GPS LIPO: Is it worth it? (Photo)

Question

I am going to get GPS lipo with skin tightening in a week or two. I am getting 3 areas- lower belly, top belly, & my waist/flanks. GPS lipo is a procedure that is done while under local anesthesia (lidocaine.) I am wondering if GPS lipo would be a good option for me considering I am not very "big" but I have these problem areas on my stomach. Thanks!

Jason Emer, MD · Answer

if you have loose skin you will need a tummy tuck or internal heating with renuvion.  if you do liposuction alone and have loose skin you will be smaller but looser.

my whole practice is doing lipoabdominoplasty, or at least liposuction with internal heating (which is not the gold standard for skin tightening with body contouring).

the smaller you are before liposuction the more contouring you can get from the procedure. most of my liposuction patients get pre and post surgical optimization with hormonal therapy (see link to help boost their weight loss before surgery and help them heal after).

You need a formal evaluation by an expert in body shaping and contouring to determine what is best.  Traditional liposuction awake and smart liposuction are old methods and do very poorly for tightening skin or significant skin tightening or contouring.  Small problem areas can be improved slightly by these methods.  The best in body contouring not only removes fat with energy devices like VASER ultrasound but also internally heat the skin with radio-frequency devices such as J PLASMA/RENUVION, InMode BodyTite, ThermiRF to heat the under surface of the skin and tighten it at the same time as fat removal. These combinations are called 4D HIDEF VASER contouring and can only be done by a well . trained body contouring specialist. At the same time fat should be harvested, PRP and stem cells added and injected into muscles or indentations/cellulite to get body shaping and contouring.  This is known as a Brazilian butt lift when you inject the fat to the buttock for contouring and lifting, but fat can also be used in areas such as the chest/breast, arms/shoulders, calves and face.  Cellulite should also be treated with cellfina, sculptra, subcision and/or fillers such as bellafill, renuva synthetic fat, or sculptra.  If skin is very loose before surgery then it will need to be removed such as lower abdominal skin (tummy tuck/abdominoplasty), breast skin (breast lift), arm skin (brachioplasty).  Overall you need a full assessment, but simple liposuction alone will not tighten skin and needs a combination of various methods -- fat removal, skin tightening, defining, fat grafting, skin removal -- to get the best in body contouring and body sculpting.  Dr. Emer.

Gary M. Horndeski, MD · Answer

From your side view, you can see that your anterior abdominal wall protrudes outward significantly. This can be slightly improved with liposuction but will not be corrected. If you are not planning future pregnancies, I recommend abdominoplasty with mesh reinforcement. The mesh creates a more hourglass figure by compressing the abdominal wall resulting in early satiety and helps maintain a reduced weight.

Best Wishes,

Gary Horndeski, M.D.

Best Wishes,

Gary Horndeski, M.D.

Daniel Barrett, MD · Answer

Dear Yenny0803,
it is hard to tell for sure without an examination. Based on your photos, it looks like you would benefit from liposuction. Local anesthesia can be used to treat smaller areas. If you are considering a surgery, I would suggest you to consult a board-certified plastic surgeon. Only after a thorough examination you will get more information and recommendations.
Daniel Barrett, MD
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

Connie Hiers, MD, FACS · Answer

Based on your photos, you are an excellent candidate for awake liposuction, or even liposuction done under general anesthesia.

Darryl J. Blinski, MD · Answer

Any type of liposuction could improve your 360 appearances. I prefer traditional aggressive lipo under light general anesthesia with tumescence infiltration.  Fee $6,000.

Mats Hagstrom, MD (license on probation) · Answer

You would be interesting to see the total number of creative marketing terms people how are used to camouflage traditional Liposuction.

In the end liposuction is liposuction. Every single form uses a small stainless steel tube connected to a source of vacuum to remove fat after placing tumecsent or numbing solution.

If you want to get the best results then don’t go chasing after technology, devices or marketing terms.

Instead focus exclusively and finding the most talented providers who focus their efforts and patient care rather than trying to sell their services.

The following is a list of general recommendations for those seeking cosmetic surgery. Perhaps you’ll find these useful.

1. I recommend patients avoid traveling long distances for elective surgical procedures. There are of course instances where there is a lack of local talent and traveling to some degree is inevitable. If traveling for the procedure patients should be ready to travel to have the consultation, post operative appointments and follow up should there be issues or complications.
Patients sometimes do not appreciate the importance of in person consultations, that complications do happen or the number of people who have issues with their results or need revisions.

2. Schedule multiple consultations with different providers in your area who seem to have a good reputation for the procedure you’re interested in. Starting with at least five consultations seems like a reasonable number to me.

3. Whenever possible schedule in person consultations.  
4. During in person consultations ask each plastic surgeon to show all of their before and after pictures for the procedure you’re interested in.

The goal is not to see the best results of their career but to get an idea of what average results look like and get some type of confirmation of how many of these procedures that provider has performed.

Ask to see results that were not as good as the doctor would’ve hoped for and talk about the differences in outcomes.

Honest and experienced providers should have no problems presenting this type of information.

A highly experienced plastic surgeon should have hundreds of before and after pictures for the procedure you’re interested in. At a minimum at least 20+.

5. Read all the reviews on various physician review websites paying close attention and avoiding providers with any significant number of justified negative reviews.  Providers with an abundance of reviews often have aggressive marketing campaigns.

The plastic surgeons I respect most all have the single variable of not having justified negative reviews on their online profiles. 
In my opinion justified negative reviews are far more telling than an abundance of positive reviews.

6. Avoid scheduling for surgery or making a deposit on the day of the consultation.  Give yourself some time to think about the decision and make sure you finished all scheduled consultations before committing to having surgery that will permanently and irreversibly change your body.

When in doubt slow down and schedule more consultations.

Choosing the right plastic surgeon is the single most important variable to having a positive experience.

7. Don’t go chasing after technology or names of certain equipment. Instead focus all your efforts on finding the most experienced and talented board-certified plastic surgeon.

Best,

Mats HagstromMD

Robert T. Buchanan, MD (retired) · Answer

This question is impossible to answer since you did not say what you were spending on the procedure, find of training and experience was of the doctor you were using, or what kind of results that doctor generally gets.  All surgery is a balance of costs versus benefits.  With a surgeon with significant experience in liposuction, you should get an excellent result.  You have an ideal problem for liposuction in that you have localized fat accumulation in defined areas.  The costs are the monetary cost, your time away from your normal activities, the risks of the procedure, and the likelihood of getting the result that you desire.  Complications and lack of obtaining your desired result simply add to these costs I having to see someone else or redo the procedure.  The most important thing in reducing these costs is to choose a very experienced surgeon who does this procedure routinely and obtains excellent results.  The type of liposuction makes absolutely no difference.  I have been doing liposuction since being trained by the Europeans in the 1st course in the US.  I then studied it extensively to determine if it was a reasonable procedure.  I have seen and tried multiple different methods.  None of these has done a better job than traditional liposuction.  1 of the things they have done, is markedly increase the cost which then gets passed on to you, the consumer.  1 of the other things that has happened is that the companies that make the machines will sell them to any position no matter what his training or background.  There are, therefore, a significant number of markedly unqualified physicians doing liposuction.  They see it as a moneymaker and something very easy.  I also do not understand the risks of the procedure which are absolutely significant.  All they see is a few very small incisions on the skin without recognizing the significant physiologic changes below the skin from the liposuction.  In fact, liposuction is 1 of the most dangerous cosmetic procedures when done improperly.  You will have to answer your self whether this procedure will be worth it or not.  Hopefully I have given you some information on which to base that decision.

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