I deliberated over getting the hip-waist curve procedure for a full two to three years before finally doing it, lol. I tried to create a waistline through exercise somehow, but I have a straight body type, a short waist, and a relatively broad skeletal frame, so even when I lost weight, I could not achieve the cinched waist-and-hip line I wanted, T_T. I usually wore clothes that hid my waistline, so people around me thought I was slim. But when I had an InBody analysis, my body-fat percentage was 35%, and I had a typical ET-shaped body, with fat concentrated in my lower abdomen and love handles rather than my arms and legs. 🤣
At first I looked into liposuction too, but the recovery period and compression garments felt burdensome. I wanted to return to daily life as quickly as possible without people around me knowing, so I chose unlimited LAMS. What I received was unlimited LAMS on the abdomen and love handles, followed by grafting of the harvested fat into the hips as part of the hip-waist curve procedure. Since it is performed without sedation, I ate as usual before going. I had an InBody analysis and photographs taken, consulted with the doctor about the line I wanted, and then began after the design was marked.
I was really worried that a fat procedure done poorly could leave uneven contours, so I read a huge number of reviews when choosing the clinic and doctor, lol. I even read one review at a time before bed... In particular, because I also have pelvic asymmetry due to scoliosis, it was important whether they could design the procedure while taking that into account.
Pain differs by person, but honestly, it was quite painful for me, T_T. It felt especially more painful in areas with little fat or close to muscle. Still, they kept checking whether I was okay throughout the procedure. It took about one hour for the abdomen, one hour for the love handles, and one hour for pelvic fat grafting, so about three hours in total. Afterward, I took public transportation home by myself. Walking quickly was difficult, but I could walk slowly enough to get home alone!
The swelling was really severe from the very first day, and my weight actually increased by 2 kg, lol. What was amazing was that even with so much swelling, I could already see an S-curve from my waist to my hips. There was swelling, bruising, and soreness until about two weeks, and from the third week I began to see my waistline little by little.
Now I am exactly one month out, and what I am happiest with is that as my lower abdomen and love handles became smoother, my waist curves inward from the back and a curve extending to my hips has formed! Before, I had an almost straight, block-like shape from my waist to my hips, but now the line is clearly different. The left before photo was even taken while I was sucking in my stomach, while the after photo was taken comfortably without tensing, so I was surprised that the lower-abdomen difference was greater than expected, lol.
Recently I went on vacation and even wore a swimsuit I used to avoid because of my lower-belly bulge. 🤣 It has only been one month, so there is still residual swelling and some firmness, and the hip fat is still in the engraftment period, so this is not the final result. But so far, I am quite satisfied. When I was deliberating over this procedure, I was most curious about things like the clinic, doctor, cost, pain, and recovery period. If you have questions, please leave a comment! I will share as much as I can based on my own experience :)