A Phenomenological Research on the Lived Experience of Lipoabdominoplasty Clients

Every year, a lot of cosmetic procedures are performed on female clients. Liposuction is one of the most common cosmetic surgeries conducted with abdominoplasty. With regard to the increasing number of lipoabdominoplasty clients and the probability of developing severe complications, the question of “what is the lived experience of people undergoing lipoabdominoplasty” comes to mind. This study was conducted to explore the females' experiences of undergoing a lipoabdominoplasty surgery. This study was a phenomenological qualitative research. Individual unstructured interviews were used for data collection. Participants were selected among female clients of lipoabdominoplasty. Van Manen method was used for data analysis. Seventeen female lipoabdominoplasty clients participated in the present study. Three main themes were emerged from the participants’ experiences, including “from good to bad”, “pain for freedom” and “interminable worries”. Findings showed that most of the participants faced a number of individual and social problems due to being “fat” and “ugly”. They tried different ways to gain beauty and physical fitness. They tended to cosmetic surgery to meet their goal fast and easily. They faced and accepted the surgery dangers and complications and underwent it. Finishing the recovery period and being relieved from surgery complications, they met their beauty goals and experienced a feeling of satisfaction to some extent; but, they faced worries and annoying mental involvements with how to maintain the surgery results. Based on the participants’ experiences, undergoing lipoabdominoplasty is accompanied with risks, continuous worries and mental involvements. The participants advised the people who think of a liposuction or an abdominoplasty surgery to be careful and not to think about surgery as the first way to get rid of fatness and unfitness.