What To Expect From Microcannula Tumescent Liposuction
How it all began…
I have to say, this all happened quite quickly after having a consult with Dr. Mark Song on chin augmentation. My plan was to inquire about injections to improve my profile, and we somehow ended up talking about micro-liposuction and Dr. Mark took the time to explain the procedure and how it differed from “regular” liposuction and I was intrigued. He then showed me a before and after picture, and I was sold …instantly. At that moment, I said, I want that on my arms. At first, Dr. Mark questioned if I even had fat to remove, and I promptly squeezed the excess fat that bothered me. I am what some people call, a gym rat. I hate that term, but I guess when you work out 7 days a week (and sometimes twice a day!), it’s a term I must live with. With that said, even with all that hard work at the gym, my arms have muscle, but I just wanted to see more of that muscle and the only way was to get rid of that layer of fat. I wanted “Oscar Arms”. So, as it went, I scheduled my surgery to have micro-liposuction on my arms just before Christmas. I was excited. Although I had debated waiting until after the holidays, I am so glad I didn’t! My worry was that I wouldn’t be able to do all the Holiday errands etc. and never even guessed that I would end up hosting Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! To give you a little context, I have had undergone breast augmentation and so I was not totally concerned with liposuction surgery, but I have to say, it’s almost like this wasn’t surgery at all. I shopped, hosted Holiday gatherings, and went on my business like I never even had a procedure done!
Surgery Day!
It was such a crazy good experience. The surgery was done all under local anesthesia. During the surgery, I played on my phone, read a few articles, talked to Dr. Mark and more or less…relaxed! Yes, seriously. The entire procedure took about 3 to 3.5 hours since Dr. Mark was so great about taking the time to discuss what areas of my arm “bothered me” and he drew lines all over my arms to specifically draw where I wanted the fat removed. My issue was that I wanted to show the separation of the shoulder muscle and triceps. As I mentioned…I wanted more definition!! It sounds like a long time for something we call “micro”, especially when a breast augmentation takes about 2 hours from what I recall. Anyway, the actual surgery itself took about 45 minutes per arm and that included waiting for my arm to be in “ready status”. As part of the surgery, tumescent fluid is injected for a “bloodless” liposuction procedure, and furthermore the fluid helps make the tissue turgid making it easier to suction the fat. Once my arms were ready, Dr. Mark made 4 tiny holes in each arm and these were entry points. The holes can honestly be described as freckle sized holes. And then Dr. Mark went to work and inserted the cannula and began removing my fat. I was fully awake and didn’t feel a thing since my arms were numb (of course), and I relaxed. No joke. Dr. Mark decided that it would be most comfortable if I laid on my side, as he worked on each arm. During surgery, I read my emails, googled a couple of things, Christmas shopped on Amazon, and if I had my purse with me…I bet I would have ordered gifts! LOL! Honestly, I think the fact that I was awake the entire time made it feel like it wasn’t surgery at all. When Dr. Mark was done, he put some bandages over the incisions and sent me home with fresh bandages as well. He said that the first night, I would have some leakage and that this would probably last for a couple of days. He also sent me home with a compression arm sleeve and instructed me to wear it for 2 weeks. The entire time Dr. Mark was wrapping me up to head home, I kept thinking, how will I manage to keep this surgery under wraps from my husband?? I was so preoccupied with those thoughts that honestly, I don’t even recall pain. In fact, I never even had to take anything for the pain, at all so much that after my close friend picked me up, we went to Red-O out for happy hour and appetizers. She drank, I did not. I decided to be a good patient. 😊
Easy Peasy Recovery…
So, you’re probably wondering how I managed to hide this from my husband. I can’t tell you how easy it was. First, being that its winter and we keep the temperature at home at a cool 68 degrees in the evening, I wore a light sweatshirt and pajama shorts to bed. The bandages and arm compression were impossible to notice. I slept like a baby that night and woke up that morning with tender arms. I didn’t feel pain, it was just tender to the touch especially around the freckle sized teeny holes, but I was comfortable enough that I did not require any kind of OTC pain meds, at all. That morning I was quite excited about the unveiling! I took off the arm compression and my bandages absorbed quite a bit of liquid, and to my surprise, there was very little blood. I removed all the bandages to put on fresh ones and to check out my results! There was some swelling and honestly, the pen marks made it a little hard to tell. I had very light bruising, and from what I recall, I think I had one light bruise on my left arm. The funny part is, one of the hardest things was to remove the pen marks. I had to use my loofah scrub brush to remove the marks from the pen. I was adamant about removing it because that was pretty much the evidence that I had done something!! On day 2, I was able to remove all the bandages except one. I could tell there was slight swelling, especially near the areas of the incision where it felt very tender to the touch. On my left arm, the incision made by the elbow was stubborn. I had leakage there for 5-6 days and it only required a little bandage and sometimes I just used a band-aid. Other than that, there was no evidence that I had anything done at all! I even changed in front of my husband on day 2 and he never said a word. Crazy right!? I’m at two weeks now post-surgery, and I totally see the definition that I wanted between the shoulder and triceps. I saw a slight difference after week two, and by the middle of the 3rd week of recovery, the results were really coming together. On the day that I had noticed that the tenderness was gone, is when I totally noticed my arms were much more defined arms. I am ecstatic with my results and I am extremely pleased with the entire process. The funny thing is, during my post-op visit with Dr. Mark, he mentioned that I would continue to heal for about 6 months. Wow. Can it get even better from here? Wow, again.
I would recommend Dr. Mark Song, and the entire staff at South Coast Plastic Surgery to serve your needs. They are the absolute best in every way. They make you feel comfortable and make the experience easy and stress-free. I guess this is the reason why I’m such a devoted patient to their practice. I can’t imagine going anywhere else.
I have to say, this all happened quite quickly after having a consult with Dr. Mark Song on chin augmentation. My plan was to inquire about injections to improve my profile, and we somehow ended up talking about micro-liposuction and Dr. Mark took the time to explain the procedure and how it differed from “regular” liposuction and I was intrigued. He then showed me a before and after picture, and I was sold …instantly. At that moment, I said, I want that on my arms. At first, Dr. Mark questioned if I even had fat to remove, and I promptly squeezed the excess fat that bothered me. I am what some people call, a gym rat. I hate that term, but I guess when you work out 7 days a week (and sometimes twice a day!), it’s a term I must live with. With that said, even with all that hard work at the gym, my arms have muscle, but I just wanted to see more of that muscle and the only way was to get rid of that layer of fat. I wanted “Oscar Arms”. So, as it went, I scheduled my surgery to have micro-liposuction on my arms just before Christmas. I was excited. Although I had debated waiting until after the holidays, I am so glad I didn’t! My worry was that I wouldn’t be able to do all the Holiday errands etc. and never even guessed that I would end up hosting Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! To give you a little context, I have had undergone breast augmentation and so I was not totally concerned with liposuction surgery, but I have to say, it’s almost like this wasn’t surgery at all. I shopped, hosted Holiday gatherings, and went on my business like I never even had a procedure done!
Surgery Day!
It was such a crazy good experience. The surgery was done all under local anesthesia. During the surgery, I played on my phone, read a few articles, talked to Dr. Mark and more or less…relaxed! Yes, seriously. The entire procedure took about 3 to 3.5 hours since Dr. Mark was so great about taking the time to discuss what areas of my arm “bothered me” and he drew lines all over my arms to specifically draw where I wanted the fat removed. My issue was that I wanted to show the separation of the shoulder muscle and triceps. As I mentioned…I wanted more definition!! It sounds like a long time for something we call “micro”, especially when a breast augmentation takes about 2 hours from what I recall. Anyway, the actual surgery itself took about 45 minutes per arm and that included waiting for my arm to be in “ready status”. As part of the surgery, tumescent fluid is injected for a “bloodless” liposuction procedure, and furthermore the fluid helps make the tissue turgid making it easier to suction the fat. Once my arms were ready, Dr. Mark made 4 tiny holes in each arm and these were entry points. The holes can honestly be described as freckle sized holes. And then Dr. Mark went to work and inserted the cannula and began removing my fat. I was fully awake and didn’t feel a thing since my arms were numb (of course), and I relaxed. No joke. Dr. Mark decided that it would be most comfortable if I laid on my side, as he worked on each arm. During surgery, I read my emails, googled a couple of things, Christmas shopped on Amazon, and if I had my purse with me…I bet I would have ordered gifts! LOL! Honestly, I think the fact that I was awake the entire time made it feel like it wasn’t surgery at all. When Dr. Mark was done, he put some bandages over the incisions and sent me home with fresh bandages as well. He said that the first night, I would have some leakage and that this would probably last for a couple of days. He also sent me home with a compression arm sleeve and instructed me to wear it for 2 weeks. The entire time Dr. Mark was wrapping me up to head home, I kept thinking, how will I manage to keep this surgery under wraps from my husband?? I was so preoccupied with those thoughts that honestly, I don’t even recall pain. In fact, I never even had to take anything for the pain, at all so much that after my close friend picked me up, we went to Red-O out for happy hour and appetizers. She drank, I did not. I decided to be a good patient. 😊
Easy Peasy Recovery…
So, you’re probably wondering how I managed to hide this from my husband. I can’t tell you how easy it was. First, being that its winter and we keep the temperature at home at a cool 68 degrees in the evening, I wore a light sweatshirt and pajama shorts to bed. The bandages and arm compression were impossible to notice. I slept like a baby that night and woke up that morning with tender arms. I didn’t feel pain, it was just tender to the touch especially around the freckle sized teeny holes, but I was comfortable enough that I did not require any kind of OTC pain meds, at all. That morning I was quite excited about the unveiling! I took off the arm compression and my bandages absorbed quite a bit of liquid, and to my surprise, there was very little blood. I removed all the bandages to put on fresh ones and to check out my results! There was some swelling and honestly, the pen marks made it a little hard to tell. I had very light bruising, and from what I recall, I think I had one light bruise on my left arm. The funny part is, one of the hardest things was to remove the pen marks. I had to use my loofah scrub brush to remove the marks from the pen. I was adamant about removing it because that was pretty much the evidence that I had done something!! On day 2, I was able to remove all the bandages except one. I could tell there was slight swelling, especially near the areas of the incision where it felt very tender to the touch. On my left arm, the incision made by the elbow was stubborn. I had leakage there for 5-6 days and it only required a little bandage and sometimes I just used a band-aid. Other than that, there was no evidence that I had anything done at all! I even changed in front of my husband on day 2 and he never said a word. Crazy right!? I’m at two weeks now post-surgery, and I totally see the definition that I wanted between the shoulder and triceps. I saw a slight difference after week two, and by the middle of the 3rd week of recovery, the results were really coming together. On the day that I had noticed that the tenderness was gone, is when I totally noticed my arms were much more defined arms. I am ecstatic with my results and I am extremely pleased with the entire process. The funny thing is, during my post-op visit with Dr. Mark, he mentioned that I would continue to heal for about 6 months. Wow. Can it get even better from here? Wow, again.
I would recommend Dr. Mark Song, and the entire staff at South Coast Plastic Surgery to serve your needs. They are the absolute best in every way. They make you feel comfortable and make the experience easy and stress-free. I guess this is the reason why I’m such a devoted patient to their practice. I can’t imagine going anywhere else.