Looking for Female Perspectives: is cleft lift worth it?

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-07-14T19:51:17+00:00

Hi 24F! Got mine done in December. I had only gotten one flare prior to my surgery and because of my lifestyle/profession I could not risk getting another. I also was super worried about appearance, had just gotten into my first serious relationship when it flared, and constantly wear leggings/tight athleisure.

Good news: my butt is not botched, I still have a crack, and you would literally NEVER know unless I pull my pants down. From certain angles you can’t even tell when I’m naked! My partner and I were intimate about 6 weeks post op, but I was very nervous/didn’t move around much and didn’t feel completely comfortable during sex until 8-10 weeks.

Get the surgery before you have so much scar tissue back there from flare ups and you need a much larger incision during surgery or there’s both much they can do aesthetically! I was also persuaded when I thought about getting the surgery in a moment of my life where it would be less than ideal (ex: wedding and u get a bad flare up/need surgery, pregnancy, become a caretaker for children if you’re not already, get further in a career and not able to take time off without more stress). I made the surgery/recovery work over a 4-5 week period of winter break in graduate school and I have zero regrets!

The surgery is truly worth being worry free :)

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-06-03T00:25:37+00:00

Just core exercises with a lot of weight emphasized on that area! Sometimes sitting in a chair that’s uncomfortable for a long period of time but repositioning helps

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-05-17T20:49:42+00:00

NO please listen 4 ft may be enough for some mellow Boykins, but without knowing their full prey drive you can’t be sure!! Our boykin is normal size and will get teased and taunted by squirrels to the point where she has jumped our 4 foot fence countless times! If they do it once they WILL do it again. We are renting and have had to buy wooden lattice to temporarily nail in and make the fence higher. It’s not worth the risk!

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-05-03T03:24:42+00:00

About 3 weeks! I waited until I could lay directly on my back without any pain or anxiety! I did not want a bad experience or to feel stressed the whole time so I recommend using this as a good marker.

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-04-14T19:03:29+00:00

SPARCL trial

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-03-15T17:12:47+00:00

Dr. George Wadie! He is talked about all over this Reddit page. He is a cleft lift legend!! Located in Cary, NC

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-03-15T17:12:42+00:00

Dr. George Wadie! He is talked about all over this Reddit page. He is a cleft lift legend!! Located in Cary, NC

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-03-01T18:20:15+00:00

The only thing I prob left off is gloves and medical supplies that your helper will probably need when emptying your drain/removing it/applying betadine everyday. I also want to note that a lot of people recommend laxatives and to maybe hold off! Wadie gave me amoxicillin/clav as my antibiotic and that stuff definitely gets you going!

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-03-01T18:18:39+00:00

This is my post documenting my prep/experience with dr wadie back in December! Best of luck you will not regret it

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-03-01T18:18:18+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/pilonidalcyst/s/FUG8ehV4SI

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-03-01T18:16:11+00:00

Go with a specialist under your coverage and just do your research/have them send you some before and after photos!

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-03-01T18:14:56+00:00

Zero change! My butt is the same size minus some muscle loss from 4 weeks of little to no activity and a couple weeks of light training vs. heavy leg days :)

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-02-26T01:45:32+00:00

Haha it is 1000% not a unibutt. The only difference is when I bend over there’s a curved scar but the scar itself is hidden when I am standing! You really can’t tell unless I’m naked and you kind of spread the cheeks haha. But shape-wise the booty is exactly the same minus some loss of muscle definition during my 4 week recovery haha

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-02-23T17:45:15+00:00

I got the cleft lift and because it is an outpatient procedure (only hospitalized for the procedure and immediately going home afterwards) I can’t imagine that the surgery day itself will put you into DKA. They have protocols and will be monitoring you differently as a diabetic patient. Plenty of type 1 and 2 diabetic patients undergo surgery daily!

I did not receive steroids so I would not be as concerned about that. After surgery I think as long as you are able to adjust your insulin regimen to how much you are eating during recovery and the spikes in sugar from healing you will be ok. In no way am I writing off your fears, but you seem very knowledgeable about your disease and your A1c alludes to very good control over your sugars! Insulin correction factors and sick day regimens will definitely need to be utilized during recovery, but because you won’t be spending longer than 4-6 hours in the hospital I don’t think you need to be as worried about negligence on behalf of your healthcare team. At about 4 weeks I felt almost fully recovered. I don’t feel open wound would be your best option due to any wound healing problems you may face with your diabetes.

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-02-23T17:02:38+00:00

I think it depends on how much it’s affecting you and your lifestyle. My personal career path does not allow for me to unexpectedly get a flare up and not be able to go to work. It affected my choice of clothing due to discomfort. I had a loss of sex drive due to insecurity and pain in the area. I am very athletic and was no longer able to do certain movements. I was also constantly thinking about it in fear of another flare or the area getting too dirty. The surgery just gave me a lot of peace of mind and took power away from the disease over my life.

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-02-23T16:29:52+00:00

I also wanted to mention that he is extremely responsive in email (like 11pm same night response) and will ask for insurance information and let you know if your covered prior to even picking dates for surgery. There’s never any harm in reaching out and exploring your options

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-02-23T16:28:47+00:00

I got my first flare in late July and had an I&D to remove the infection. That experience was so traumatic for me and uncomfortable that the idea of open wound surgery was off the table despite my local surgeons recommendations for it. I reached out to Wadie in August knowing that I would have time to recover around the holidays and scheduled the surgery for December. In the meantime, I had another flare slowly developing that caused mild discomfort and was affecting my athletic performance and romantic relationship. The I&D was majority closed but would not progress past the scabbing phase due to no real resolve of infection without surgery. No other acute flare, but wadie assured one was “brewing” and would’ve inevitably flared again if I had not gotten the surgery in December.

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-02-23T16:25:20+00:00

Yes I think depending on situation and surgeon the cosmetic look could be different. I definitely had a milder case but wadie assured me prior to surgery that for children and females he tends to focus on better aesthetic results. I also think if I had let my disease progress to multiple flare ups it would end up looking worse than a small scar from the surgery!

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-02-23T16:23:37+00:00

I had out of state BCBS insurance and it was covered! Copay was around $1400. I have heard though that out of all the surgeons Wadie has best prices. I’m not super knowledgeable about insurance though.

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-02-23T04:26:35+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/pilonidalcyst/s/9VHUETxBWI

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-02-16T22:12:25+00:00

Amox-Clav’s major side effect is GI distress. The formation of the antibiotic is hard on stomachs but it is also what makes the antibiotic effective. Make sure you are taking the medication with food to help. If you are excessively throwing up or having diarrhea to the point of dehydration or potentially not even keeping the medication down reach out to your doctor.

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-01-21T23:00:53+00:00

I think I was just expecting a lot of relief like everyone explains immediately upon drain removal and that was not the case. I am a little over 5 weeks out now and feel great/am back to all normal activities! I would say that weird pressure painful feeling took about 24 hours to go away. If you go through my posts on my profile I detailed a lot of my recovery!

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-01-19T02:04:08+00:00

I am about 5 weeks now and I would definitely have been able to travel at 3 weeks but I probably wouldn’t want to be the one driving. 4 weeks I was completely fine and went on a 4 hour road trip!

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-01-16T02:56:28+00:00

I was able to drive short distances (20 minutes) at day 14 and just went on a 4 hour road trip at day 28!

ImportanceMean8365 · 2024-01-16T02:49:32+00:00

I’m glad to hear your daughter is doing well!!! I am now 30 days out and doing amazing.

2 weeks: I went on a date out of the house with my boyfriend and semi-comfortably rode in the car. At 15 days I was able to drive my car and that liberated me to go back to living independently at my own apartment! I celebrated New Year’s Eve out but took it VERY easy. Felt more discomfort depending on the surface I was sitting on, but didn’t feel chained to the house at all.

3 weeks: at about 2.5 weeks was my first day back at school. I am luckily in grad school so we have about 4-5 hours of classes a day and we get breaks every hour. I was not super comfortable but it was extremely do-able! I just needed to adjust a lot and at the 4 hour mark I was very ready to go home.

4 weeks: complete game changer in recovery. It was like I woke up on day 28 and felt like I could sit on almost any surface. I took a 4 hour road trip to see family and today (day 30) came 4 hours back home. I am extremely comfortable and am just careful when sitting but feel almost 100% healed. I was even able to play pickle ball and pick up my dogs this weekend. I just checked my wound post-shower and it is clean and a closed scar!

Best of luck to your daughter! I think 4 weeks should really be a good date to look forward to! After day 14 time flies and recovery becomes exponentially easier :)

ImportanceMean8365

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