Plastic Surgery Away From Home

Thanks! I somehow missed your hyperlink in the last post. I generally scar great, so the look of his scars (I've seen other folks who have been nice enough to share as well) are part of the reason I'm pursuing things with him!

You look incredible! I'm very encouraged by your breasts (lol, the things we say after WLS). Dr. M assures me he can make a great shape if I'm ok with their size, but I have no idea how since mine are so deflated. I'm currently a 34DD though and fine with my size.

LOL I know! I have never shared pics like that on FB for example...but somehow I feel like other WLS people can share in all the good, bad and ugly. I was a 34DDD before surgery, but OMG deflated like crazy. I mean, like crazy. Here is my immediate before and after pic, so you can see how droopy I was. Now I am a 34C, a small C but it fits my frame. And I don't have to worry about having implants replaced in 10 years. And 10 years after that. And after that. He made them such a great shape and also symmetrical, which they most definitely were not before surgery. I literally bow down to his work. He is very OCD about his incisions and his stitching which pays off well!

P.S. I haven't looked at this pic in at least a year and I just marvel at how much he could improve my loose skin with his body contouring!

Wow! Yes, major differences! Sounds like I'll maybe be a large B? That would be exciting for me, actually. I am very "ruler shaped" now (as my friends say) and have very little hips, so I don't want to be large on top anymore and it doesn't match my bottom. I think my hips measure at 37" with all my apron skin. I used to be a 46H and lord, I'm glad that's gone.

LOL at "ruler shaped"! I think one of the weirdest things was when I was fretting with Dr. Michaels about whether a natural C would be big enough...having been a DDDDDD previously ha ha. He said, "well I think it will be fine for you since you have an athletic shape". I was like, "WHAAAAAAAAA?" I mean, I still haven't always wrapped my head around not being super morbidly obese so hearing from someone who had never known me at 350 lbs that I had an athletic build was beyond weird. But I am super happy with my breasts, and also my butt lol. He uses your own tissue and fat to plump up the booty so you're not just flat as a board and it's one of my favorite parts now!

Yes, more than one person has referred to me as "slender" lately. I seriously have boggled at them. Me? Slender? I used to call myself an inverted triangle, but we all knew I was just...round. So to go from that to slender...hahahaha.

I did a photo/phone consult with Dr Michaels first. I wasn't sure how effective it would be, but it was super. I took photos (no head), and emailed them so he could see what reality looked like. It was at 5pm, which fit my work schedule. We talked about what really bothered me the most and what results could realistically be achieved. It gave us both time to think about the options, so when we met a few weeks later, we were able to agree on a plan and schedule a date. I had time to do the thinking. I suggest that. I rushed into facial plastic surgery, even though I didn't think I was rushing (1-2 months from init consult to surgery). For the body work it was 6 months from my init consult (with another dr), but it gets you thinking about what and why something is bothering you.

My phase 2 starts tomorrow. I only live 2-3 hours away, so I stay in the DC area with family the night before and the night after surgery and someone takes me home a day or 2 later. I took the Greyhound bus down, so that my cousin only has to get me home, not me and my car.

As I recall, When NYMom had it done, she and a friend stayed in a hotel the night before and the night after surgery. Then drove home.

Best wishes with this part of your journey.

Thank you, this is helpful! Can you say why you think you rushed into facial surgery (and which surgery?).

Hi Erin, i'm doing talk to text on my phone because of shoulder surgery in a brace, so if there's awkward grammar or typos please excuse them. Also the phone makes it difficult to read all your back-and-forth with Gwen, but I'm sure she gave you some good info.

So yes I live on Long Island, and travel to Dr. Michaels in Rockville Maryland, surgery at Sibley Hospital. He is worth the trip hands-down. On a good day I could drive to Rockville and five hours, but that was like on the wings of angels LOL. I live on Long Island, so the hardest part about getting off Long Island is you have to go through New York City. So they were sometimes it took me seven hours each way. So really not that different than coming from upstate New York.

I also did a phone consult first, actually the first time I met him in person I had already booked him. I did five plastic surgery consults, and the ones on Long Island were too expensive as well as Dr. Katzen in California was very expensive. So it was actually cheaper surgery wise to go to DC, which definitely made up for some of the travel expenses.

You can see from my signature which surgeries I had and when. My first surgery I planned on staying down there and stayed in a Hampton Inn in Gaithersburg. I had surgery on Monday and had my follow-up visit with him the next Tuesday so what is that nine days. Obviously arrive Sunday night, because had to be at the hospital at 5:30 AM.

Even though when I usually went for office visits I stayed at the even hotel which is five minutes from his office. But for surgery I stayed at the Hampton Inn had breakfast so we didn't have to go looking for food, Plus they had a fridge and a microwave and a large bathroom handicapped accessible etc. that just made life easier. I actually went and scouted out the rooms prior to surgery when I was down for my pre-op visit. Which hotel I stayed in for office visit sometime varied just because prices of hotels in those DC vary widely depending on what's going on that week in the area.

For my other two surgeries, I did not stay down long term, stayed two days and then had an office visit with him before leaving. Does involve return visits for follow ups. I'm a driver so that didn't bother me a bit.

My one-month follow-up for my LBL was also my preop for my arms and breasts. With my leg surgery I ended up using a PCP they recommended down there for my preop testing, and that honestly worked out much easier. And he was great.

Doing surgery long distance you need a surgeon who is dedicated and a good communicator. And Dr. Michaels is absolutely both of those. He always took the time to respond to my questions. And if I sent them an email he was always apologizing if it's OK I'm what he considered A long time to respond even if it hasn't really been that long.

I don't share my before-and-after pics on the Internet, at least the surgical ones. But if you want to PM your cell phone I will share some. You can also go on Instagram and see some of my before-and-after's, CYNDYM222. A few of my surgical ones are on Dr. Michaels Instagram as well. More than happy to have a phone conversation as well.

Any more questions please ask