Mother of three Ulvi approached Christinas Clinic with a wish to lose the excess weight she’d been battling with for years. Now, 18 months and 12 procedures later, even some of her close ones have had trouble recognising the new Ulvi.

Ulvi, what brought you to our clinic and the programme?

Someone else sent in my application for me. I actually don’t know who it was to this day. I was incredibly surprised when I got the call but talked it through with my close friends and family who all recommended I come and try, saying this might be my chance.

Your main concern was the 160kg you had reached over the years. How was the weight affecting your life?

My weight gain started to truly accelerate after the birth of my children, getting to and staying around 160kg for the past 7 to 8 years. We live in a house surrounded by the forest, with no immediate neighbours which I believe also made me lazier about my appearance.

I ended up hating going out and even when I did, sat in the corner and ‘kept an eye on our table’ rather than really engage. I also managed to always find excuses not to accept birthday and party invites. Ultimately, every woman wants to look great and at 160kg this was not how I felt. I wanted to lose the weight and realised that a gastric bypass operation might be an option if not the solution for me.

Can you please tell us a bit more about the gastric bypass procedure?

The gastric bypass was the first procedure for me and, as expected it was absolutely, even in retrospect, the long-awaited life-raft for me. A person at the stage I was at, needs a life-raft in order to become healthy and to carry on living and Dr. Viiklepp recommended the bypass as my solution.

I didn’t experience any pain after the surgery, particularly as it is a keyhole procedure with only minor incisions. Rather, the time after the surgery was a bit confusing for my body I think as it was no longer receiving all the guilty treats it had before. The recovery itself took about a month during which I lost my first 16kg. To date, I have shed 87kg. I would absolutely like to stress that a gastric bypass is not a magic cure but for me it was the foundation for my motivation to get myself together, to become healthier and to exercise and move more – 10km of walking a day became a routine which I continue, regardless of whether it is negative 20 degrees Celsius or raining outside.

You mentioned becoming healthier – do you see the bypass as something which, in addition to re-building your confidence, also improved your general wellbeing?

Yes, absolutely! Not only did the gastric bypass give me a lighter physique, which led the rest of my body, health and habits to follow. Where before I had to take quite a large amount of pills daily, I no longer need any of these as my legs are no longer in pain and my blood pressure has dropped from extremely high (sometimes up to 170) to a healthy and stable normal.

Relatively fast weight-loss often results in excess skin. How did you lose that?

To get rid of the unnecessary and excess skin, I needed surgery for a different part of my body every three months. The procedures I had included a brachioplasty (upper arm skin removal), abdominoplasty and pelvic panniculectomy. The brachioplasty included three surgeries and it was something I was very much looking forward to having done as the excess skin there was very noticeable and it was causing me issues when getting dressed. I’m so happy with my arms now! The abdominoplasty and panniculectomy helped remove about 2kg of excess skin from my abdomen and pelvic area.

Separately, my chin-line was adjusted with special thread. The chin area is one where the stretched out skin does not easily recede on its own and has a huge effect on our appearance given its high visibility. The procedure was fast and the results immediate, resulting in a longer- and thinner-looking neck.

You also went through a rhinoplasty and a breast lift with implants and liposuction. Are you happy with those results?

The rhinoplasty or nose job really improved the shape of my nose (the tip of which had always been slightly upwards) and had a huge effect on the overall appearance of my face so yes, I’m really pleased with the result.

My breasts were of course very different and much smaller after the significant weight-loss. I tried on different implant sizes and options during my consultation and together with the specialists we ended up deciding on the Motiva implants with safety chips. By now, I have become really used to them and can honestly say they are part of my body and who I am. Additionally, my breasts needed to be lifted having lost their firmness during both breastfeeding as well as the weight loss. The liposuction was very helpful in reducing the fat in areas more difficult to target simply with exercise and nutrition.

You also had a more feminine concern – too much hair on your face. What was the solution for this?

All the excess weight, in parallel with the extra pills and medicines I needed to take, caused hormonal changes and problems, resulting in noticeable and slightly increasing hair growth on my chin. I tried everything from singular picking to waxing but nothing worked. The specialists at Christinas Clinic proposed treating the area with laser hair removal and I started seeing result immediately after the first treatment as the rate of growth slowed, the hair became finer and less noticeable. This is a method which definitely yields results!

To reach the final desired results, you also received Juvederm filler and botulinum injections. What are your thoughts on these?

To be honest, I did not have much faith in filler and botulinum injections to begin with. They get a lot of hype and I had come to believe that that was all it was, just hype. However, I was positively surprised and incredibly pleased upon seeing the results! The Botox helped ease out the lines between my brows and on my forehead while the filler injections moisturised the skin and made it really glow. Additionally, the filler injections brought back some nice volume to my face and lips.

What impact in general have the procedures had on your life in retrospect?

I feel like a completely different person – I’m much less modest, more open and courageous. I love going out to dance and to different events, being socially active again. My confidence has come back. My friends have been joking about me trying to make up for the years I never went anywhere. I’ll be 40 in a few months but looking in the mirror now even I find that hard to believe. I was even asked to show my ID recently when buying a bottle of wine! I take things like this as huge compliments and they do make me feel amazing.

I get a lot of ‘wow’ comments – people wondering how a change this big can even be possible and, honestly, oftentimes I find myself wondering along with them!

Looking back, would you go through all of these procedures again and would you recommend aesthetic surgery to others?

I’d most certainly recommend it to others as it’s been a fantastic experience all-in-all. I don’t have a single negative comment to make about the whole experience – quite the opposite in fact as doing this with the Christinas Clinic team has been incredible and I’d direct anyone thinking about aesthetic surgery towards getting a consultation at Christinas Clinic. Nothing would make me happier than knowing that my story has inspired even just one other person to improve their quality of life!

Attention! This is a healthcare service. Christinas Clinic is licensed by the Health Board, permit L04361 (CBF Medical OÜ). The operations and procedures are performed by healthcare professionals.