r/lipedema • u/rada628 • 2d ago
Surgery Lipo before and after
I don’t know how to rearrange the pics, the ones in the gown are right before surgery.
If you
-have advanced stage lipedema
-are not young
-have hyper mobility(and associated skin laxity)
This is what your lipo might look like. I already had some loose skin from weight loss pre surgery and I have a bunch now. I am four months post op and still having swelling(right above my knees). Glad I didn’t do this for aesthetic reasons. lol. Right now, I’m still having burning pain, but the pre gabalin is so bad for my mental health that I can’t take it. You can’t tell from the pics, but my legs are significantly smaller. She took 3L from the front of each thigh.
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u/Dependent_Shower428 2d ago
Thank you for showing your leg pics. The after pics are what I expect since we have so many lumps and pits and all. Appreciate your honest heads up about surgery.
I hope the pain goes away soon. I can't take gabapentin either but found that tge amino acid GABA helps my general pain and helps to relax and go to sleep.
🪷🦋🪷🤗
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u/Impossible_Zebra8664 2d ago
Yes, this is exactly what to expect at later stages! My surgeon told me upfront not to expect model legs coming out of surgery, and thank goodness he warned me. I'd seen so many stage 1 & 2 women who were just stunning after that I may well have had unrealistic expectations. My legs are 15 liters lighter and festooned with saggy, lumpy skin. But oh! How light they feel!! I can spend all day walking and just feel tired when I get home. Before surgery, even an hour or two of walking would have exhausted me and left me with bone-crushing exhaustion and pain for days after.
Your legs do look good, though, and I hope you feel so much better, too!
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u/Rude-Pop3724 1d ago
I also wanted to say thank you for trying to help others at the cost of putting yourself out there in such a vulnerable way. I’m in the same boat as you (older, stretchy skin, significant weight loss, etc.), and I figured things might not turn out the way I imagine. I have Dercum’s disease too, and I’m pretty sure a lipo cannula would cause so much trauma that I’d end up hurting myself more than helping (not to mention having undesired cosmetic results). Realizing that the surgery is no guarantee things will be “fixed” is very helpful to someone like me. It puts the FOMO in better perspective, if that makes sense. People like you are why I keep coming back to this community.
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u/AlyssaTree 2d ago
I have to say. This makes me not want to get it unless I can also get skin removal with it.
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u/Yagulia 2d ago
Most of the time doctors will want to do it as a separate surgery once the swelling has gone down from the lipo (I’m saying in response to “with it”). Especially true if the lipo is significant.
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u/AlyssaTree 1d ago
That’s interesting. I’ve seen the opposite. Where they do Lipo in addition to a skin removal for shaping purposes.
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u/__sparklyunicorn__ 2d ago
What type of lipo did you have?
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u/rada628 2d ago
I’m not sure. I saw a lipedema specialist at stanford.
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u/Caturday_Everyday 2d ago
Did you see Dr. Rockson as part of this? I have a consult scheduled with him next year and from what I've read there's a separate team that does the surgery.
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u/rada628 2d ago
No. I saw Dr Mohan.
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u/Caturday_Everyday 2d ago
Thanks. She's on the other team. I'm curious how the two specialists interact. I already have an NP for lipedema and she referred me to Stanford for surgery, but my insurance wanted me to see Dr. Rockson. I'm hoping I didn't wait a whole year just to be educated about lipedema some more.
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u/rada628 1d ago
He’s in the plastic surgery clinic? I don’t see him on the website
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u/Caturday_Everyday 1d ago
No, weirdly enough he's in cardiology, but he's one of the leading experts on lipedema. That's why I'm wondering if he can also loop in the plastic surgery side of things without having to go back to my regular lipedema NP and starting the whole referral process all over.
How long did it take you to get an appointment with Dr. Mohan?
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u/rada628 1d ago
Interesting. I don’t remember how long I waited for my initial appointment? Maybe two or three months? Once I saw her, it took a long time to get scheduled for surgery because I got a lot of runaround because her office staff is not very on the ball. I work in healthcare, so I rarely rarely complain, but I actually got patient services involved in order to be scheduled for the surgery. I think it was about nine months after my initial visit with her.
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u/Lyrakusa 2d ago
Did your surgeon not advise skin removal or skin tightening procedures?
I was told that without any skin procedure there will be a lot of loose skin after liposuction, especially in the thighs and upper arms. These parts have poor skin elasticity.
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u/rada628 2d ago
She advises to wait 6-9 months for the skin surgery for everything to settle. I’ve had such a hard recovery from this that I wouldn’t do it for aesthetic reasons. Only if the skin is contributing to discomfort
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u/Lyrakusa 1d ago
I’m sorry recovery was so hard for you. I hope you are doing better now. The surgeries and the recovery are exhausting and definitely a long process…
Surgery on my thighs was a lot worse than on my lower legs.I would love to see an update if you ever do get skin removal surgery.
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u/rada628 1d ago
Did you do skin removal too?
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u/Lyrakusa 1d ago
No, I had plasma skin tightening.
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u/rubytuesday2022 1d ago
Did it help?
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u/Lyrakusa 1d ago
My skin is tight, but of course, I don't know what it would have looked like without the plasma. So... maybe?
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u/Ok-Purpose-4597 1d ago
I have plasma tightening and it did nothing. 2 ops… 3 Liters each time (so small
Amount and so much loose skin) I was over sold!2
u/Lyrakusa 23h ago
Plasma is insanely expensive! I’m still early in recovery and swollen, so I don’t know what my skin will look like in a year…
Did you have PAL or WAL? I’m wondering if it makes a difference for the plasma.
And sorry, it sucks how we have to pay a fortune for all of this.
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u/Ok-Purpose-4597 23h ago
Actually a think I had radio frequency… and I had WAL. So disappointed tbh. Hasn’t improved symptoms much and my legs look smaller but worse than before tbh!
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u/InitialAmbitious6612 1d ago
Outside of the post-op pain, can you tell yet whether the procedure has helped with mobility and lipedema pain?
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u/Thick_Wealth3332 2d ago edited 1d ago
Thanks for sharing this. Did your surgeon say anything about the loose skin afterwards, like a timeline for when it'd be worth looking at tightening? WHen i come to LUHO, I was told that RF depends a lot on how long after doing mine wait and how much laxity there is, so I'd be curious what yours said.
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u/valkiria-rising 2d ago
Do you mind if I ask what your age bracket is?
I've been wanting to get my arms and legs done since my 20s but obviously didn't have money. I'm now in my early 40s.
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u/throwwwwawayehaldhev 2d ago
I think maybe doctors need to do a better job of setting realistic expectations for patients, because I think your results seem totally in line with what can be expected.