Lisa Santos Plastic Surgeon MD

I had a full abplasty and mastopexy(breast lift)with Dr Santos being my provider. She was the best and I highly reccomend her. Beautiful person inside and out. I thank God for her and the wisdom she holds.

I'm SO excited now...no longer "shopping" for plastic surgeons. Dr. Lisa Santos will be my doc for abdominoplasty and liposuction scheduled for 2/28/05. She was recommended to me by an anesthesiologist friend of mine as well as a surgical RN who both watch MANY surgeons operate. (They led me to my RNY surgeon last year.) Her bodywork is riddled to be flawless. Just so happens, she is the PS that my RNY surgeon refers patients to if they decide they want reconstruction. Lisa Santos is very popular among wealthy women in River Oaks who want the best. Luckily, she was very fair with her pricing and was willing to make some concessions to make her services possible for me. Not the cheapest PS in town, but not the most expensive either. She also made several practical suggestions regarding how we could reduce my upfront costs.

I need to work on getting down about another 10 - 15 lbs before that date to get the best effect after surgery as possible. She said I'm in great shape for the surgery today, but if I can trim down a little more it will make the finished product much better. Basically she said I don't really have any more fat left on my belly on top of my abdominals. I do however have a fair amount of "inner-abdominal fat"...which is a fat layer UNDERNEATH the abdominal muscles. Mostly it's just a rounded area on the uppermost part of my tummy, just under the breastbone. This cannot be removed with liposuction. If I can lose some more weight, some should come off this area, allowing her to stitch my abdominal wall tighter than she could do today. If I wind up not losing more weight, it's not a problem for the surgery, but it means that my abs won't be quite as taut when they are stitched. (Got to leave room for me to breathe! Stitching the abs tightly now would push the fat up against my diaphragm...not good.) The difference in end result would be very subtle, but noticeable, if I don't melt that area down some first. Everything else is flabby skin and fibrous fatty tissue which won't shrink.

Soooooooooooo back to basics for me. I need to focus on pushing water all day, no eating at all after the dinner meal, no carbs with dinner, no grazing, no snacking except for lean protein and maybe some fruit. I must focus on lean protein and avoiding extra calories. Also going to push up my cardio from 30 minutes 3-4 times weekly to 45 minutes 5 times weekly. I've only lost 3 lbs since mid-October and I am DETERMINED to be as low as I can for my PS in just over 2 months.

Update: I had my Abdominoplasty with liposuction of chest, flanks, waist, and sacral area on 2/28/05. Surgery went VERY well. I'm extremely pleased with the results. She worked on my for 6 1/2 hours to really sculpt me throughly and I couldn't be happier. I was wearing size 38 pants before my TT and now I'm in 34's and a few 35's. My shirt size went from a XL to a regular L. Clothes fit me SO well now and I have a noticably atheltic physique. Dr. Santos is amazing and very thorough with follow up.