If you’ve done your research and talked to friends who’ve had plastic surgery, you know that the “fajas” or compression garments your plastic surgeon gives you after surgery promote gorgeous results and a smooth healing process. So you may have looked into additional sculpting shapewear that promises to super-sculpt your results post-surgery.
But using sculpting shapewear or body shapers—especially in the early post-operative period—can ruin tummy tucks, breast augmentations, breast lifts, liposuction and other standard body sculpting procedures, even when the surgery was performed with precision and skill.
Below Board certified plastic surgeon Dr. S. Larry Schlesinger explains what he’s learned from years in plastic surgery practice, and why you should stick to plastic surgeon-approved post-surgical garments.
The super-tight body sculpting garments found online may pronounce in their marketing that, after body contouring plastic surgery, early intervention with body shapers can lead to super sculpting results.
But as a board certified plastic surgeon with many years of experience and many happy patients, I disagree. Like corsets and girdles of yore, these garments have zero medical oversight, and you should consider them to be dangerously primitive. I have seen many good surgical results ruined by injuries or tearing due to internet purchases of tight garments: the upper component of these garments can open a periareolar (nipple) incision, and the bottoms can rip open abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) incisions.
When you visit a skilled, experienced, and credentialed plastic surgeon, their surgical technique has everything to do with the beautiful results you see in the before and after gallery. Beyond their technique, they give their patient strict advice for a safe recovery and monitor their progress.
If you are looking for a curvy body and snatched waistline, your outcome boils down to your choice of plastic surgeon. They should hold board certification, A+ patient reviews, and amazing before and after gallery results. With some research, you can locate a surgeon who knows how to aggressively but safely get outstanding, figure-changing results.
It’s critical for both patients and cosmetic plastic surgeons to understand the risks posed by unregulated, non-medical garments used after surgery. Surgeons have a duty to their patients to warn them about the aesthetic tragedies that can occur when non-professionals put tight garments on newly operated areas. And cosmetic surgery patients have an obligation to themselves and to their plastic surgeons to inform their surgeons about the use of garments—not prescribed by the plastic surgeon—to modify their results.
Visit Dr. Schlesinger for body contouring, injectables, and more
Dr. Schlesinger and our staff at Breast Implant Center of Hawaii are here to learn about your cosmetic goals and provide outstanding care to meet them using a range of surgical and non-surgical procedures. To learn more or to schedule your consultation, call 808-597-8835 or contact us online today.