Liposuction results should be considered permanent and irreversible. Delivering consistent quality, liposuction results is more difficult than most people realize. The number of plastic surgeons who can consistently deliver high quality outcomes, or in the minority. There are substantial numbers of board-certified plastic surgeons, who are simply not good at the procedure. Collecting poorly done, Liposuction is difficult and the times not possible. Improving the outcome can be attempted through revision liposuction(removing more fat), fat transfer(attempting to restore, inappropriately, removed, fat) or a combination of both. Sometimes results can be improved by converting the procedure to a skin tightening operation like a full tummy tuck. If the problem is related to the lower abdomen and someone happens to be a good candidate for a tummy tuck in the first place. Usually slight improvements are possible, but it may not be possible to restore you to the type of results you had hoped for or your pre-procedure abdomen. Revision, Work, or secondary procedures, are technically much more difficult and complex both in assessment and treatment and primary procedures. I’ve already explained that the number of plastic surgeons who are truly excellent at Liposuction are not common. Because revision work is more complex and more difficult to need to be in the hands of a sufficiently talented provider goes without saying for somebody wanting to improve previously poorly done Liposuction. Your results have nothing to do with aftercare, compression, garments, or lymphatic massage. The results are simply a direct reflection of the lack of skill of your surgeon. To find the best provider, I suggest patients have multiple in person, consultations with local plastic surgeons, who seem to do a lot of the same procedure. During each consultation, ask each provider to open up your portfolio and show you their entire collection of before and after pictures of previous patient who had similar body characteristics to your own for whatever procedure you were interested in. An experienced plastic surgeon should have no difficulty showing you the before and after pictures of at least 50 previous patients. Being shown a handful of pre-selected images, representing the best results of a providers career is insufficient to get a clear understanding of what average results look like in the hands of each provider or how many of these procedures they’ve actually done. Restoring liposuction results with fat transfer often takes multiple procedures in order to get significant improvements. Recognize that any attempt at revising your outcome can easily make things worse. Be careful of providers who believe some certain device can fix your problem or that improving your outcome is easy. I suggest starting the process of beginning to vet providers to find the right provider to help you improve your situation. Take your time, and when, in doubt, slow down and schedule more consultations. Best, Mats Hagstrom, MD