Liposuction: A first-hand experience - Feb. 10, 2004:

I MAY live to be a hundred, but I will never forget the year 2003 or the events after my 33rd birthday.

While most of my closest friends are now married and have children, I took a different plunge. What did I always want for myself, I asked, that I could now get?

I thought about my big hips, thighs and lower abs, which have plagued me since grade school even when I was underweight.

I then decided to go for liposuction with none other than Dr. Vicki Belo, doctor to the stars, last August and September.

Result: I now have a bikini body-a sculpted figure with narrower curved hips, trim thighs, washboard abs and a higher behind.

It's a body programmed to gain weight first on the chest and buttocks area only. My pre-lipo measurements: 35.5-28-38. Post-lipo after three months: 37-24-34, with irregular exercise and no diet during the Christmas season!

You can imagine what I could have been had I been more disciplined.

I went in for two sessions, as Dr. Belo only did four areas max or four liters of fat (whichever came first) at a time.

In session one, my upper thighs went first--the inner, outer and front are considered three different areas, while the knee, if done, would count as four. I lost three or so inches all around.

The bonus was, Dr. Belo sculpted my butt by keeping the size at the fullest point but removing the bulge at the saddlebags and back of my upper thighs. I now have longer-looking slim thighs and a higher, rounded butt.

Session two dealt with the bane of my existence: hips and lower abdominals (puson). To make sure the fat didn't grow back around them, Dr. Belo lipo-ed my waist and upper abdominals as well.

The bonus here: my body/back size stayed the same but I went up one cup size, from B to C, as the fat now went there. The downside is, when sitting down and not wearing tight tops, I look top-heavy, and people tell me so!

Bra hunting is now a pain, as I have to make do with the available limited styles at high prices.

Brave and daring

People called me brave and daring for agreeing to liposuction, but I didn't take the plunge just like that. I did my homework by researching on the topic.

Dr. Belo has performed around 10,000 lipo procedures (I kid you not) with no fatalities or injuries, and she does the new style with the Niera diode laser, which liquefies the fat first. This makes the suction process faster and less traumatic to the body.

Her cannulas, the metal rods inserted, are a lot smaller and thinner than the old ones--chopstick-thin rather than magic marker-thick. I was able to walk out of the clinic right after the procedure and bought the post-op medicine myself.

I understand that many other doctors still use the old lipo method, where they ram the thick cannula in and out to dislodge the stubborn fat, then suck it out. In this case, healing takes much longer and patients are confined to bed for at least a week.

I, on the other hand, was roaming the malls after only two days, binder and all. My doctor and her staff checked on me regularly via phone to make sure I was feeling okay. I was advised to walk around for exercise the day after the treatment to hasten healing.

Misconceptions

Great pain--There was none! I was sedated and did not even feel anything when they injected me with local anesthesia. I was roused to shift positions, but even as I was conscious throughout, I didn't feel a thing. The post-operation pain was akin to that of workout muscle pain. Definitely tolerable.

Instant Baywatch body--No way. I was bloated with extra weight equivalent to seven pounds of water right after, but this subsided in three weeks. My ankles and knee turned purple for a week and the bones disappeared. Your actual body will emerge in three months after the swelling has fully subsided, but you can definitely wear smaller clothes after only a month.

Huge stitches and scars--Nope, stitches and incisions are the size of half a stapler bullet, and close on their own after 48 hours.

Dripping buckets of blood--There was very little blood. The liquid oozing from you for 24-48 hours max is actually anesthesia, mixed with blood, hence the color. Take note that when you actually bleed, the texture is thick and black-red in color. Here, the liquid is very watered down, hence the runny texture and bright red color.

The only hassle is wearing the body binder for 24 hours the first week and having to wash the stains for the first two days.

You can now eat as much as you want--Absolutely false. The truth is, if you are as lazy and gluttonous as you before the operation, pre-op fat will migrate somewhere else.

In my case, I ate like there was no tomorrow after the procedure, so my old 26-inch waist ballooned to 28, and my hips, which were 37, became 38 in a month and a half. Good thing I was scheduled to have those areas lipo-ed, too.

After my full stomach and hip lipo, I was more careful. Due to the holidays, though, I still pigged out, hence the new cup size. I noticed my scrawny arms filling out, too. Now, I'm working out big time and controlling my meals.

Cellulite will disappear--Cellulite cannot be eliminated by liposuction, but, yes, there is a marked improvement. Four free sessions of Endermologie is included in the package for cellulite removal and skin firming three months after lipo.

People ask me, "If you knew the hassle involved, would you do it again?"

And I always say, "In a heartbeat!"

I had exercised like a madwoman and dieted, but my hips were always big and my stomach never flat. I was scrawny everywhere else, but these stubborn areas were always out of proportion with the rest of my body.

The satisfaction and confidence I now feel are priceless. The hassle was such a small price to pay.