Post-surgery fajas by procedure: lipo, BBL and more

Each surgery treats a different area, and your faja needs to compress exactly that area. That's why the garment for a lipo 360 isn't the one for a breast augmentation, and after a BBL you want a faja that doesn't squeeze your butt, even if that same faja also works for other surgeries. This guide goes procedure by procedure: which garment you need, in which stage, which MeliBelt styles we carry and what they cost in dollars. If you'd rather have a tool tell you, Find your faja gives you the answer in a few steps. Find your faja  points you to the right style.

Quick summary: your surgery and your faja

Below, we explain each row. Keep your surgeon's instructions handy: if they asked for something specific, that comes before any guide.

Lipo and lipo 360

Lipo 360 works on the whole contour of your trunk: abdomen, waist, back and flanks. Your faja has to wrap that entire circle, not just the front, and from stage 2 on it's usually a long garment that goes down to the knee so no edges dig into treated areas. Front hooks save you from wrestling with your faja while moving still hurts.

For the first few days you wear the garment the clinic gives you. Once your surgeon clears firm compression, you move to a knee-length stage 2 faja, like the 3040 with built-in bra or the open-bust 3027; if your hips need more room than your waist, the full-hip 3034. Many surgeons also want an abdominal board underneath, like the T004, so the pressure stays even and no folds form. Later you move to one with boning: we walk through it step by step in stage 2 and 3 fajas.

Tummy tuck (abdominoplasty)

A tummy tuck leaves a long, low scar, and for the first days standing up straight is hard. What you want is a high-waist faja that comes up over your belly button, supports your abdomen when you walk, and has no seam sitting on the incision. Opening in front is almost a must: bending down to pull up a closed faja is exactly what you can't do that week.

The same front-hook stage 2 fajas work here, and an abdominal board only if your surgeon calls for one. If you had a tummy tuck along with breast work and lipo, what's known in the U.S. as a mommy makeover, you'll wear two garments at once: the faja below and the bra up top.

BBL: first rule, don't squeeze the butt

In a BBL, fat from other areas is moved to your butt. That fat needs blood flow to survive, so the rule is that your faja must not compress your butt. BBL fajas compress where the fat was taken from, which is the abdomen, waist, back and thighs, and leave your butt inside a butt-lift area with no direct pressure.

For the first weeks, wear whatever your surgeon tells you. From stage 2 on there are full-hip fajas, which give you more room in the hips with the same waist, like the 2042 with built-in bra and crotch zipper or the thin-strap 2027. All the compatible styles are in BBL fajas. As for sitting, lying down or using a cushion, ask your surgeon: every surgeon has their own guidelines.

Breast surgery: a bra, not a faja

After a breast augmentation, reduction or lift, you wear a post-surgery bra. It needs to support you without underwire or boning, be gentle on your skin, and close in front so you don't have to raise your arms over your head. The 5013 bra  closes in the front and is hypoallergenic. Its size comes from two measurements, your underbust and your bust, on the bra chart on its product page.

If your surgeon gives you a band to stabilize your implants, that's a different garment, and they'll tell you how to wear it.

Arms, back and chin

• Arm lipo: the post-surgery sleeves 5024 cover your arms and back and leave the bust open, so you can pair them with your bra.
• Upper back and sides: the 5018 vest, which has wide straps so they don't dig in and closes with hooks.
• Chin or neck: the 5010 chin strap, which closes with Velcro and adjusts as the swelling goes down.
• If he's the one who had surgery: the men's compression vest 4010.

C-section and postpartum

A C-section is surgery too, but the faja comes in later and more gently. While the incision is fresh there's no compression; once your doctor gives the okay, you start with a postpartum faja a few hours a day. You'll find the styles and how to choose them in postpartum fajas, for example the 1030 panty style with built-in bra.

Understanding stage, coverage and hip fit

Every product page shows the faja's stage and hip fit. Stage 2 has no boning and most stage 3 styles have boning; full-hip fit is the same pattern with more room in the hips. Squeezing harder too early doesn't speed anything up and can be uncomfortable, so your surgeon decides when to move from one to the next.

Almost all MeliBelt fajas are made of powernet, a firm elastic fabric that holds up through many hours of wear. Several have an inner lining with aloe capsules, and the 5013 bra is hypoallergenic. Each faja's exact fabric content is on its product page.

Measuring yourself at home, in inches

Your faja size has nothing to do with your jeans size. You need a tape measure and two measurements: waist and hips, with the tape parallel to the floor and not pulled tight. Look up those numbers in the size guide, which is in inches with centimeters alongside. If you fall between two sizes, go with the larger one: right after surgery, the hooks let you close it tighter as the swelling goes down.

Ordering from any state

Choose your faja and size, pay online with card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or Cash App Pay, and your package ships via UPS or USPS with tracking. Shipping is free on orders $100+; under that, it's $15. Sales tax is calculated from your address before you pay. All sales are final, so measure yourself before ordering; if we made a mistake (wrong style, wrong size or a defect), let us know within 7 days and we'll make it right at no cost to you. We explain it all in returns and replacements.

FAQ

This guide is for information only and doesn't replace your doctor. Which garment to wear, with what compression and for how long is up to your surgeon.