Reviews (1)

I went to Sono Bello 3 years ago and I am just now finally starting to recover from the trauma of the procedure. I had my back bra roll, upper flanks, upper and lower abs done.

First biggest mistake was the doctor was not licensed to give general anesthesia. He gave me a 0.5 MG dose of Xanax for during the procedure. He was very aggressive and several times kept warning me he would have to stop with just one side done and I’d have to return in a few weeks for the other side. The pain was excruciating. I was crying and moaning and even screamed a few times. It was like electric shocks were being injected into my core. I believe he truly wanted to give me great results. That’s why he took over 2 hours removing the maximum allowed 4 liters. About half way through, the numbing agent they inject into the fast wore off and I felt everything in amplified by 10. He said it hadn’t been long enough to give me more numbing injection and couldn’t give em any pain meds. He couldn’t even give me another Xanax. He finally quit when he filled the 4 liters to the very top, but he acknowledged he didn’t get even coverage. In my opinion, he tried to do too much in one session and had uneven work. He just kept shoving the device in my skin at what seemed random and very rough.

When my husband came into the recovery room and saw my face he was horrified and says I was obviously in a state of trauma and shock. Even the nurse looked horrified.

I was supposed to return after 2 weeks for lower flanks hips and thighs, but I seriously believe I have PTSD from the first experience.

Then comes the first 72 hours post-op. I was taking the pain meds he gave me as scheduled and it wasn’t touching the pain. I called him and he said he isn’t legally allowed to prescribe me more than 3 days' supply of a low dose opiate. That I should go to a pain management doctor. He suggested if I came back that he couldn’t do it under general anesthesia but could refer me to someone else further away that could.

After 3 months I still was in pain and struggled to sit at my desk and perform an 8 hour workday. At 6 months the pain went down.

The results were there. He did remove a lot of fat cells. But I had significant scars from the incisions on my abs. He was so rough with the suction device that he tore the incisions and they were not a nice neat slice. He said he could fix them with plastic surgery.

The worst part though is the deformed body I was left with. I have a bulge about the size of a large egg on the top of my lower ab, right where a bikini might sit. I had a beautiful hourglass figure. Now I have no waist. My pants fall down below that ugly egg bulge. As a result of the painful recovery, I was limited in my activity I could tolerate. So I did gain some weight and it went to my pelvic area and my size G cup breasts and thighs, plus made the egg bulge worse.

Same as many people have said in other reviews, by my 6-month appointment the doctor was no longer working at Sono Bello and I’d have to go through a new evaluation with a different doctor not likely to honor the original doctor's verbal commitment to make it right.

So while their prices were less than other plastic surgeons, it was still over $8,000.00 and I’m still paying on the loan for a procedure that as my husband says “took a flawless clean canvas and carved it up into a scared disfigured version”. (He’s not a jerk about it, he empathizes with me.) Granted my body wasn’t perfect otherwise I wouldn’t have sought lipo in the first place, but I was proportionate and had no stretch marks from prior pregnancies and no scars and I had a small waistline.

I recently posted a bad review on the Sono Bello Facebook site and was promptly contacted by a customer care rep. I’m torn on giving them a chance with a different doctor and using general anesthesia to fix the deformity and do the hips and thighs as planned. Or should I try Cool Sculpting instead?

Amazingly enough, as I have been researching options I’ve found the original doctor that performed the procedure has his own individual practice in Tampa still practicing lipo. I’ve considered contacting him. I mean, I paid so much and don’t want to live with this deformed body. I’m a boater and usually spend every weekend in a bikini (not anymore) but I don’t want to invest another $8,000 to have a similar horrifying experience.

I would have rather had more subtle results but even and smooth that what I got.