by Anonymous Mom
One Mom’s Journey Through Feelings & Fears and Into Lipo360 with Dr. Neinstein
If you want to skip to the punchline: 8 months ago, I had lipo 360 and inner thigh lipo with Dr. Neinstein. 10/10 recommend. I am still in shock at how good it is and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Now for the longer version…
I started following Dr. Neinstein well over a year before I contacted his office for a consultation. I’m not even quite sure what led me to his feed or why I started to follow him. At the time I started following him, I had an 8 month old baby and a 3 year old, and had just started my C-level dream job for a boutique financial services firm. I never thought I would get plastic surgery. It seemed too scary, too out of reach, and a little too self indulgent. Not to mention – how would I find time to do something like that in and amongst the chaos of my kids and career?!
But, as a mom of two, things on my body certainly weren’t like what they used to be. I wouldn’t say it kept me up at night, but I didn’t love what I saw in the mirror and my eyes were constantly drawn to my midsection. In the fall of 2021, I upped my commitment to my workout routine / healthy eating habits and started to see more of my pregnancy weight melt away. My consistent workouts got me closer to where I wanted to be but there was still a stubborn section that would not budge. I finally thought to myself: just go see him for a consultation and find out more. So I did.
Almost immediately I knew he was the one (and again – I had been Instagram stalking him for quite some time at this point). His team is amazing and as soon as he walked in, my nerves were put at ease. We talked about why I was there and why now was the time I wanted to embark on this journey. It was a much bigger conversation than just, “show me what you want nipped and tucked.” For some reason, my biggest fear was the drain and I REALLY didn’t want one. In fact, going in I had convinced myself that if a drain were part of the conversation, it would be a non-starter. Dr. Neinstein explained that it is crucial for safety and optimizing results and so I eventually (and reluctantly) got on board with the concept. Ultimately, we agreed on lipo 360 and also inner thigh lipo. I am blessed with good genetics when it comes to skin elasticity and I didn’t have diastasis recti, so I wouldn’t need a tummy tuck.
I recommend everyone do the amount of diligence on their surgeon that feels right to them, but after walking out I was ready to commit and scheduled my surgery for about a month later. His A+ team was in contact with me every step of the way. I followed the instructions and list they provided to a T. They were always super responsive and ensured I had everything I needed.
Fast forward to surgery day (yay but also eep!). I felt so prepared that I wasn’t even that nervous (which, if you know me, you know that I am totally freaked out by anything medical so the fact that I was calm that morning is a miracle that I attribute to the top notch experience leading up to that point). Dr. Neinstein came in, turned on some tunes and marked me up, and then we were off to the operating room. And yes, he does hold your hand as you go under anesthesia (if you opt to or it is required for your specific procedure). His bedside manner and ability to connect with patients is outstanding.
I woke up in recovery some time later. I will not lie – inner thigh lipo is spicy!! That was the most painful part upon waking up. The team was responsive to my needs and gave me the proper relief and it subsided quickly. After some time in recovery, my husband came and before I knew it I was getting wheeled to my car to drive home. That night and in the coming days, I received calls / texts from both Dr. Neinstein and Nurse Ashley. Having a direct line to Nurse Ashley not only put me at ease but she was also part of my hype team! We celebrated everything from my first shower, to changing my bandages and emptying my own drain (the drain was removed at my first appointment a week later by Nurse Tara. Super easy and painless. Felt like a new woman after getting rid of it!).
So you may be wondering what the first few days are like. To be clear, you are committing to a surgical recovery and there is fluid leaking out of your incisions (and yes, that is gross). The first 24 – 48 hours are pretty intense but again, if you follow the protocol and have yourself organized, you’ll do just fine. For me, heavy fluid leakage really subsided after the first 24 – 36 hours. I bruise very easily so I was looking pretty beat up for a while which can be a bit scary. Bruising is normal. Swelling is normal. I took one week off from work, worked from home for two days but then was back to commuting to NYC. I was cleared to workout at around 3 weeks post-op.
The weeks after surgery and seeing how your body evolves is so cool, but also emotional as you wonder when things will look and feel “normal” or in my case, better than “normal” again. Because I bruise easily, I think I was bruised for about a month. But week to week you see things slowly change for the better. Don’t sleep on your aftercare! I lived in my faja for longer than they recommended. The first lymphatic drainage massage petrified me. I was sore and bruised and was about to let someone massage me?! No way! Rest assured that the pre-approved list of massage therapists he provides are well trained and they know what they are doing (shout out to Yoni at Highly Maintained in CT!). I grew to love the lymphatic drainage massages and continued them for 3 months.
Here I am 8 months later – beyond happy with my results, anxiously awaiting bikini season, and with a renewed commitment to working out and a healthy lifestyle in order to maintain what Dr.Neinstein helped me uncover. I’ve also enjoyed staying connected with Dr. Neinstein and the team. He still personally checks in on me every so often and I’m always happy to see his messages come though. I still think about my midsection, but in a way that’s like, “holy sh*t – that is MY midsection!!”