Binder vs Spanx

The nurse told me that my surgeon let some switch to spanx instead of a binder after 3 weeks.  I don't feel like I am getting enough support with the binder.  Will Spanx compress me better?  Has anyone every used Spanx instead of a binder?  Last question where did you buy your Spanx?  I know I can get them on QVC or Ebay but was hoping to get one local. Thanks!!!! Melissa

I had a LBL and a breast lift, my doctor doesn't believe in binders, therefore I didn't wear any. I know you can buy them in any major department store, Bloomingdales, Nordstroms....They are very snug fitting I used to wear them all the time before surgery, I swear by them....Best of luck to you...

Melissa, I have the wrap-around binder for my tummy tuck and I still wear it at night.  It's adjustable so I can get as much or as little compression as desired. It really helps with swelling. I've heard that Target sells a kind of 'spanx' but can't remember the name of it.  JCPenney & Nordstrom probably has shapewear as well.   ETA: Target's brand is "Assets" Good luck in your search! Melinda

I have never tried them, but I have heard that you can buy them at Lane Bryant...but when I looked em on line they obviously only carry larger sizes....so i guess i am not that much help...lol heidi

Hi Melissa, I've been using a knock off shapewear with my thigh lipo that is firm but confortable, and not too difficult to get on. Wal Mart carries it. I also bought the cami there for my BL and it works great. Good luck. I also found some of the name brands similar to Spanx but firmer at Ross but there is more of a hit and miss.

There's also a kind named Flexees that I really like. I always get mine online.  There's a site called barenecessities.com that offers a good selection.  Free shipping if you order over $100, but the S&H isn't too bad if you only get one or two.

I didn't switch to Spanx until around month 2-1/2.  I don't think of it as a real compression garment because it really just doesn't have enought "oomph". I quit my binder at 2 weeks and switched to the Veronique and Anne Michell compression garment.  The latter being my all time favorite because of its lovely soft lining.  If you're interested I can link you to their sites. You can get Spanx, I'm sure, in any local lingerie shop.  They're not expensive.  I really cut out the crotch to the outer seams for "ease".

I really hate my body sometimes.  I've seen so many posts about the Anne Michel garments.  I ordered one based on the size charts and although it would have worked for my thighs (where I needed it the most this time), but I couldn't begin to zip the front up.  Silly me ordered the next size up and my legs swam in it. I'm almost a tree trunk right now.  There's very little different between my waist and hips.  The Anne Michel garments seem cut for curvy ladies. Beth

Yes, the Anne M garments are cut small.  I had to go up a whole size, maybe 2, can't remember.  They do have a very hour-glassed shape, but I loved that even though I don't think of myself as curvy.  And, in the AM, I loved, for a few hours at a time, briefly having that figure. LOL   Please don't really hate your body.  I think having to come to terms with what we've been "given" takes time to accept, especially when we face certain clothing challenges, have to look at ourselves morning and night in the mirror, and want to put on a bathing suit.  Underneath it all, let's let our self love be what draws us toward reconstructive surgery, rather self dislike.  (My goodness, doesn't that sound noble?  I must need another cup of coffee ROFL) Ever since losing my 120# I've been content with my legs and arms, even with their wrinkly skin kind of drooping here and there, and in spite of the fact that I have a friend who suggested I not go sleeveless (hah! she's regained 50# after her WLS).  Then, one morning about 2 months ago I woke up and, my goodness!  it was like, Whoa! what the heck happened there?!  I'd been telling myself that I just looked like a very over-tanned woman, but suddenly, and I do mean suddenly, everything just appeared to be SO different.  That's when I started to consider the small thigh lift and the inverted butt lift.  Although I'm so grateful to be thin, and that I didn't have a panni (although I did need an LBL/MR), nor need a brachioplasty, that darn hanging skin just has to go.  And it has to go because, flawed as I am I HAVE come to care about myself, not because I don't love myself. All of that is not to say that you don't love yourself.  It was just sort of a ramble inspired by your "Sometimes I hate my body" statement. 

I think it's a case by case basis with some surgeons and varies based on the surgery.  I've run the range of binders/garments/etc during my three surgeries.  I'm thick-bodied and long-waised with thinner thighs and arms.  After my LBL, I went to a high-waist brief from Nordstrom made by TCFineShapewear.  I lived in it even over a year out.   I tried the thicker Spanx garments but liked the TC better. After my recent medial thigh lift, the PS wanted good compression on my legs, it's been hard finding garments, because my thighs say I'm a small and my hips and waist say a large.  After 6 weeks he's told me to drop the standard compression in my thighs altogether, because the garments I've had aren't providing enough and the skin has adhered back fine.  I want to go back to my high-waist brief but I'm fearful of messing up the upper part of my MTL incisions (that bend forward near where my legs meet my body and run up toward my old LBL incision).  Beth