How can I make my calves smaller?
- Thread starter kahk3000
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After years of deliberation and active participation on this site, I got calf reduction surgery from Dr. Park in Seoul 8 years ago.
I provided my email address years ago, wanting to give back to those who are going thru the same arduous process of researching every aspect of this scary yet promising procedure---and i still get contacted....
So
To those of us who have worked hard to build beautiful bodies but ended up with gargantuan bulky calves OR to those who were endowed with strong calves but hate them, here is my story.
Side effects:
I assure you there are none. I hike, bike, play tennis, swim... and power has not been compromised. And there has not been compensation of other muscles. (Other muscles did not get big to compensate for the loss).
My calves have not increased in size in 8 years despite all the hiking and biking i do.
I am 5’3 and 108lbs. Calf size was 38 cm and have been 32/33 since the surgery.
Healing:
10 days should be plenty during which time, you will be in pain but will progressively get better. After about a week, I went shopping but walked turtle speed--crutches would have helped. You will be sore for 6 months and have dull pressure for a year. Best advice is to stretch and message 24/7, so your remaining muscles don't curl up.
Swelling:
You will be told to wear compression stockings for several months, but I wore them for about a year. After 6 months, I cut em off at the knees and wore them 24/7. most of the swelling was gone in about six months
---
As for running fast, I don't run so I have no idea if speed has been jeopardized, but it has not affected my ability to do other things.
As for which doctor, you have to do your own homework. I am a researcher, so I had researched for years about the safety of this operation (even read dissertations) and found the doctor who resolved all my concerns. and i assure you Dr. Park's wealth of experience, success cases, and gentle and unpretentious mannerism will make you feel at ease.
Ask lots of questions, do ton of research on your own before making this life altering decision.
For the past several years, I have been feeling more self confident and feminine in dresses, skirts, shorts--which i had never worn before. It has been truly liberating devoid of debilitating sense of inadequacy.
Email me if u want to see photos. [email protected]
I come to this site not even once a year, so best to email.
I hope this helps someone.
I provided my email address years ago, wanting to give back to those who are going thru the same arduous process of researching every aspect of this scary yet promising procedure---and i still get contacted....
So
To those of us who have worked hard to build beautiful bodies but ended up with gargantuan bulky calves OR to those who were endowed with strong calves but hate them, here is my story.
Side effects:
I assure you there are none. I hike, bike, play tennis, swim... and power has not been compromised. And there has not been compensation of other muscles. (Other muscles did not get big to compensate for the loss).
My calves have not increased in size in 8 years despite all the hiking and biking i do.
I am 5’3 and 108lbs. Calf size was 38 cm and have been 32/33 since the surgery.
Healing:
10 days should be plenty during which time, you will be in pain but will progressively get better. After about a week, I went shopping but walked turtle speed--crutches would have helped. You will be sore for 6 months and have dull pressure for a year. Best advice is to stretch and message 24/7, so your remaining muscles don't curl up.
Swelling:
You will be told to wear compression stockings for several months, but I wore them for about a year. After 6 months, I cut em off at the knees and wore them 24/7. most of the swelling was gone in about six months
---
As for running fast, I don't run so I have no idea if speed has been jeopardized, but it has not affected my ability to do other things.
As for which doctor, you have to do your own homework. I am a researcher, so I had researched for years about the safety of this operation (even read dissertations) and found the doctor who resolved all my concerns. and i assure you Dr. Park's wealth of experience, success cases, and gentle and unpretentious mannerism will make you feel at ease.
Ask lots of questions, do ton of research on your own before making this life altering decision.
For the past several years, I have been feeling more self confident and feminine in dresses, skirts, shorts--which i had never worn before. It has been truly liberating devoid of debilitating sense of inadequacy.
Email me if u want to see photos. [email protected]
I come to this site not even once a year, so best to email.
I hope this helps someone.
Have you get them done yet? Please post before and after picture. I want to get it done ASAP but waiting for this covid 19 to go away and able to travel to Korea.
I am recovering from a calf resection and RF procedure with Dr. Perry Liu in La.
I am about 2.5 weeks post op. So far I am loving my results.
I am about 2.5 weeks post op. So far I am loving my results.
Hi Leah13. Of course! These are my after pictures. So Dr. Liu's technique does require two incisions on each leg. I am currently using scar sheets to help minimize scarring so that's what you see in the pictures.
Attachments
Thanks for the pictures. Happy for you.i think keep using scargel because normally dr park do only one incision
Hello Cinlq! I m consider of getting it done with dr park but traveling to Korea can be hard right now due to COVID! Dr Lui is my next option but seems like it doesn’t have as much experience as Dr park. Can you please tell me all the details. Day1, Day2 ect. How much was it and how long do you have to stay in LA for?
Do you mind if I can have your email address! I m really considering of getting it done and need all the details. Thank you so much!
Hi! Happy holidays! I wanted to post my experience earlier but it's been a busy week. But here it is!
Review of Dr. Liu calf resection and radiofrequency:
A little background: My calves weren’t always big. However, they grew A LOT in the last 6 years or so. They grew in muscle, not in fat. I never had a problem with their size. I mean they were big and muscular, but I just learned to accept it.
Pre-surgery they measured at 16-inch each. That’s big for calf muscles considering I’m only 5’4” and 137 lbs.
I also had a lot of cramping in the calves. I researched calf muscles and how to help with the cramping and somehow was led to a page on calf reduction surgery.
I thought “Who in their right mind would ever put themselves through all that pain, time, and money??”
ME. LOL
In time, with more cramping and calf growth, I decided that maybe calf reduction surgery would benefit me.
After making up my mind that this is wanted I wanted to do, I did a lot of research on calf surgery which led me to a review on Real Self that solidified my decision to go ahead with the calf surgery and to go with Dr. Liu.
I know that many people go to Dr. Park but I ended up choosing Dr. Liu for these reasons:
1. He’s closer. I didn’t have to travel overseas.
2. His technique.
3. Reviews from his past clients who had good things to say about him.
The big deciding factor for me to go with Dr. Liu was his technique on how he does this surgery. Dr. Liu’s technique involves making two incisions on each side of the leg and he takes off necessary muscle while aiming for symmetry.
In Korea, the doctors make a 2-inch incision behind the patient’s knee and calf muscle is pulled through that incision. This CAN cause a lot of asymmetries.
I didn’t want to risk going overseas only to come back with asymmetric calves. I’d rather deal with the scars because nowadays there are many options to fix scars. There are also preventative measures out there to help with scarring. I just feel that fixing a scar is minimal vs. going back into surgery again to fix the calves if they become asymmetric. No thank you!
Keep in mind that all results are not the same, so I’m only speaking for myself. With any surgery, there is always a risk.
CONSULT:
I reached out the office to make an appt for consult. They asked me to send pictures to them so they could review before proceeding with the consult.
The day of consult was a brief 20 mins. It was done remotely. Their patient coordinator Zach is amazing. Super nice and very informative. He spoke to me during most of the consult then Dr. Liu came in at the end and asked if I had any questions. That was it.
Now its count down time to surgery day!
SURGERY DAY:
(I was supposed to have my surgery on Oct 15 but on the day of surgery, I ended up with a fever, so they pushed my surgery forward to Nov 5.
The thing that sucked about that was that I had to rebook everything, flights, Airbnb, etc. which made my total cost that was budgeted for this surgery – about $18k - higher than expected so be prepared for changes if something doesn’t go as planned.)
Nov 5: Checked in at 11:30am. Surgery was supposed to be at 12:30pm but they were falling behind that day, so I didn’t get wheeled in till close to 2:30pm. I didn’t mind. That extra time allowed me to do work on my phone.
Also, it gave me a chance to say goodbye to my calves. I spoke to my calves and told them how grateful I was for the many years they have been good to me. I rubbed them for the last time, said my goodbyes, and off we went into surgery.
I came out of surgery around 6 or 7pm I think. I know it was into the evening hours because there was no one there except for one nurse who stayed with me till I woke up. I was groggy from the anesthesia and in pain. It was more like a throbbing, super tightness kind of pain, not sharp OUCH pain.
All I remember was opening my eyes, seeing the bright ceiling light and the first thing I did was to give thanks. I made it, I am alive!
I looked down at my legs thinking, did the surgery happen? Yes, it did because I have compression stockings on, and this is also the time that I start to feel uncomfortable. My legs hurt and they feel extremely tight. It feels like someone is squeezing the daylights out of my calves and not letting go. Also, I feel super nauseous. Luckily my sister was already there waiting for me.
The nurse asked me to stand so we can walk to the car. I tried to stand and realized I couldn’t, so I asked the nurse for a wheelchair. By the way, when I was planning the surgery with Zach, the patient coordinator, he told me that I would be discharged with a wheelchair to use for the duration of the time that I’m recovering in LA. So, imagine my surprise when the nurse told us that she would not be letting us take the wheelchair with us. I’m sorry, WHAT?!? *Feeling super annoyed*
At this point, my sister was arguing with the nurse about the wheelchair situation. I was so groggy and uncomfortable and just wanted to lay down, so I told my sister to forget it, let's deal with it later. The nurse wasn’t going to give us the wheelchair, no point in arguing.
We got back to the Airbnb (it is an apartment complex) and OMG, that’s when I realized I would HAVE to walk and also walk down a loooong hallway to get to our condo. It’s kind of funny now when I look back on it because I remember vividly checking-in the night before and telling my sister that luckily, we would be discharged with a wheelchair because there is absolutely no way that I would be able to walk down this hallway right after surgery.
So, imagine how much more annoyed I got when we got back to the condo after surgery without the wheelchair. Getting out of the car and going into the elevator was rough. But not as rough as when we got off the elevator and looked down that hallway. I felt slightly defeated already. I was even thinking of getting on my hands and knees and crawling. Lol
I gathered up courage and told myself that I was not going to let a hallway defeat me, so I mustered up the little bit of the strength that I had, used my sister as support as I leaned on her and we walked to the condo. Another thing I can think of now but not at that time is that I’m a firm believer of things happen for a reason so looking back at the situation now, I believe that being forced to walk helped facilitate my post-surgery recovery.
I highly recommend bringing someone or hiring a nurse to help you during the first week of recovery. Luckily my sister was there to help me every step of the way on this trip because the first few days were so hard to get around and to do things on my own. It was nice to have a helping hand.
And wedge shoes. BRING THEM! They helped immensely with walking the first few weeks post-op.
This first night was a blur. I remember getting back to the condo in the evening, maybe around 8 or 9pm. I used the restroom, took my medication (the muscle relaxer is also the pain med and it made me super drowsy), and went to sleep. I slept till the next morning.
POST-OP
DAY 1-3:
OMG. THE TIGHTNESS. AND. THE LEG CRAMPS. It was extremely uncomfortable. I didn’t really feel pain per se. It’s just a lot of tightness and pulling of the muscles. It’s like having cramps in your legs times 10. I dreaded having to get out of bed these first few days. Laying down with my legs elevated felt like heaven, but every time I needed to get up, it was so uncomfortable.
When I go to swing my legs off the bed and place them on the floor, I could feel the fluid in my legs drain down to the ankles and then the swelling comes right away. Immediately after that, the calves start to cramp, and the muscles get EXTREMELY tight. I would raise the leg that is cramping up to hip level and rub my calves with a sweeping motion going from ankle to behind the knees and that helps to relax the calves just enough for me to get to where I need to go (bathroom, dining table, etc.) This happened every time I moved around. I also used crutches to help me get off the bed.
Since we didn’t have a wheelchair to use, my sister ended up renting one. I told her to purchase a set of crutches as well just in case. We rented the wheelchair for a week. But I ended up not using it AT ALL. However, it was good to know that it was there in case I needed it.
I did use the crutches 100% of the time. I even brought it back home to use and it’s been a lifesaver! If you can afford the $50 to purchase it, I highly recommend it.
I also reached out to Zach about the wheelchair situation, and he was so apologetic and said that we should have been discharged with a wheelchair as mentioned. The office reimbursed me for the wheelchair rental as well as the purchase of the crutches which was a really nice gesture on their end. Thank you Zach!
I rested a lot these first few days. The only thing that helped the muscles relax was to elevate them. Elevation of the legs is key in helping with the swelling of the legs so elevate as much as you can. The medications also made me very nauseous and drowsy, so I napped a lot.
Day 4-7:
Recovery is still slow but each day it gets better and better. I’m able to walk a little bit more around the condo. I’m using the crutches for everything at this point. They help me the most when I try to get out of bed. That’s when my calves are the tightest.
These few days were uneventful. I had my post-op on day 4 and Dr. Liu says I’m healing very well. He says I’m walking great for someone who just had surgery so that made me very happy to hear.
From the second day post-op to now, I have been walking around the condo and also doing calf stretches at least 3x/day. I know this helped with recovery.
DAY 7:
Flying home. We return the wheelchair to the rental place and go to the airport. Our flight is about 2 hours so not too bad. We get to the airport and check-in. A few days prior to our flight, we had called the airline and requested wheelchair assistance. When we checked in we had wheelchair assistance and an airline employee pushed me to my gate. That was great because I knew that walking through the airport using crutches would be a struggle and it would take a lot of energy out of me.
Also, going through security, I requested to be patted down in the wheelchair instead of trying to walk through the scanner. There was no way I would be able to walk without my wedge shoes. I tried to walk without the wedge shoes when we were back at the condo and I couldn’t put any weight on my legs, particularly my right leg so I opted to stay in the wheelchair and get patted down which wasn’t bad at tall. The female personnel was very respectful.
Keep in mind that the airport highly recommends you call a few days prior to flying to make a request for wheelchair assistance.
Home we go!
WEEK 2:
I didn’t do much this week when I got home. I stayed in bed most of the day to elevate my legs, only getting up to walk and stretch 3x/day and to use the bathroom or eat.
One thing I did notice right after surgery was that my right leg has always been “the problem leg”. It’s always tighter than the left leg and cramps much worse. On the other hand, my left leg is healing amazingly well. It does not cramp as much and feels somewhat “normal” compared to my right leg. I’m unable to walk with a normal gait with the right leg because I can’t bend the knee.
But I do notice a significant improvement in how much less cramping there is as the days go by. Also, the tightness gets better with each passing day.
WEEK 3:
This is the week where I noticed a big difference. Walking with my right leg is much improved. The cramping of the calves when I go to stand up is not as uncomfortable and tight. The muscles feel more relaxed. My left leg is healing amazingly well. I feel like it's about 80% normal. My right maybe around 50%. Still got a ways to go but for three weeks post-op, I’d have to say I’m healing better than I expected!
And man, my legs look great. Slender and beautiful with minimal scarring.
I have been walking and stretching more this week. I still elevate during the day and I’m still wearing compression socks as well.
WEEK 4:
I’m a few days into week four post-op and let me tell you I could not be happier with getting this surgery done. My calves are beautiful. I’m using scar sheets and so far, it seems to be helping with the scars. I tend to keloid so I’m very disciplined on post-op scar care. I don’t want 4 keloids on my legs. I know it’s still in the early phases of recovery but as long as I stay on top of scar care, I feel like the scars will turn out fine.
New calf measurements come in at 13-inches. I started with 16-inch calves. 3-inches down with more on the way since I also did the radio frequency. I’m still swollen as well so I know in the future they will only get smaller.
But looking at it right now, I’m so in love with Dr. Liu’s work. My calves don’t have the muscular look to them anymore. And they are smaller in size. I’m ok if they don’t go down anymore in size as my main concern was how muscular they looked.
Dr. Liu did an amazing job.
Looking back on the day of surgery, I remember feeling very nervous as I know Dr. Liu has not done as many calf surgeries as Dr. Park. When I was laying on the table about to be put under, I remember asking the nurse “How often does Dr. Liu perform calf surgeries?” She says “Oh, that’s mostly all he does now.” That put my mind at ease right before I went under.
I’ll update my progress in a few weeks =)
Review of Dr. Liu calf resection and radiofrequency:
A little background: My calves weren’t always big. However, they grew A LOT in the last 6 years or so. They grew in muscle, not in fat. I never had a problem with their size. I mean they were big and muscular, but I just learned to accept it.
Pre-surgery they measured at 16-inch each. That’s big for calf muscles considering I’m only 5’4” and 137 lbs.
I also had a lot of cramping in the calves. I researched calf muscles and how to help with the cramping and somehow was led to a page on calf reduction surgery.
I thought “Who in their right mind would ever put themselves through all that pain, time, and money??”
ME. LOL
In time, with more cramping and calf growth, I decided that maybe calf reduction surgery would benefit me.
After making up my mind that this is wanted I wanted to do, I did a lot of research on calf surgery which led me to a review on Real Self that solidified my decision to go ahead with the calf surgery and to go with Dr. Liu.
I know that many people go to Dr. Park but I ended up choosing Dr. Liu for these reasons:
1. He’s closer. I didn’t have to travel overseas.
2. His technique.
3. Reviews from his past clients who had good things to say about him.
The big deciding factor for me to go with Dr. Liu was his technique on how he does this surgery. Dr. Liu’s technique involves making two incisions on each side of the leg and he takes off necessary muscle while aiming for symmetry.
In Korea, the doctors make a 2-inch incision behind the patient’s knee and calf muscle is pulled through that incision. This CAN cause a lot of asymmetries.
I didn’t want to risk going overseas only to come back with asymmetric calves. I’d rather deal with the scars because nowadays there are many options to fix scars. There are also preventative measures out there to help with scarring. I just feel that fixing a scar is minimal vs. going back into surgery again to fix the calves if they become asymmetric. No thank you!
Keep in mind that all results are not the same, so I’m only speaking for myself. With any surgery, there is always a risk.
CONSULT:
I reached out the office to make an appt for consult. They asked me to send pictures to them so they could review before proceeding with the consult.
The day of consult was a brief 20 mins. It was done remotely. Their patient coordinator Zach is amazing. Super nice and very informative. He spoke to me during most of the consult then Dr. Liu came in at the end and asked if I had any questions. That was it.
Now its count down time to surgery day!
SURGERY DAY:
(I was supposed to have my surgery on Oct 15 but on the day of surgery, I ended up with a fever, so they pushed my surgery forward to Nov 5.
The thing that sucked about that was that I had to rebook everything, flights, Airbnb, etc. which made my total cost that was budgeted for this surgery – about $18k - higher than expected so be prepared for changes if something doesn’t go as planned.)
Nov 5: Checked in at 11:30am. Surgery was supposed to be at 12:30pm but they were falling behind that day, so I didn’t get wheeled in till close to 2:30pm. I didn’t mind. That extra time allowed me to do work on my phone.
Also, it gave me a chance to say goodbye to my calves. I spoke to my calves and told them how grateful I was for the many years they have been good to me. I rubbed them for the last time, said my goodbyes, and off we went into surgery.
I came out of surgery around 6 or 7pm I think. I know it was into the evening hours because there was no one there except for one nurse who stayed with me till I woke up. I was groggy from the anesthesia and in pain. It was more like a throbbing, super tightness kind of pain, not sharp OUCH pain.
All I remember was opening my eyes, seeing the bright ceiling light and the first thing I did was to give thanks. I made it, I am alive!
I looked down at my legs thinking, did the surgery happen? Yes, it did because I have compression stockings on, and this is also the time that I start to feel uncomfortable. My legs hurt and they feel extremely tight. It feels like someone is squeezing the daylights out of my calves and not letting go. Also, I feel super nauseous. Luckily my sister was already there waiting for me.
The nurse asked me to stand so we can walk to the car. I tried to stand and realized I couldn’t, so I asked the nurse for a wheelchair. By the way, when I was planning the surgery with Zach, the patient coordinator, he told me that I would be discharged with a wheelchair to use for the duration of the time that I’m recovering in LA. So, imagine my surprise when the nurse told us that she would not be letting us take the wheelchair with us. I’m sorry, WHAT?!? *Feeling super annoyed*
At this point, my sister was arguing with the nurse about the wheelchair situation. I was so groggy and uncomfortable and just wanted to lay down, so I told my sister to forget it, let's deal with it later. The nurse wasn’t going to give us the wheelchair, no point in arguing.
We got back to the Airbnb (it is an apartment complex) and OMG, that’s when I realized I would HAVE to walk and also walk down a loooong hallway to get to our condo. It’s kind of funny now when I look back on it because I remember vividly checking-in the night before and telling my sister that luckily, we would be discharged with a wheelchair because there is absolutely no way that I would be able to walk down this hallway right after surgery.
So, imagine how much more annoyed I got when we got back to the condo after surgery without the wheelchair. Getting out of the car and going into the elevator was rough. But not as rough as when we got off the elevator and looked down that hallway. I felt slightly defeated already. I was even thinking of getting on my hands and knees and crawling. Lol
I gathered up courage and told myself that I was not going to let a hallway defeat me, so I mustered up the little bit of the strength that I had, used my sister as support as I leaned on her and we walked to the condo. Another thing I can think of now but not at that time is that I’m a firm believer of things happen for a reason so looking back at the situation now, I believe that being forced to walk helped facilitate my post-surgery recovery.
I highly recommend bringing someone or hiring a nurse to help you during the first week of recovery. Luckily my sister was there to help me every step of the way on this trip because the first few days were so hard to get around and to do things on my own. It was nice to have a helping hand.
And wedge shoes. BRING THEM! They helped immensely with walking the first few weeks post-op.
This first night was a blur. I remember getting back to the condo in the evening, maybe around 8 or 9pm. I used the restroom, took my medication (the muscle relaxer is also the pain med and it made me super drowsy), and went to sleep. I slept till the next morning.
POST-OP
DAY 1-3:
OMG. THE TIGHTNESS. AND. THE LEG CRAMPS. It was extremely uncomfortable. I didn’t really feel pain per se. It’s just a lot of tightness and pulling of the muscles. It’s like having cramps in your legs times 10. I dreaded having to get out of bed these first few days. Laying down with my legs elevated felt like heaven, but every time I needed to get up, it was so uncomfortable.
When I go to swing my legs off the bed and place them on the floor, I could feel the fluid in my legs drain down to the ankles and then the swelling comes right away. Immediately after that, the calves start to cramp, and the muscles get EXTREMELY tight. I would raise the leg that is cramping up to hip level and rub my calves with a sweeping motion going from ankle to behind the knees and that helps to relax the calves just enough for me to get to where I need to go (bathroom, dining table, etc.) This happened every time I moved around. I also used crutches to help me get off the bed.
Since we didn’t have a wheelchair to use, my sister ended up renting one. I told her to purchase a set of crutches as well just in case. We rented the wheelchair for a week. But I ended up not using it AT ALL. However, it was good to know that it was there in case I needed it.
I did use the crutches 100% of the time. I even brought it back home to use and it’s been a lifesaver! If you can afford the $50 to purchase it, I highly recommend it.
I also reached out to Zach about the wheelchair situation, and he was so apologetic and said that we should have been discharged with a wheelchair as mentioned. The office reimbursed me for the wheelchair rental as well as the purchase of the crutches which was a really nice gesture on their end. Thank you Zach!
I rested a lot these first few days. The only thing that helped the muscles relax was to elevate them. Elevation of the legs is key in helping with the swelling of the legs so elevate as much as you can. The medications also made me very nauseous and drowsy, so I napped a lot.
Day 4-7:
Recovery is still slow but each day it gets better and better. I’m able to walk a little bit more around the condo. I’m using the crutches for everything at this point. They help me the most when I try to get out of bed. That’s when my calves are the tightest.
These few days were uneventful. I had my post-op on day 4 and Dr. Liu says I’m healing very well. He says I’m walking great for someone who just had surgery so that made me very happy to hear.
From the second day post-op to now, I have been walking around the condo and also doing calf stretches at least 3x/day. I know this helped with recovery.
DAY 7:
Flying home. We return the wheelchair to the rental place and go to the airport. Our flight is about 2 hours so not too bad. We get to the airport and check-in. A few days prior to our flight, we had called the airline and requested wheelchair assistance. When we checked in we had wheelchair assistance and an airline employee pushed me to my gate. That was great because I knew that walking through the airport using crutches would be a struggle and it would take a lot of energy out of me.
Also, going through security, I requested to be patted down in the wheelchair instead of trying to walk through the scanner. There was no way I would be able to walk without my wedge shoes. I tried to walk without the wedge shoes when we were back at the condo and I couldn’t put any weight on my legs, particularly my right leg so I opted to stay in the wheelchair and get patted down which wasn’t bad at tall. The female personnel was very respectful.
Keep in mind that the airport highly recommends you call a few days prior to flying to make a request for wheelchair assistance.
Home we go!
WEEK 2:
I didn’t do much this week when I got home. I stayed in bed most of the day to elevate my legs, only getting up to walk and stretch 3x/day and to use the bathroom or eat.
One thing I did notice right after surgery was that my right leg has always been “the problem leg”. It’s always tighter than the left leg and cramps much worse. On the other hand, my left leg is healing amazingly well. It does not cramp as much and feels somewhat “normal” compared to my right leg. I’m unable to walk with a normal gait with the right leg because I can’t bend the knee.
But I do notice a significant improvement in how much less cramping there is as the days go by. Also, the tightness gets better with each passing day.
WEEK 3:
This is the week where I noticed a big difference. Walking with my right leg is much improved. The cramping of the calves when I go to stand up is not as uncomfortable and tight. The muscles feel more relaxed. My left leg is healing amazingly well. I feel like it's about 80% normal. My right maybe around 50%. Still got a ways to go but for three weeks post-op, I’d have to say I’m healing better than I expected!
And man, my legs look great. Slender and beautiful with minimal scarring.
I have been walking and stretching more this week. I still elevate during the day and I’m still wearing compression socks as well.
WEEK 4:
I’m a few days into week four post-op and let me tell you I could not be happier with getting this surgery done. My calves are beautiful. I’m using scar sheets and so far, it seems to be helping with the scars. I tend to keloid so I’m very disciplined on post-op scar care. I don’t want 4 keloids on my legs. I know it’s still in the early phases of recovery but as long as I stay on top of scar care, I feel like the scars will turn out fine.
New calf measurements come in at 13-inches. I started with 16-inch calves. 3-inches down with more on the way since I also did the radio frequency. I’m still swollen as well so I know in the future they will only get smaller.
But looking at it right now, I’m so in love with Dr. Liu’s work. My calves don’t have the muscular look to them anymore. And they are smaller in size. I’m ok if they don’t go down anymore in size as my main concern was how muscular they looked.
Dr. Liu did an amazing job.
Looking back on the day of surgery, I remember feeling very nervous as I know Dr. Liu has not done as many calf surgeries as Dr. Park. When I was laying on the table about to be put under, I remember asking the nurse “How often does Dr. Liu perform calf surgeries?” She says “Oh, that’s mostly all he does now.” That put my mind at ease right before I went under.
I’ll update my progress in a few weeks =)
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Hello Cinlq! Thank you for sharing all the details! My Zoom consultation with Dr Liu will be Dec 8th and that’s when I decided if I will go through this surgery or not. If things goes well I will schedule the surgery beginning of January. I really appreciate you took all the time to tell us your experience! Can you please update some more pictures of your calves. How’s everything going for you now? Are you able to walk normal now? Thank you!