What to Wear to the Plastic Surgeon | Fat Grafting and Liposuction Edition

Today as I was getting ready to head to the plastic surgeon’s office for my pre-op appointment, I went, yet again, through the long process of deciding what to wear.  It was hot, a perfect day to wear a dress.  Only, once you have breast cancer, every doctor wants you to undress from the waist up before you don a paper gown.  So no dress or you end up wearing nothing under that lovely paper gown.  So jeans maybe.  Only, no jeans that are too low rise, remember you’re sitting on a table sans shirt, and well, you know.   Also no jeans that are too tight at the waist. Nobody wants to show off a muffin top. But after choosing just the right jeans/short/skirt, you’re not done. If it’s a visit involving liposuction (which mine was– for the fat grafting) you need to wear the good panties.  You’ll have to be able to drop trou to show off your “donor sites.” Which means you get to show off the parts of your body that you think are the fattest. Awesome. Tummy as a donor site means just unzipping, but if you’re considering the flank (yep, that made me feel a bit like livestock) you have to shimmy down those shorts all the way to show off your outer thighs.  Which is a good time to point out that you should consider doing all your <ahem> grooming before this appointment.   Not only is this important for the part in the office with the surgeon, but also the part later where pictures are taken.  No paper gown, pants around your ankles, and someone takes pictures of you in your panties (I told you to wear the good ones!), zooming in on your breasts and your fat parts. I mean, donor sites.  So when I said you need to be comfortable with your plastic surgeon and the staff, I really wasn’t kidding.

The good news from my appointment today is that my surgeon said that I don’t have to wear the compression bra after the surgery. That’s huge.  His real concern is that donor site, which, let’s face it, could use some compressing anyway.  So I’ll have four to six weeks in that compression gear. The not so good news– while he said that there is “ample volume” (thanks) to use the flank as a donor site, the fat might not be quality fat.  Apparently, all fat is not created equal, and since he already did liposuction in that area, it might have compromised the quality of the fat for future use. So we chose my abdomen as a back up donor site. I’m not thrilled with that prospect because it means wearing the high waist girdle, which will be pretty hot in the summer months.  You know you’ve reached some sort of low when you’re hoping to just wear the low waist girdle for six weeks.  So fingers crossed that my flank has some good, quality fat. At least I only have to wait a couple more weeks until I know whether my fat is quality fat.  And until I can begin the countdown to the “this is really the last time I wear compression gear” day.