Surgery combos

I am looking at plastics in 2018. I know I will need several things spruced up, lower body, arms, and breasts. I was thinking to try and have multiple areas done at the same time. Can any of you share your experiences with this? I was thinking arms with breasts, and then later the lower body lift. Or maybe lower body lift with arms, and then breasts and maybe thighs. I have heard from someone that breasts were really quick and easy, arms harder, and stomach the worst. But from seeing posts here from Gwen, sounds like thighs may be the worst... I want to feel good about myself, and plastic surgery unfortunately will be important since I am a wrinkly shell of my previous size.....

Related question, is it more cost effective to have your surgeon do two areas at once? Since nothing is covered under insurance, this effort is going to make a serious dent to finances.

Surgeons usually have their own protocol. Meet with several to see what they recommend and what combinations they will do together.

Yes, it is usually more cost effective to do multiple areas at once.

My first surgery was TT, had this done 11/18/2016. This was a hard recovery and took a little longer than I thought. Three weeks ago I had breat's, upper and lower eye lid lifts. So glad that I had my TT first. My comparison from TT and breast lift, TT was an 8 and my breast lift was between 1-2. I had no pain from my breast lift, just tenderness. Kinda reminds me when you first start your period and how sensitive our breasts were. Something like that. I would definitely do your lower body surgery first. Get that out of the way. I heard arms can be painful and you'll need help with everything. My surgeries are definitely worth every bit of discomfort/pain. I love my new body. Good luck.

Agree! My LBL was as way more painful than the BL :). Although, I did get ab tightening and the big vertical scar, so that made it even worse :)

Definitely talk to your surgeon(s) and see what they prefer to do. Combining procedures does tend to be more cost effective since the "first hour" of hospital fees is the highest. So having fewer "first hours" is better financially.

I've had lower body lift (LBL), upper body lift (UBL, this is the upper back), mastopexy/breast lift, brachioplasty/arm lift, and medial leg lift (groin to almost the ankle).

My combinations were:

LBL + Brachioplasty
UBL + Mastopexy
Medial Legs

Having done all of these, here are the combinations I WOULD consider:

UBL + LBL + Mastopexy
UBL + Mastopexy + Medial Legs
UBL + Mastopexy + Brachioplasty
UBL + LBL
UBL + Mastopexy
UBL + Medial Legs
UBL + Brachioplasty
LBL + Mastopexy
Mastopexy + Medial Legs
Mastopexy + Brachioplasty

I WOULD consider the following if I had help:

UBL + LBL + Brachioplasty
LBL + Mastopexy + Brachioplasty
LBL + Brachioplasty

I would NEVER combine the following and would side-eye a surgeon who suggested it:

UBL + LBL + Medial Legs
UBL + Medial Legs + Brachioplasty
LBL + Mastopexy + Medial Legs
LBL + Medial Legs + Brachioplasty
Mastopexy + Medial Legs + Brachioplasty
LBL + Medial Legs
Medial Legs + Brachioplasty

So this boils down to the following:

Do NOT combine legs + arms.
Do NOT combine legs + abdomen.
Do NOT combine arms + abdomen unless you have help.
Upper back and breasts are "easy" and I feel they can be combined with anything.

This is all clearly based on my experience (and knowledge of how the body works and what major muscle groups are necessary for movement, etc.). We basically use three major things to transition: our arms, our legs, and our abdomen. You really only want to remove one of those three at a time, but I personally feel like, with help, you can remove two as long as one of the two isn't your legs.

Oh, and in terms of "hardness," this is my experience:

LBL (with muscle tightening) - high pain, low lucidity, low mobility
UBL - low pain, high lucidity, high mobility
Brachioplasty - low pain, high lucidity, medium mobility
Mastopexy (no implants, just lift) - low pain, high lucidity, high mobility
Medial Legs - medium pain, high lucidity, low mobility

I would have loved to do lower body, arms, thighs and breasts, but my surgeon wouldn't do that much :). He was ok doing a torsoplasty (Also called LBL or 360 lift I think) and a breast lift. I am almost 3 weeks out and feeling pretty good. I return to work Monday, and only take 2 ibuprofen, at night, for pain. I am still swollen, but no regrets.

Oh, and I did save approx $2000 by combining surgeries...

Really depends on the surgeon and your own history of pain tolerance and recoveries.

I hand an extended medial thigh lift and upper arms, there was minor lypo on my thighs but my upper where basically just skin removal.

I had no problems using my arms for getting up out of chairs I did use an (non medical) electric recliner. My surgery was on 11/7. I used narcotic pain meds for 2 weeks, mainly because I can not take NSAIDS of any kind and I did have drains in my thighs in for 3 weeks. The drains were more of an inconvenience than anything else. There was a huge clot that the doctor drained and I continue to have a copious amount of drainage from my left thigh, though I am finally down to just two dressing changes a day.

Owther than wrapping my arms, I could do most everything for my self after the third day. I still have to use ace wrapped on the bandaged thigh and wear leg compression 24/7. I put on the compression top mid afternoon because, though my arms don't look swollen, they start to feel tight.

I decided on thighs and arms first because I was assured that these were less painful than my planned LBL. In retrospect, different surgeries are "the worse" for different reasons. My thighs, which I found much more painful then I expected, also require a great deal of diligence to prevent infection. Something I wish I had been better prepared for in advance.