Thoughtful395928 on Realself 10 months ago
04/05/2022, 02:43 AM
Phenomenal Results That Keep Getting Better
I couldn't be happier with my choice to get a tummy tuck with Dr. Delgado. From the very initial stages to the final days of recovery, Dr. Delgado and his entire amazing staff made the whole process seamless, professional, and as pleasant as a major surgery could possibly be. Dr. Delgado is more than a doctor; he's an artist.
I went in for a full abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) with extensive flank liposuction. I shopped around quite a bit and "interviewed" several surgeons before deciding on Dr. Delgado. (He was neither the cheapest nor the most expensive surgeon, but I don't believe anyone should choose a major cosmetic surgery based on price.) I chose him because of his training, experience, and professional demeanor. From Day 1 he and his great staff made the whole process seamless, without ever pressuring me.
Although I'm a VERY nervous surgery patient (I definitely had a little mini-breakdown the morning of my surgery), Dr. Delgado's calm, capable air put me at ease so much that I was actually cracking jokes going in to the operating room. His anesthesiologist, Dr. Hu, was also fantastic. I woke up in recovery fully lucid, without that typical groggy brain fog that comes with most experiences with general anesthesia.
Recovery from a tummy tuck (especially with extensive lipo) is no joke - for me it was 2+ weeks of absolute misery with an additional 4 weeks of very nontrivial discomfort. There's no getting around this; you just have to tough it out. But Dr. Delgado and his excellent office team hook you up with everything you need (all your medications, gauze and other supplies, pneumatic/mechanical leg compressors and other compression gear, a walker, Embrace scar therapy strips, etc.). Everything is bundled into the surgery price, so there's no nickel-and-dime nonsense after, allowing you to focus 100% on recovery.
I was worried about the scar; after all, a tummy tuck scar is pretty gnarly. But since I woke up in the recovery room after my surgery, and every day since, the scar has been of minimal concern to me. He did such an amazing job with my incision! It's tiny (in width... can't do anything about the length), precise, and symmetric. Even freshly post-op, it looked like a 25-inch long paper cut. Truly amazing, especially compared with the pie-crust scars some people have from tummy tucks! I'm just under 3 months post-op now and the results are amazing. (You know those red lines and indentations that you can get on your belly when the waist of your jeans digs in all day and leaves a mark? That's pretty much how my scar looks now, except thinner.) It's perfectly straight, and even when I'm wearing skimpy underwear it's still surprisingly easy to hide.
Every day now, I'm so happy to look in the mirror; I can't begin to describe what a welcome change that is compared to just a few months ago. And my swelling will continue to go down, making my results even better and more dramatic as time goes on. I'm about to go to the beach for a weeklong vacation, and will sport a bikini for the first time in my life. And I have Dr. Delgado to thank for all of this.
If you're on the fence about a tummy tuck (with or without lipo), that's understandable; it's a major procedure with a painful recovery, and shouldn't be rushed into lightly. (That said, life is short, and you deserve to live the life you want in the body you want.)
If you're already committed to getting a tummy tuck, go with Dr. Delgado, and I promise you will be thrilled with your results.