You are listening to The La Jolla Cosmetic Podcast.

Welcome everyone to The La Jolla Cosmetic Podcast. I'm your hostess, Monique Ramsey. And today on the podcast I have a guest. Her name is Kaylie. She's a patient of Dr. Brahme and we're so honored that she's willing to share her story and tell others about what she did and why. And so welcome Kaylie. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Hi, I'm Kaylie. I am a hairstylist here in San Diego. I'm 37. I've always wanted to do a cosmetic procedure to sculpt my body and so just about three months ago I finally did it at La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Center and my experience has been absolutely wonderful, so I just wanted to share it. I also did a lot of research on social media to prepare for my recovery and I found that there wasn't a lot of info out there, so I started my own social media page to kind of help others who look like me my before have an idea of what you're after will look like. So it's been really fun experience. I'm sure that's not the same for everybody, but I've just been very blessed and I've had just nothing but a great time healing and watching my body change.

Well, and I love the fact that, and for everybody in the audience go to TikTok or Instagram, she's The Skinny B B L, The Skinny B B L, and I love how open and your first post, you're like six hours or some crazy thing and you're like, it was so cute. And I'm thinking I would not be that bubbly.

You would be if you saw what happened to your body while you were asleep. I went to sleep with my old body and I woke up with hips. I've always wanted hips, so it was like a miracle.

Well, the one where you showed kind of your before and you had your white coat on and you were talking about the fact that you carry your weight more up, you did up and you wanted to try to create that hourglass shape with clothing and you took off your coat and you showed your back and you were right. You said, I'm a straight back. There was like,

Nothing . Straight.

Yeah, nothing. And then later, I mean, tell us about when you first saw your new shape.

So I woke up from anesthesia. My advice would to to go under anesthesia if you're going to do anything like this. I actually researched some places that don't offer anesthesia and you would do the whole thing awake. I'm just so glad I went to sleep. I was talking about my childhood to some guy and woke up and my body was 100% different. As soon as I got home, I could see my stomach was more snatched, my upper body was more slim and I was very swollen, so I had hips, hips. I was like, I don't even care if the swelling never goes down. I'm so happy just right now already.

Yeah. So you decided to document the process and tell us a little bit about why you decided to document the journey in the way that you did.

So the reason it's called the skinny BBL, and I get a lot of scruff on that. I do have some TikTok haters already, but people are like, you were not skinny before. That's not a skinny BBL, just kind of mean. But I've always been on the petite side and I think your B M I has to be below a 28 to be considered a skinny B B L. I also just liked the name. I thought it had a nice ring to it, but I was looking online and just a lot of the B B L before and afters, they're a huge not natural end result. And so a skinny BBL you can't really go unnatural because you don't have a ton of fat to work with. So you just kind of are going to get a more natural result, which I feel like my results look insanely natural. I don't think anyone would ever know I've had work done at all, which was the goal and a conversation I had with Dr. Brahme. Please, I want to look normal. It is so important. I look normal.

And so the parts that were really bothering you, tell us a little bit about the areas that bothered you. Did you have trouble with finding certain kinds of clothes or kind of describe what that's like?

In fact, I thought I would have a lot more before footage on my phone to be able to post, look at me now for my TikToks and stuff. But I was so covered up, I just would've never worn it. You know what I mean?

Oh I see. Yeah, you were camouflaging.

I was so aware, hyper aware of the parts of my body that we're not what would be considered to the masses as beautiful, which is essentially the opposite of a woman's body. You can be bottom heavy, you can be curvy, you could be all the things, but top heavy like a man is the one thing you cannot be. It's the one thing. Clothes are not made except for blazers, which I lived in. And it gets hot. It gets hot in those. And so my conversation with Dr. Brahme actually did not start with a BBL. It started with just liposuction. And he said, I can go in and I can take care of all that upper body weight, but at the end of the day, you're still not going to have curves. You still won't have an hourglass. So you're going under anesthesia, you're doing all this for what? So you can come out and still not love your body. If you want curves, then let's do it. Let's go all the way. Let's do a B B L and fat transfer. And I still was like, here are my hangups. And one of them was the danger, the risk, but he told me not all BBLs are the same. You can transfer the fat anywhere. I needed it on my upper outer area, which is lower risk actually.

So upper outer, sort of the upper part of the buttock and the hips or what?

Yeah, I had a cute little round butt on the bottom of it, but I just didn't have the shape from the back straight on. I didn't have anything that went out. And so he said, one, your recovery will be easier because you'll be able to sit right away and sleep on your back. And then two, there's not any major major veins arteries where we're going to be putting the fat. And he's like, obviously I will be careful no matter what, but it would be a lower risk than a true B B L.

And we did an episode and we'll put it in the show notes. We did an episode talking about what are the dangers of B B L, what you have to look for as a consumer. And it sounds like you did that research, and I love the fact that you picked a place where you've got a board certified plastic surgeon and they have a whole list. And I can't remember of rules sort of about where's the safest place to put that fat because it can be dangerous in the wrong hands, especially if they try to push the envelope too much. And sometimes that's when people go out of the country and then they have complications. But the board certified plastic surgeons here have rules. They have rules. And then also having the anesthesia under general because really under local is not safe. It's really not the safest way and it can be done, but is that how it should be done? And you don't want to go into a procedure just like you looked up. You don't want to go into a procedure that's putting you at a big risk over something like that. And what other things did you do like workout wise to try to change your body shape before deciding to have surgery?

I mean, I had decided if I'm doing this, I want to spend a year really trying to focus on before I go under the knife. That's so serious. It's so serious. And I wanted to do what I could to my body prior to doing that and having that be it truly was my last resort. Although I wish now hindsight, it would've been my first resort. Honestly, the gym's never going to give you hips. It's just not literally not possible. So the women in my family have very large on both sides. All the women in my family, very large upper bodies, very small, lower bodies we're all top heavy. And even my before photos, which the internet has called me fat, I was doing everything. Everything. And to see what the women in my family actually look like, you would all think, wow, she's very petite compared to everybody else.

(08:36)
Because I was doing the gym, I was eating clean, I was working out, but I'm like, I'm also not a gym girly. I like to be in the gym for an hour, but I can't live there. I am a hairstylist. I stand all day long. I can't. And I didn't want to be much smaller. It's hard to explain, but I'm three months in the gym in a healthy way. I eat in a reasonable way. I still enjoy my life very much. I weigh the exact same that I went in before surgery. My body likes to be at one 50. It loves it. And I haven't changed my weight. I've just redistributed it. So in order to get where I wanted on my upper body, I would've had to lose all the weight from my lower body first. I would have to be 120 pounds. And that is not sustainable for me. I am happy. My body is happy at one 50, but now the one 50 is just prettier.

Yeah. And so was there a moment that pushed you over the edge where I'm doing this right now? What was that moment?

Oh gosh, I remember. Okay, so first of all, I had looked into this place already, so I was on your email list and your text list, but I had not come in for a consult, Cinco de Mayo. I got a text message from La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Center saying, Hey, if you book your liposuction appointment before the end of May, you will get a ton of money off. And I love a deal.

That was my text. You're welcome.

You got me. And so I booked my cinco Mayo was a Friday. I booked, I called that Friday. I said, I'm interested in booking a consult for liposuction. Do you have a preference on doctors? I said, no, I've heard this place is really good. Give me who you think will be really good at liposuction. They gave me to Dr. Brahme. I come in Tuesday, we have the discussion about doing the b l, and I was sold by him originally. He also said that he would put all of my incisions inside my tattoos, so I don't really have any visible incisions or scarring at all. Great. That kind of was like, okay, this guy's smart. This guy knows what he's talking about and I have enough tattoos. He was able to do it. I only have four visible incisions Thursday, so I leave here Tuesday and I'm like, I'm in talks with you guys. Email correspondence. I say in my head, if this is meant to be, I looked at my work schedule a hairstylist. I don't get paid time off. I am. If this is meant to be, he's going to have an opening on May 26th because the following, it was the furthest out in May, we could go and still get the discount. And the following week, I didn't have enough very many clients scheduled. I could move

Him around. And yes,

I said, so the universe speak to me if he's available on the 26th, we're doing it. And then he was, but then I still had cold feet and I had a client come in and she was talking to me. I was talking to her about it. She's like, I'm getting a nose job. And I was like, what? She has the cutest nose ever. But I also understand wanting to change. I thought she's perfect just the way she is. But she's like, Kaylie, I think about it every day, all day, every time I look in the mirror, I see it. I notice it. I want to change it. I just need to do it so I can just stop thinking about it. And I was like, that's how I feel. She's like, so I finally booked it. She said, I've done what you've been doing. I've been shopping around for three years. She's like, what's the worst that's going to happen? Are you going to come out worse than you were? No. And she left that day. I had a 20 minute gap. I called you guys, I put my credit card on file, I booked it. I texted her. I said, I'm doing it.

Oh my gosh.

And then she got her surgery two weeks after me. We just all cry about it. We just had our first appointments again with each other, with her new nose and my new curves, and we literally just embrace each other. We're like, we're so happy we did this.

That's awesome. I love that. And I love that you were able to say, okay, I'm ready to go. You did your research and you'd been thinking about it and you didn't just like, I think some people, the public sometimes thinks that people rush into things and they don't. They don't. Some people, it just takes one thing, whatever that thing is to go, okay, let's do it.

What really sealed the deal for me was being able to sit and lay down the post-op recovery. Sleeping on your stomach really sounded awful to me. And I'm like, I don't think I can continue to work my job and be a good human if I'm not getting rest. So when Dr. Brahme reassured me that I'd be able to sleep on my back and that I would be able to sit certain ways, I was like, I don't have any more excuses left. That was my only excuse.

Yeah. And do you remember how you originally heard about La Jolla Cosmetic?

My best friend, Fatima.

Oh, okay.

She gets stuff done in the med spa here.

Oh, awesome. Okay. And I love the fact that a lot of times you can do all the research in the world, but having a real person who has been there in some way, shape or form is always nice.

I mean, I've done a few consults in other places, probably five total. And this was the place I booked. So it had a lot to do with how I was treated. And Dr. Brome, I liked his personality. He didn't seem to be like a know-it-all, but I liked that he was older and experienced and he just kept saying, we'll give you a really, I think you'll really how natural it looks, and we're just going to do some sculpting. He didn't want to mark me all up and change everything. He was like, I felt very at ease and I did a video about it. I was not anxious at all before.

At the consultation, you mean? Or prior to?

No, like the morning of, the night before. I just felt at total peace about it. So I felt like I was in really good hands.

So is terms of any worries before surgery, did you really have any or did you kind of feel like you had solved all that prior to going into the OR?

No, I just was at peace about it. I think it's because I just knew I wanted it. I knew I was going to like the results, and I just felt calm. It was weird, honestly. You would think you would be nervous.

Yeah. Yeah.

And it was also the first time I'd ever gone under anesthesia as well.

That's what I was just going to ask. Have you ever had any surgery before? Because that sometimes is you don't know what to expect. So do you remember at all that morning what you did or to prep yourself going into the OR?

Yeah, I mean, so I had to shower the night before shower, the morning before with these special sponges that they give you. I couldn't drink after 12:00 AM that night except to brush my teeth the next morning. And I think I took a Gabapentin, which they prescribed to me for right before I left the house. But even before I was calm, supposed to kind of relax you, I was good. I got there and I was just like, I'm ready, man. I was a little bit, I would say, not paying attention to anything else. My friend drove me and we realized that she couldn't get back into my house. I had the keys in my purse, so she had to come back. But the girls up front were really helpful. I could hear them talking about the surgery before when I was in the waiting room. Even that didn't make me nervous. And then the anesthesiologist came in and I went and laid down on the bed and woke up and,

Talking about your childhood.

Yeah.

And do you remember being in recovery?

Yeah. Oh yeah. I filmed a lot of videos when I was post-op. I was restless, surprisingly. I woke up from anesthesia with a lot of energy. I think maybe I'm not a good sleeper. That might have just been the deepest sleep I'd had in a while. But I was ready to run a race, so I filmed a good amount of content just talking about I was in zero pain. My ex-boyfriend had gotten knee surgery last year, and the doctor was like, stay ahead of the pain. Exactly. And I remember him saying that. So I did for 48 hours, I took Percocets every four to six hours. I woke up in the middle of the night to take it whatever I needed to do, and for 48 hours. So from Friday morning to Sunday morning, I took the Percocet and then I didn't need any after that. And then I just switched to Tylenol. But I never once felt a ache or a pain of any kind.

Well, and I think that's the key is that staying ahead of the pain, because once you don't and you think, oh, I'm fine, and you get behind, it's so hard to get back to a place of equilibrium where you feel, okay. And so that's a great advice. So immediately post-op, how long did it take for you to feel back to normal, so to speak, and when did you go back to work?

I would say it took me three or four days to feel like good to leave the house and stuff in small increments. I got a little, that's how I'm blonde. I got bored in the house and decided I'm just going to bleach my own hair since I can't be at work. I did my best friend's hair at home a week later, and I was like, I could totally be at work right now. But I did take 10 full days off. So Friday the day of surgery, 10 full days and went back to work two Tuesdays later, taking less clients at first just to make sure I was good. I did do the arms.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, I did full 360 lipo plus arms with a fat transfer to mostly my hip dips. So that was my procedure. And so I wasn't sure how I was going to hold up all day, blow drying and stuff.

Yeah.

But it was totally fine.

Especially with your arms. And so when you were talking about your faja, so explain what that is for the audience, because sort of a newer term, they used to just call it your compression garment, but now it's a faja. So tell us about what you wore in that first couple weeks.

So for the first seven days, I wore the compression garments that I received from you guys. And then after seven days, the swelling had gone down and they weren't tight enough, which is amazing because that means I was getting skinnier and skinnier. I was cleared to go to my masseuse after my post-op, which was four days later. So I went to her on the fifth day and she said on the 10th day, I can get into a stage two faja. So the faja is more like a new thing. I think in the last 20 years, lipo has always been able to suck the fat out, but the faja is about shaping the body so that once your fat is gone, what do you want your body to look like? So the fajas have more contour, more of a snatched waist than just a regular compression garment. They're really going to snatch you. It's really imperative to wear them imperative. My masseuse explains it like this, your body wants to go back to homeostasis. So my body really wanted to put the weight back on in my stomach and where my new waist had been created above my hips, that's where I held a lot of weight is right above my hips, like the tire situation.

Oh. Uh-huh.

So she's like, if you don't wear a compression garment, your body, the fat's gone, but your body will actually try to get back to its old state by putting scar tissue there.

Oh. Okay.

So the compression says, Hey, body, no space here. There's no space here for that. So it's insanely important to wear the faja and to get one that has my stage two was aggressively snatched. I looked like a bug. I look like how Cardi B looks, but it is to really say, Hey, body, do not go out at the waist, stay in, stay in. And it worked. And now I'm three months, a little over three months. I wear my faha to work and to sleep, but all of my lounging. So weekends I don't wear it unless I'm sleeping, work and sleep. So I'm probably in it, maybe 75%, maybe less, actually 50%.

And where do you stop with the faja? Like at what point or, when not where.

No, you just feel it's so crazy because you think it's going to be the most uncomfortable thing ever, but it actually is. It makes you feel like really you're still doing something to make sure that your surgery was worth it. And I want to do that as long as I can. I'm probably looking at six months to a year of trying to at least wear it at work. That's eight hours a day. And on the days I don't wear it to work, try to wear it to sleep on the weekends. So a lot of the South American women that get those amazing results, the Brazilians and the Colombians, they wear them constantly.

All the time. Interesting.

That is the trick. Yeah.

Well, I love that Lipo has been around since I think the early eighties, but the techniques have improved. The cannulas are small. There's all this technology that has improved that techniques the surgeons use have improved. And I love that post-op. There's a whole post-op industry almost. You're talking about chairs and cushions and all these different things, but I love that it's kind of, because in the past it was either this boring little garment that you got with your surgery, and then how do you transition back into life? You do still feel like you said, if you don't wear it, then your body might add swelling there and then you're not feeling well. So having the right garments after. And then you mentioned Amy, so tell us about your lymphatic massage specialist, how you found her and some of the things that she helped you through and the advice postoperatively.

Yeah, so one of my clients actually did a BBL last year and she had the same issue as me with the top heaviness. And she's Middle Eastern, very Kardashian looking everywhere else, but very top heavy. And so she is like a type A researcher. I'm like a call one place and hope for the best. So she did a lot of the research for me, and she actually told me too about La Jolla Cosmetic, but she found a great masseuse for her. And so when I decided to do this, I reached out to her, who did you go to? And she's like, you got to go to my girl, Amy. The thing with doctors is he doesn't see me every week, so he's not able to see and make suggestions to me. You need to tighten your fall or you need to do this. But if you can't see your doctor every week, how, who do you go to know if you're on the right track and your recovery or what you could be changing? And so a post-op recovery specialist like Masseuses, I think has been pivotal to my recovery. Amy Bell train I think is her Instagram and her TikTok is SD curve server. That's cute. And she does lymphatic drainage and massage. But she also, even if she just literally had me in her room for an hour and just talked to me.

(23:56)
It was so nice to have someone go, no, this is normal. No, no, no, you're all good. You're all good. And she's been such a huge support for the first two months. I haven't seen, I actually go for a massage today. I haven't seen her in about a month. That's exciting. Yeah, I know. I'm so excited. But she just knows her stuff, man. She knows her stuff. And so she was the one who was like, I've never seen a recovery this. This is 100%. Your doctor is really good. Kaylie, you picked a really good one. And she also said it had a lot to do with how healthy I was going into the surgery, how much I worked out. She said, because my body knows how to recover from exercise, it knew how to recover from this trauma because it is a trauma. It's a serious surgery. And she's been with me every step of the way.

Yeah. So now did you set that up prior to surgery or did you do it after and then start making appointments?

I set it up prior. I had my first three appointments with her already set up already in the system. I paid her in bulk. I paid her for, she was running a deal for 10 massages for under a thousand dollars. And I was like, take my money.

Exactly. Oh, how great.

And then after the first one, I was like, don't charge me, but you don't charge enough, but not me, but you've got to start charging more.

Yes, after my,

Because when she saw my body, she was like, Kaylie. I was like, it's good, right? She's like, oh my gosh. So she's just been wonderful and made me feel, so she kept being like, just wait until you see yourself in a month. Just wait until two months. You're going to change. So exciting.

It's amazing. And I think you're right. You went home and you were like, oh my God, I look so good. And that was on the day of surgery. It does get so much better. And I think people say t t p, trust the process. You really do need to trust the process because it does take time and your body, like you said, it's a trauma and your body has to heal the way it does. And everybody heals differently. Some people slower, some people quicker. Some people who heal quicker, then they make the mistake of doing too much too fast. And I love the fact that as you returned to work, you sort of

Eased in,

Eased into it so that you weren't overdoing it and setting yourself backwards. One thing, so you were talking about lipo in your arms, did you have to wear something that was a compression garment for your arms also?

Oh yeah. I bought 10 of them. Because your girl's not doing laundry every day? No. So if anybody needs some hit me up on TikTok, I will donate them.

We'll start a little marketplace.

I have an entire drawer of shapewear now, but yeah, so I wore one Faja. My favorite brand of Faja for post-op was called Snatched Body. They're about $160. They're Colombian snatched body. You can buy 'em on Amazon. They have the bra and everything included. So you really just put that on and that's it. I bought a large and a medium, so I would wear the medium during the day when I could handle some more compression the large at night, so that I was more comfortable. The last thing you want to do is be unable to breathe. That's not the goal, you want to breathe. And then on top of that was also wearing one that goes down here until my fourth week post-op when my doctor cleared me to start gymming again and to I could take off the arm faja. And I wore that pretty religiously too. I just bought some long sleeve shirts. It was middle of summer. You just figure it out because it's important.

And actually you did it at a good time because now it's starting to heat up. Actually, we're finally at the point where our summer isn't doom and gloom, and it's actually sunny.

I actually just bought a couple of fajas that are, a lot of them, they have the strap that likes to go right here.

It's in the way.

And so it's so comfortable at work. It's from a brand called Shape. So there's so many options for Fajas. I just spend the money and get a few, just get a few.

Well, getting good ones too. You do want to be comfortable and you are going to be wearing it, like you said, you're going to be wearing it maybe six months, so a year you're going to keep that new shape. And I love that you're kind of in the mindset of, if I'm going to do this investment, then I'm going to do this investment top to bottom. And even though you said all the working out for a year, you were like, I should have just done this. But you put yourself, like you mentioned, in a much healthier place to recover and bounce back quicker. And I think that's such an important thing. And I think you and I, before we started recording, you were talking about diet and was it Amy who helped you with what to eat when not to eat around the post-op?

She, I mean, you see everything on TikTok. It's like feed the fat, feed the fat, which is true. And I made it out. I feel like I was able to retain a lot of the fat in my hips. I still have some really amazing curves. And I think the more I'm gymming and eating clean, the tighter and smaller my stomach will get as well so that I'll really have the curves. But she was high protein, high fat diet, low sugar, still carbs are okay, but healthy carbs, sweet potato, brown rice, all of that. I wasn't really a dairy eater prior to surgery. I tried to stay away from it. I felt like it would make me blow, but I started eating more dairy, like cottage cheese because I needed something that was high in protein and high in fat, and my hormone levels are better.

Oh, really?

Since surgery, I had just had blood work done. And my vitamin D I didn't know, but I was low in vitamin D,

Almost everybody is. Yeah.

And so now I'm back on track, so that's really cool.

Good. Oh, that's awesome. I love that. And I love that you have the mindset of that healthy living in general. It's not just about this one thing to look better, to look better, feel better and glowing because you're doing the right things for your body. So when you were talking about Amy, you were saying she can read the body. What does she mean by that?

So essentially the process of lipo, she's explained to me, and correct me if I'm wrong, but essentially they put a liquid into your body that kind of disintegrates the fat so that it can be sucked out. And so after the fat's been sucked out, your body has to, your muscles have to reattach to your skin also why the compression is important. And certain places, if there's liquid or if something happens, the skin doesn't reattach to the muscle as well, and you'll kind of get lumps in the skin almost. So she can keep an eye on areas that don't look like they're doing as well, massage it out. But she can literally tell, she'll be like, do you see that? And I'm like, no, that looks like my skin. I dunno what you're talking about. But she's like, yeah, no, and she'll use all these special tools.

(31:05)
And she had a very gentle hand. I was expecting a lot of pain. The internet is, I loved TikTok because of all the firsthand knowledge. Everyone's recovery is very different. I would say I would be a poster child for an insanely simple and easy and a breeze of recovery. All of my clients are super surprised too. I don't know why. I always have felt like I've handled pain well though. But she started to use tools on me and stuff maybe about two months in wooden tools. And that's to cause blood flow and everything to the areas. So I don't know all the science behind it. I don't want to say anything wrong, but she is amazing.

Looking back, if you were to say, what are the top three things that you did in that first month, what would they be?

Post recovery, rest. My doctor prescribes me sleep meds. So I actually had my P C P. I actually had an appointment with him prior to my surgery just to make sure that everything, I just wanted to tell him about it essentially and make sure that I would be able to take my sleep medication with the anesthesia later that night and that everything was going to be okay with that. And so I'm prescribed a hundred milligrams of what I take. I usually only take 50 because I don't need that much, but I was taking a hundred, I was taking my prescribed amount, sleeping like a baby, because when you're healing, sleep, rest, and so staying horizontal, even though I'm such a busy body. But the first two weeks really just not overdoing it and taking it easy water. And I really did not drink alcohol the first couple of months. I just started reintroducing alcohol as a social thing. But I really was eating clean, drinking water, resting and not drinking alcohol.

And seeing Amy.

And seeing Amy and shopping, I got to say was like, shopping is my vice, right? I don't really have any other ones.

You and I would be dangerous together, Kaylie.

Oh my gosh. Just being able to go, that's going to look good. That's going to look good.

Well, yeah. How exciting is that? Because, you were talking about your

I never wanted to get married because of my body type. I never wanted a wedding. I would cry talking about it, but no dresses don't look good on me. That top heavy like that. My legs are insane. They're gorgeous. I love my legs covered up in every dress I wear with the biggest part of me accented in every dress I wear forever. That's all it's always been. So I never even wanted to get married. I never said yes to being in people's weddings As a bridesmaid, I hate wearing a gown. The thought of wearing a gown gives me extreme. I can't show the best feature on my body, which is my legs. And so I'm in a wedding in October and it's hard to pick a dress. I'm having a hard time picking my favorite.

There's so many great ones. It looks so good. So cool.

It's so cool. It is so cool. Being in a bikini is totally different. Just putting on anything that I want to wear and knowing that it's going to look good. It used to be like I would try on a lot of things every morning to find something that looked okay. And now I try on too many things because everything looks so good and I'm like, oh, I haven't worn that yet. So I feel like I've spent more money on my new closet.

But that's okay. How exciting, because you're describing something that I think a lot of us feel about whatever parts of our body or face, that there's something sometimes that nobody would know it, but that holds you back. And so you're talking about not participating in weddings or thinking maybe I'll never get married. I'm not going to look good.

Literally never ever fantasized about getting married because of the gown situation. I just never wanted all of that.

And describe that sort of mental release once it's solved, how much brain space is opened up for other things?

I specialize in a treatment at my salon, so I specialize in keratin treatments. I work in an indoor/outdoor salon. I work in the heat every single day, every single summer, especially this time of year, it's pretty miserable. And going into yet another summer where I'm going to have to somehow find a way to cover up my upper body, but stay cool. I have a lot of oversized linen shirts in my closet still. Just nice white oversized linen shirts that were breezy because that was a way that I found to cover up, but then I just look like a moo moo, you know. And so that was another thing, a way for me to show my body and my features. I used to wear a lot of short, short shorts.

You have great legs, right?

Yes. And it's the only thing that makes me feel pretty to show off. And so as I've aged, I'm like, I can't still be going to nice dinners in La Jolla. My salon's in La Jolla now, and I'm trying to elevate my entire look and I can't show off the one thing that's pretty. And so if I have to cover that up too, just because I'm aging and I think it's more appropriate, less is more. And then I also have to wear something baggy on the top. Now I'm just covered in baggy clothes. I'm not living like this. I don't want to live like this. So even if my lower belly were to come back, I wouldn't really care because I wear mostly high-waisted pants, crop tops or tight top now that's tucked in, no back and bra fat, no armpit fat. I just look smooth.

I feel so much better. I film content for my salon as well, not just for my skinny B B L page, but I get filmed from behind all the time, and it's just so nice to just have that peace of mind that all the footage I'm going to be able to use. I'm not going to look back at photos and go, oh my God, how did you not see that when you were taking my photo? And we do focus on things that we're insecure about, but I don't have anything to focus on now. There's nothing left.

How fun is that? How fun is that?

It's dangerous is what?

It's because you go shopping. I totally get it. I know exactly what you're saying. That's too cute. So do a little, roll back for us. So push back a little bit so we can see that cute waist. Look at you.

I know.

Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

And from the side. I still look very, very natural. I am wearing the faja today. This dress is actually a little large.

Fabulous.

I bought it kind of earlier on in my procedure, but yeah.

Okay.

Oh, yes. Just all up here. Yeah,

Yeah, yeah.

Like honestly, Monique haven't been super gymming this summer. I've been a little lazy because I just look so good. So I'm like, oh, I'll go tomorrow. But I will say that even with having relaxed on that, I'm definitely still keeping my diet, but I haven't had a single negative thing happen. I do swell up a little bit when I take my faja off for an extended period of time, which is normal, but there hasn't been a downside yet. I'm still waiting,

Waiting for this last shoe to drop or whatever they say. You're like, wait.

Yeah. I have no shame that I did what I did. I put it all over the internet like, you know what? I hope this helps somebody else. I feel so good. It would be hard to feel ashamed about it. I feel so happy with my results, happy with the change I made to feel more confident. I mean, I can't imagine being ashamed of it. I will tell it to everybody like, oh, I've had work done. I mean, my extension, my hair looks amazing. It's extensions.

It does. It is.

Yeah. It's not real. 10/10. Recommend Dr. Brahme and go to follow my page if you want some advice after.

Yeah.

I actually need to film.

No, I think that's great.

I need to film a TikTok today because I did do this really creative thing I think has really helped. And I bought a queen size memory foam three inch, cut it in half, so it's like the size of two twins cut a hole out of it where my butt goes, and I sleep on that every night still. So I sleep in this cloud of memory foam with a donut hole.

Oh, I love this.

And so it hasn't put any pressure, or tension, because you don't want. The whole goal is that you don't put any pressure or a tension on where the fat is trying to survive. And so that's why they want you sleeping on your stomach. Well, I told Dr. Brahme about my little contraption. He's like, I think that's going to work great. So I think I need to tell the world about it.

I think you do. I think that would be so helpful.

I've tried to sleep on regular beds now. No, I think everyone should be sleeping on a bed with a hole for your butt.

It's genius though. It's really genius. I love hearing these things because, well, because not only does it help you, but it helps all the patients after you to go, oh, okay, that's a good idea. I think that would be worth it.

Versus the zero gravity chair. Yeah, the zero gravity chair thing was cutting circulation at my hips, cuz I was so wide. Yeah, no, it's been a lot of fun. Honestly. I just been having a good time.

Well, and I love that you're sharing it, and I appreciate you coming on the podcast today and sharing the experience and sort of, it's so fun to talk to somebody who has gone through it, lived through it, who can share the wisdom of what to do, what's going to put you in the best position, what not to do. Because really it's all just about sharing that knowledge because some people just don't know. And I think our podcast has been a great way to help get information like this out to patients so they think, okay, here's somebody who,

Firsthand, firsthand knowledge is the best information you can get. Because the doctor, if the doctor hasn't had the surgery himself or herself, it's hard for them to explain what's going to happen to you. And so hearing it from someone who's been through it, I wish I would have maybe come across your podcast prior to surgery. That probably would've helped me a lot too. Yeah, it's been a lot of fun. And I had a great experience with you all from the second I got that text message, to the response, you were able to get me in right away. I mean, my surgery from the moment that I booked to the day of surgery was two weeks and a day, and I had to do my post-op only 10 days before, which they like to

Oh, the pre-op? Yeah. Yeah.

And they like it to be two weeks before, but they made it work for me and for my schedule. And the post-op has been great. I had one small little question on Sunday, and Dr. Brahme called me right away and on a holiday, it was Memorial Day weekend, and I was having some discomfort from anesthesia, just, you can't go to the bathroom. And I was like, is this normal? I'm freaking out.

Yeah. The pain meds.

And he called me right away and walked me through it and told me what to buy. And then my post-op, he was so happy. You could tell he was like going like, damn, I'm good. Sometimes you do such a good job at something, you're like,

Well yeah. It's like if you're doing someone's hair and it makes a transformation, you're like, this is a wonderful feeling.

Still surprise yourself. Yeah. So thank you Dr. Brahme. And yeah,

Well, thank you again for coming on, Kaylie.

My pleasure.

And sharing and your, let's give everybody your handles again, how they,

The Skinny B B L on TikTok and on Instagram. And I do think I'm starting a YouTube for that as well.

Oh, fun.

Then if you want to keratin treatment,

I know I can walk over there, right?

SD keratin on TikTok and Instagram ton Instagram as well. And if you just want to follow my life, Kaylie Babajan too, because I do post a lot of hair and body stuff and just how I'm really living, what my daily life looks like post-op and all of that good stuff.

Oh, good. Well, we'll put all that in the show notes for everybody.

Awesome.

And so for everyone listening, check the show notes for links. And if you were thinking about a consultation, there's no charge for consultation to ask any questions you want. We can do it for you. And if you're out of town, if you're not in the San Diego area, we do have a lot of patients who come from out of town to see our doctors and have a little rejuvenation vacation so they can do a Zoom consult if it's something that you're not nearby. But if you're nearby, great. And we have a lot of before and afters, so check the show notes. And I love that you're sharing your transformation and we'll be able to see as you go along. And so thank you again,

Yeah, of course.

for telling your story.

And if anybody has any questions to me, I love talking about this kind of stuff. I'm an open book and I will answer honestly, and so feel free to reach out to me as well.

Oh, that's nice. That's nice. It's always good to have a little buddy to be able to just bounce something off. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. Well, thank you again.

Thank you, Monique.

Thanks everybody for listening, and we'll see you again next time.

Take a screenshot of this podcast episode with your phone and show it at your consultation or appointment, or mention the promo code PODCAST to receive $25 off any service or product of $50 or more at La Jolla Cosmetic. La Jolla Cosmetic is located just off the I-5 San Diego Freeway in the XiMed Building on the Scripps Memorial Hospital campus. To learn more, go to lj csc.com or follow the team on Instagram at lj csc. The La Jolla Cosmetic Podcast is a production of The Axis, t h e a x i s.io.