I Had My Armpit Fat Sucked Out Just Like Chrissy Teigen
When Chrissy Teigen admitted earlier this month that she had her armpit fat sucked out nine years ago, I felt…empathy. I mean, not that much - she's a celebrity who in the same interview admitted that she never washes her face at night, and with her gorgeous skin, that makes me want to throat punch her a little. (Only a little. Still love you, Chrissy.) But I understood where she was coming from, and why she would have wanted to get armpit liposuction. Because I did the same thing this January, and the change in my self-confidence since has been astounding.
It's weird how women focus on a certain body part - one that nobody else even notices, most of the time - but it becomes this thing that you zero in on every time you look in the mirror. I'm someone who's ultimately pretty OK with her body image - I know I'm in shape and I like to take care of myself - but for as long as I can remember, I've had this obsessive thought of, "I have really fat armpits." I know it sounds ridiculous, but it was constantly on my mind. So much so that I started looking for it on other people when I walked down the street, while I sat in doctor's offices, or as I waited in line at Starbucks. Did they have this bulge? Was I normal?
I realized that, in this sense, I wasn't. I had a patch of fat in my armpit that others didn't. And it wasn't because of my boobs. Whenever I confided my insecurity to close friends or family, they would say, "You have big, DD boobs - it's just breast tissue." But I knew that wasn't it. I have low-hanging boobs, and they start a solid four inches below where this fat lives. Yes, women with larger breasts tend to store more fat in their arms, but this wasn't breast tissue.
It may not sound like a big deal, having extra armpit fat, but it dictated things like what clothes I would wear, my overall confidence, and my ability to feel sexy. I never wore tanks tops because they would pinch my fat out. I struggled to find a swimsuit or nice piece of lingerie that didn't make me immediately want to cover up. I even became close with my tailor because I was there so frequently, having him alter my clothes so that straps and sleeves were as far away from my armpit as possible.
Despite how awful it made me feel on a near-daily basis, in the back of my mind I always thought it was just a part of my body that I was going to have to deal with. It didn't matter how much I worked out - I regularly hit the gym 3 to 4 days a week - or how clean my diet was. I couldn't work away the fat. So I thought I was stuck.
I started looking at other people when I walked down the street, while I sat in doctor's offices, or as I waited in line at Starbucks. Did they have this bulge? Was I normal?
At least, that's how I felt until I started seeing Dr. Ryan Neinstein, founder of Neinstein Plastic Surgery and plastic surgeon at NYC Surgical Associates. I went to him for botox right after my 30th birthday, and after a few appointments, I brought up my bulge. When I told him I thought it was my own personal anxiety, he quickly brushed the idea away, telling me that it's actually not an abnormal concern and he treats women with this same problem all the time. I was blown away, and immediately wanted to know what I could do to fix it.
He suggested minimally invasive armpit liposuction. At first, I was pretty nervous about the idea - I've never been interested in plastic surgery, as the risks were always too scary for me - but this procedure was way less extreme than any liposuction treatment I had ever heard of. Rather than using anesthesia, you're given a sedative before going into the operating room, and once you're in the OR, they inject a numbing liquid directly under the fat to soften it. Then, they use ultrasound-based energy to melt the fibrous tissue and the fat, and after they grab micro devices to gently remove the fat. At least, that's how Dr. Neinstein scientifically explained it all. To me, it was just him numbing me up, sticking a tube in, and sucking the bane of my existence out of my body. The best part: Dr. Neinstein said I'd be done in 30 minutes, there wouldn't be any stitches, and I'd just have to wear a compression wrap for two days to reduce swelling.
The only thing I took more than two seconds to consider was the cost. Because it's a completely cosmetic procedure, it isn't covered by insurance. The cost is about $4,000, which isn't exactly chump change. But when I stopped to compare it to the average cost of liposuction (about double, the doctor told me), I decided to go for it. Paying $4,000 to take care of an issue that's haunted me for my entire life was worth it.
The actual procedure itself wasn't scary or painful at all. The whole time they were sucking the fat out of my armpit, I was having a conversation with the nurse about her recent breakup. Before I knew it, I was done. And the fat - a soda-can size worth on each side, mind you - was finally gone.
The recovery process was super easy, too. I had the procedure done on a Friday, giving me the weekend to just chill, and was back to work on Monday. (I even went to the opera with my parents on Sunday.) After a week, I was exercising again. I had a little bruising, but nothing drastic - I hadn't told the guy I was dating about the liposuction; I just said I bruised my armpit while working out. And the scar from the incision? It's about the size of a bug bite.
It's been about five months since I had the liposuction, and I'm still so happy that I did it. There's a huge stigma around young women getting cosmetic surgery, but this was something about my body that was a constant source of anxiety. I saw an opportunity to change it, in a way that was minimally invasive and relatively affordable, so I took it. And it's genuinely changed the way that I feel. I'm so much more likely to wear a tank top, and I bought a halter top bathing suit - something I never would have done before - that I can't wait to wear this summer. I'm not constantly starting at other women anymore, questioning whether they notice my fat. I just walk down the street now. It sounds so simple, but compared to my life before? I'll take it a thousand times over.
*Name has been changed for privacy.
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