After a fat transfer you need to ensure you’re eating enough calories, specifically healthy fats and carbohydrates.

When we are under eating or in a caloric deficit, our body will burn fat for energy. After any fat transfer you want to avoid a calorie deficit to give your body the best chance of accepting the fat in the new region. The difficult thing patients experience is that they don’t feel hungry or get very full quite quickly. This is due to a few reasons:

• The compression garments being tight around your abdomen, making your stomach feel full.

• You are moving less so aren’t burning as much energy.

• Nausea or fatigue making you feel like you’re unable to eat.

I always suggest to my BBL clients to try make a calorie dense smoothie. A common recipe I give out is:

• Milk of choice

• Ice cream

• Honey

• Banana

• Oats

Fruits nourish your body by providing it with the micronutrients and fibre to help you feel better. And honey is an anti-inflammatory which is also full of antioxidants!

Getting scars after any surgical procedure is inevitable. However with liposuction, only tiny incisions are made and are placed in locations that are easily hidden (I.e. in the belly button, along the bra line, along the bikini line). With proper care and over time, scars will fade. The incisions can be as small as a 0.5cm and as big as 1cm.

Please do not cover incisions with bandaids, gauze or tape unless specifically recommended by the Nurse or Dr at your chosen clinic. Once incisions have scabbed over you can start to treat it products like Stratederm, Stratamed and/or Cica-Care Gel Sheets.

For those clients with olive or darker complexion, you may get darker scars. If this does concern you (for many it still doesn’t as they are so small and well hidden), you can start treatments like skin needling around 6 months post-op. Skin needling stimulates the production of collagen which can promote new tissue growth and healing. Do not commence this earlier than 6 months after your surgery.

Sleeping on your stomach during your recovery is vital to the survival of the fat. Many clients have asked about me about blow up pillows, chairs with a cut out for the buttocks or side sleeping. All of these still put pressure on the fat cells that were injected into to the side of the buttocks (hip dips) which can affect the end results of your BBL. A common concern is that this position is uncomfortable. Some common ways to relieve this are:

• Practice sleeping on your stomach a month prior to surgery.

• Purchase deep heat to put on the back of your neck during your recovery to relieve any pain.

• Utilize an airplane neck pillow and place your face in the hole. This takes your neck from a hyper-flexed position on a normal pillow, to a more neutral position.

• Walk around your home. Light walking after a week post op helps increase blood flow and keeps joints active.

Getting a BBL comes with a recovery period that can be as long as 6 weeks, but the results can last a life time if you follow all aftercare instructions.

Please always follow the advice of your specific Surgeon.

At minimum, alcohol is to be avoided for one week prior to surgery and two weeks after surgery. Alcohol is as a blood thinner because it hinders the blood cells from being able to stick together and clot properly. Liposuction involves only a small amount of blood loss however if your blood is thin, the blood loss may be more severe. If you drink and don’t tell the Surgeon, you can tell as soon as the procedure starts and the procedure may be stopped to ensure your safety.

After your procedure you will need to take some form of painkiller to be more comfortable during the healing process. To mix alcohol with medication can be very dangerous.

To conclude, it is important to understand that alcohol causes inflammation and dehydration in the body. You want to ensure your immune system is healthy so that your body is fit to undergo and recover from your procedure.

As much as we all love and appreciate beautiful nails, it is actually quite impractical to have during your recovery. Most surgeons will require you to remove acrylic nails including nail polish, prior to surgery (at minimum one bare finger on each hand). A bare finger nail is necessary to be able to accurately read oxygen levels through a pulse oximeter device. Then after your operation, you’ll be needing to massage yourself and put on / off yours garments that consist of little clips and zips. With these both to consider, I always tell my clients to use this time to just give your nails a break

It would be within your best interest to refrain from consuming any caffeinated drinks for a minimum of 72 hours after surgery. However, always seek advise from the clinic where you’ve had your operation as this can vary based off your surgeons preference.

Caffeine causes the adrenal glands to release more adrenaline. In some people, this may result in an increase in blood pressure which could result in more bleeding after surgery. Caffeine is also a mild diuretic, meaning it has a dehydrating effect on the body. This is important as we all know hydration is vital to good health, but when your body is working hard to repair itself from surgery, it relies heavily on water to help clear away waste and move nutrients throughout the body.

Summary: It is best practice to avoid caffeinated drinks for a minimum of 72 hours after surgery and to drink at least of 2L of a water per day throughout your entire recovery.

To preface this answer, always follow the advice given to you by your clinic and Surgeon.

Most Surgeons do advise to wait a minimum of 6 weeks post surgery to start exercising. Exercising too soon, especially vigorous exercise, can affect the healing process. It is recommended to do light movements after surgery to encourage circulation and lymph fluid to move waste and reduce swelling. Light movement consists of doing ADLs (Activity’s of Daily Living) such as going to the supermarket and hanging out washing. After 2 weeks you, if you’ve had liposuction only you can go for a light walk. Light walking isn’t a 10km walk. You must remember exercising raises the heart rate and can slow down the healing processes, causing more swelling and discomfort. With a fat transfer you want to try wait the whole 6 weeks before doing more than what is necessary for you to do so you don’t burn off the new fat stores.

When you do go back, warm up and take it slowly; opt for cardio and light weights initially. Listen to how your body feels and if you feel pain/discomfort ease off and slow down. With everyone’s recovery being so different, I encourage my clients to pay attention to your body during exercise as it will tell you exactly what it needs.