feel and look great (IMHO!) but I was talking to my sister last weekend and she said I told her that it was the most painful thing I had ever done.  I have absolutely no recollection of telling her that but I was pretty out of it the first day!  If you asked me now I would have said nothing to it!

Anyway, my next PS will be LBL (not scheduled yet).  I understand that that one is pretty painful since they cut a lot of muscle.  I was wondering...

What was your 'worst' PS?  I mean in terms of pain, length of recovery time, what you could or could not do right after it,...

I appreciate the info!

Hi Fran,

I am 6 weeks post op LBL/BL.  I didn't have muscle cut, rather tightened.  It's like getting trussed!  You have to walk hunched over for a few days, but you gradually upright yourself without really realizing it. The pain from the abs tightening is a bit more than being sore from an overly zealous workout.  My worst pain was from the tuminescent lipo.  Dr. Lickstein said that lasts much longer, and he's right.  I still have a hard area on my left side near my pelvic bone that is loosening up.  It's best to massage the areas to eliminate the hardened tissue.  I had my drains in an unusually long time.  The groin drains came out in a week - no problem.  The thigh drains hung in there.  The right was removed at 4 weeks; the left was removed three days later only due to infection.  It was still putting out 40-55 ml per day. This is not the norm.  My doc's RN said she doesn't recall anyone ever having drains that long.  But then, my body holds on to Everything!  That's why I needed a lap band to lose weight and PS to shed excess skin.  The BL was completely uneventful.  In fact, my left breast never hurt, and the right only for the first three days or so.  I think I still have a thigh lift and a neck/eye lift in my future over the next couple of years, God and the economy willing.

Best wishes for your future LBL, and please feel free to ask me any questions.  I'm happy to help if I can.

Terri

I can't believe it!  Dr. Lickstein did my facelift and he's who I was going to for the LBL!  Small world!

What is tuminescent lipo?  Is that the 'laser' lipo?  I haven't talked to him about it since my facelift but I believe he described it as an all around cut where he pulls your abdomin up and your back down.  He also does something with the thighs but I don't think it's the thigh job (whatever that's called).  Is that what you had?  I don't think I need a BL but I absolutely need some filler!  (I had BR years ago some they are still up there - just flat now!)

How long did you take off work?  I know someone who had Cohen do hers and she was back to work in a week.  She said it was too short a time, though.

Dr. Lickstein is wonderful, isn't he?  My husband and I think the world of him.  You're almost right about the LBL.  He makes two circumferential incisions and pulls the lower half up and the upper half down to meet.  My belly button was an absolute mess from the weight loss and scar tissue from my lap gallbladder removal.  I don't even recognize it now.  I keep feeling like I'm looking at someone else's midsection, someone who was never obese, then saggy.  The LBL addresses the back and outside of the thighs simply by pulling up all the sagging skin.  My outer thighs were all droopy and wriinkly...gone!  I am going to need to have something done with the inner, upper thighs, a mini thigh lift, I guess.  I'm not interested in the medial lift with the vertical scars, although I probably need it.  Just haven't been able to  wrap my head around visible scars.
Tuminescent lipo is where they inject fluid with the cannula to first loosen (melt) the fat to make it easier to remove and more uniform removal.  It does leave more fluid in you to resorb, but you heal more uniformly, less chance of bumpiness, etc. 

I am lucky in that our office is on our property (my husband is an architect) and he was able to take care of my and work wirelessly.  I didn't do much for the first two weeks, then I had my husband bring me my laptop and things I needed from the office to work at the house.  I started walking on the treadmill at three weeks and was cleared to return to my workouts, as tolerated, at six weeks.  He just said, listen to your body.  If it hurts, don't do it.  Drop your weights and reps back accordingly.  The recumbent bike just about killed me the first couple of minutes!  I still had my thigh drains in at 4 weeks, but I know of plenty of people who went back to work with them in.  My biggest thing was being upright all day leading to a lot of back swelling.  I am still dealing with that and can expect it for months.  Most days the swelling isn't too bad, but my husband has been doing lymphatic massage on my back and lower abdomen before we go to bed.  It really helps move the fluid.  The amount and length of swelling is really dependent on your own body.  Some people swell for months, some only weeks.  Me, my body likes to hold on to everything it can, so I'm prepared for the long haul.

I can't say enough about Dr. Lickstein and staff, especially Lena, one of his RNs.  My incision is beautiful, not a bump or a pucker, nothing ever opened up, which can be somewhat common in the back area for a body lift.  He worked on marking me up for about 40 minutes to get me just right, not too loose, not too tight.  I'm sure if you have him do an LBL, you will be so very pleased.

Terri

My worst in terms of pain was my MTL. After that one I seriously wondered what had I done. I had to be on my pain meds every 4 hours and woke up at night to take them as well. After about 4-5 days the worst was over. I was back to work after 10 days and normal activity at 3 weeks.

My LBL was easier. I didn't have any pain unless I was throwing up or coughing so I tried to avoid doing that as much as possible. Other than the drain being painful after being in for 6 weeks I had very litte pain w/ the LBL. I would just wear down quickly w/ a lot of activity. I was up and walking my neighborhood in the first week & at the gym on the treadmill @ 3 weeks.

That's been my experience.
Sonya

Hi Sonya,

I wonder if you would mind sharing with me about your MTL.  I am contemplating having one in the fall, and would like to know what to expect as far as where the doc cut, how much he removed, drains, how the incision healed and scar status.  I haven't had much luck finding before and after photos on surgeon's websites.

Thanks for whatever you are willing to share.

Terri

I've always had thunder thighs and after losing weight the skin there was horrible and they prevented me from getting into smaller pants. There are 2 kinds, a small lift or the full lift. I went w/ the full lift b/c I had so much that needed to be removed. The small lift they just do the incision around the groin area and pull everything up. The full lift they do the groin cut but also extend it down to the knee.

The pain from the MTL was probably the worst I've experienced in all my PS journey. However it did go away after 4-5 days to be tolerable and was able to resume normal activity at 3 weeks.

I have pictures on my profile of my thighs and scars at about 3 months post-op. You can see the before in the other pics I have on there of pre & post op LBL. You do need to be a friend to see them so if you aren't already you can send me a request.

Feel free to ask me any other questions you may have about the MTL. I'm completely thrilled w/ the results. I went from a size 10 to a size 6 after the MTL. Just shows how much they were hindering me in getting into smaller sizes after my LBL.

Thanks so much!  I am sending you a friend request.  I think I'm going to be in the same position.  My LBL made my waist and hips really small but those thunder thighs are snubbing their jiggly saddlebags at me.

Terri

Hi, Sonya!

What's an MTL?  I wonder if I need one of those...

edited because I can't type or spell!

MTL is a medial thigh lift.