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How Effective is Liposuction on the Love Handles?

asked 1 year ago by mjt0419 in Marathon, ON
Latest answer by Julio Garcia, MD
Question viewed 1,366 times
Tags: 130-149 lbs, 5 ft 4 in to 5 ft 7 in, effective, 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?

25 answers to How Effective is Liposuction on the Love Handles?

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
Beverly Hills Dermatologic Surgeon

www.DrDavidHansen.com

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 .

S. Sean Younai, MD
Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon

www.beautifulself.com

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

Max Polo, MD
Miami Plastic Surgeon

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.

Leonard Hochstein, MD
Miami Plastic Surgeon

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

David S. Rosenberg, MD
Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon

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

Julio Garcia, MD
Las Vegas Plastic Surgeon

lvcosmeticsurgery.com

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

Robert L. Kraft, MD
New York Plastic Surgeon

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

Tom J. Pousti, MD
San Diego Plastic Surgeon

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

Ronald Shelton, MD
Manhattan Dermatologist

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

Deason Dunagan, MD
Huntsville Plastic Surgeon

Liposuction - Flanks, Excess Skin, Excess Fat - Best Treatments(s)?

Hi mjt0419 in Marathon, ON, Often there are very few absolute answers. You certainly could have a belt lipectomy - lots of people could - but it's a much bigger procedure to go through than a standard abdominoplasty, even with some lipo at the same time. It may a better compromise to do just that: a full tummy tuck with lipo of your flanks. No single procedure is going to give you a "perfect" result - if you do a belt lipectomy the contour may be... more

Alan Engler, MD
New York Plastic Surgeon

Liposuction works for love handles.

Liposuction works very well for love handles. Based on what I can see from your photos you would be a good candidate for a tummy tuck and liposuction of your love handles. Belt lipectomies are usually reserved for patients who have had massive weight loss and have very loose skin all the way around their midsection.

Sanjiv Kayastha, MD
Albany Plastic Surgeon

www.kplasticsurgery.com

Liposuction for Love Handles

Liposuction is a fantastic treatment for love handles. Based on your pictures, you look like you would have a great result from the liposuction. However, looking at your anterior abdomen, I really would suggest a fully tummy tuck / abdominoplasty as well as flank / love handle liposuction for the best results. Thanks for posting pictures - it make giving you suggested more meaning full and also more informative for other patients. Good luck. more

David Shafer, MD
New York Plastic Surgeon

www.ShaferPlasticSurgery.com

Liposuction for love handles

Liposuction works very well for love handles! If you have decent skin tone in that area, you should do fine with a tummy tuck and liposuction of your love handles. You may be able to pinch loose skin on your lower back, but I wouldn't expect you to have loose hanging skin there.

Carmen Kavali, MD
Atlanta Plastic Surgeon

How effective is liposuction for love handles?

Liposuction is VERY effective for the love handles. I recommend liposuction of your lower back and love handles, and abdominoplasty. You do not need a belt procedure - this will involve unnecessary scarring and cost. Your operation would begin with you lying on your tummy to allow the liposuction. You would then be turned over (while still asleep) to complete the abdominoplasty. With all due respect to your plastic surgeon consultant, I wonder whether you should seek a... more

Eric Pugash, MD
Vancouver Plastic Surgeon

Liposuction vs. Belt Lipectomy

Whether you need a "Belt Lipectomy" or simply doing liposuction alone needs to be determined by an examination. It is purely whether you have adequate skin tone of the love handles to be able to redrape the skin on its own. While one cannot determine without the exam, it would be my opinion from the photos that liposuction would be adequate. You need to be aware that your lumbar roles (creases of the mid back) my not completely go away with liposuction but there should be... more

Scott R. Brundage, M.D.
Grand Rapids Plastic Surgeon

Love Handle Lipo is Very Effective: Good Combination with Tummy Tuck, Too

Dear mjt: Thanks for providing you photos, although an in-person consult allows the best assessment. Liposuction of the flank and iliac areas (love handles) is not difficult and often provides wonderful improvements. Waistlines shrink. Clothing fits better. The figure has more of an hour-glass shape. Skin looseness does not commonly happen. The buttock area looks better without the excess above it. This is often combined with abdominoplasty -... more

Sutton Graham II, MD
Greenville Plastic Surgeon

Liposuction Of The Love Handles Can Be Very Effective

Liposuction of the love handles (or flanks) is one of the most successful areas for good results. This is because there can be a lot of fat in the love handles and liposuction can be done fairly aggressively as the fear of skin irregularities and asymmetries is less risky in this area with very thick skin. While a circumferential belt lipectomy would work, it is more surgery and scar than you really need to get a good result. Your tummy tuck should be an extended one (scar beyond the hips)... more

Barry L. Eppley, MD, DMD
Indianapolis Plastic Surgeon

www.eppleyplasticsurgery.com

Liposuction for the "love handles"

Liposuction in the "love handle" are is very effective and will create a big difference. I think a traditional tummy tuck will fall short in providing the optimal outcome judging from your pictures. A belt lipectomy might be too much. In patients with excess tissue and fat in the "love handle" area I recommend aggressive liposuction and an extended abdominoplasty. An extended abdominoplasty is much like a traditional tummy tuck, but the incision extends to the flank area.... more

Frank Agullo, MD
El Paso Plastic Surgeon

www.elpasoplasticsurgery.com

At minimum, a tummy tuck and liposuction of the love handle area would be helpful

It is difficult to make accurate recommendations from your photos. However, it appears that with the considerable laxity of the skin of your abdomen with protrusion and the fat in the love handle area, an abdominoplasty and liposuction of the love handle area would really help improve your contour and appearance.

Steven Turkeltaub, MD
Scottsdale Plastic Surgeon

www.turkeltaub.com

Best procedure for you is liposuction of your abdomen and love handles (hips, waist) in combination with a tummy tuck

In order to create a new waist line and get rid of the redundant skin and fat around on you waist and abdomen it is best to do liposuction of you waist (love handle area) and your abdomen, in combination with an abdominal paniculectomy and plication diastasis recti (suturing you abdominal muscles together). With the liposuction you can get the narrowing of the hip area and thinning of abdominal flap. With the tummy tuck you can get rid of the extra skin and with the muscle... more

Carl W. "Rick" Lentz III, MD
Daytona Beach Plastic Surgeon

Lipo and tummy tuck

It looks like you are a good candidate for a tummy tuck. I can noot tell form the photos if a belt is good for you. Liposuction of the love handles is a great adjunctive procedure and treating your back rolls as well can help.

Steven Wallach, MD
Manhattan Plastic Surgeon

What to do about love handles?

Liposuction works great for love handles actually, so I would disagree with your plastic surgeon. Having said that, liposuction may not be the answer for you given the amount of skin laxity you have. Pictures are great, but nothing beats the real thing. It's very difficult for a plastic surgeon to give you a definitive opinion without doing a physical exam. I would recommend getting another consultation from a board-certified plastic surgeon who performs a lot of... more

Elan B. Singer, MD
Manhattan Plastic Surgeon

Liposuction with a Tummy Tuck

Liposuction is very effective in conjunction with a tummy tuck procedure, but it will not take care of excess skin. You look like you could need an extended tummy tuck to treat the skin along the side of your waist as it extends along your back (this must be determined by your operating surgeon). Lipo can effectively improve the contour by removing the unwanted tissue deeper along the waist. This should be significantly better after your surgery. Best of luck Vincent Marin, MD,... more