How Effective is Liposuction on the Love Handles?

I just came back from a consult. I'm looking at getting a tummy tuck with lipo in my love handles. I'm 5'4" tall and weigh 140lbs. At my lightest of 128lbs my waist was just under 36". I want to not only get rid of my fat and hanging skin in my belly but also get rid of my love handles and back fat. My PS recommended a belt procedure with lipo for best results but this scares me and is more money than I want to spend. He said love handles are a hard area to lipo. What do you recommend?

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25 Doctor Answers | Asked by mjt0419 in Marathon, ON

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Liposuction On "Love Handles"

Liposuction is usually extremely effective for contouring the flanks or “love handles”. If your plastic surgeon recommended a beltplasty procedure, you may have too much excess or loose skin in the flank region to obtain an ideal result with liposuction alone. Just as with contouring the abdomen, contouring the back and flanks may involve a lift procedure, liposuction alone, or a combination of the two. The back and flanks are probably more likely to be successfully treated... more

Liposuction with an Abdominoplasty

The answer really depends on your ultimate goals. If you simply want to contour and do not mind a little excess skin then doing liposuction in conjunction with a tummy tuck should be great. I think in your case that should be enough as I routinely perform this type of surgery with going into the back are with the scar. Just remember you can always add a skin tightening procedure in the future if your goals are not completely met.

Love handle lipo

Lipo is great for love handles! However, if you have excess skin, you may also need to have a procedure, like a body lift, to address that. Sometimes, just looking at photos, instead of the whole person, does not give us as plastic surgeons enough of an idea of your particular issues, but I'm guessing from your measurements and photos that youare a little overweight. I woudl first recommend that you try to lose 20 lbs though lifestyle modifications including... more

Liposuction is extremely effective on most love handles/hips.

You should do great with liposuction on your love handles/hips. Let your doc do it when doing your tummy tuck and I hope you enjoy the results.

David Hansen, MD

19 reviews

Beverly Hills Dermatologic Surgeon

www.DrDavidHansen.com

Love handles and liposuction

I think love handles or flanks are actually good areas for liposuction. The area is fibrous, making the removal of fat a little more difficult, so the surgeon needs to work a little harder, but the skin is thick there and shrinks quite well. I prefer to use ultrasonic-assisted liposuction there to make it easier to accomplish the fat removal. Removing the fat in the love handles will also give the buttocks a more round contour as the shoulders have been shaved down from the love handle area... more

Liposuction for lovehandles

Liposuction can be an effective technique for love handles. I do have concern that, given the laxity of the skin in your abdomen that the same lack of skin tone could apply to your flanks as well. This can only be assessed in a consutation with a board certified plastic surgeon. From the photographs, it would appear that you would need an abdominoplasty to address the abdominal bulge. Every plastic surgeon makes their own assessment of whether to operate on both the abdomen and the back... more

Muffin top/love handle treatment?

Congratulations on what you've accomplished and thank you for the question. Treatment of the stubborn muffin top involves excision (lipectomy) of excess skin and adipose tissue. Liposuction surgery alone will potentially leave you with loose skin and an unsatisfactory result. Patients who are undergoing a standard tummy tuck procedure should be aware however that often an “extended” tummy tuck is necessary to treat the muffin top area. This... more

Tummy tuck and liposuction love handles

Love handles are usually straight forward to treat with liposuction but your mid flanks are full too and they are pushing down on the love handles. So in your case, you will see a shelf of fat hanging down over the area of the love handles once the swelling of the surgery goes away and there is maximum retraction of the tissues. There may be a slighlty greater risk during the surgery when a tummy tuck and liposuction are both done together, and this may increase if the upper... more

Liposuction on Love Handles

After looking at your photographs, I think you could achieve a very nice improvement by having a tummy tuck, tightening of your tummy muscles and liposuction over the love handle area. I think you might get some very nice improvement without having to have the belt lipectomy at this point in your life. However, I do agree with your other surgeon that over time and continued aging, the belt lipectomy would benefit you. So what your surgeon may have been thinking is that taking care of it all... more

Liposculpture for treatment of love handles & "muffin tops"

Large volume liposuction and liposculpture is very effective in the treatment of love handles and "muffin tops". I have had patients that were able to go down several sizes after liposuction procedure- for example from size 12 to six. With liposculpture you can have a more curvaceous and proportional figure .