Laser lipo worth it? (Photo)

The fact that you’re abdomen doesn’t look the way you want does not necessarily mean you have a fat distribution problem.
The first step is to get an assessment and a clear understanding what the primary problem is.
Without including pictures, we can’t begin to make an assessment.
Are you male or female?
If you’re a woman, do you have children?
You may or you may not be a good candidate for Liposuction.
Laser ads virtually no improvement over any other form of liposuction.
The outcome of Liposuction is purely based on two variables.
The first is the patient candidacy for the procedure and the second is who does the operation.
The equipment makes no difference.
If some equipment brand was better than the others, then we would all be using the same equipment.
Plastic surgeons can afford to buy the equipment they need.
The problem with going to Sonobello is that they use commission sales people to do the consultation.
You will not meet with the surgeon. The commission sales people are not appropriately trained to differentiate who is going to get good results and who isn’t because they’re not doing the procedure. I suggest you read the reviews on the websites, like yelp to get a better understanding of previous patients experiences with this company.
It’s possible to have a good outcome from Sonobello.
It requires that the patient is an excellent candidate and that they be scheduled with an excellent surgeon.
Both are possible.
If you read the reviews, you’ll see that they are some of the worst in the industry.
The reason for this is that they promote the procedure for patients who are not good candidates for Liposuction in the first place.
They’re also slow to let go of doctors who don’t have the skill and experience to deliver good work.
That said the surgeons who have a lot of experience working for this company tend to have more Liposuction experience than most plastic surgeons will ever get in their career.
My personal recommendation is to stay away.
I think the reviews speak for themselves.
The laser adds nothing to Liposuction.
Laser assisted Liposuction was pretty popular in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Most plastic surgeons quickly recognized that the laser failed it to deliver any skin tightening and their popularity has pretty disappeared. The latest device being towed to tighten skin in conjunction with Liposuction is Renuvion.This device also utterly fails at delivering its intended purpose.
You may or you may not be a good candidate for Liposuction.
It would be helpful if you could include some pictures.
Take a look at how plastic surgeons take before and after pictures to get an idea of what we need.
If you do want to have a Liposuction, then I always always always recommend patients have multiple consultations before scheduling surgery.
There’s no correct number of consultations needed to find the right provider.
If you’re not meeting with the surgeon, who’s going to do your operation then you’re not really having a consultation.
You’re having a sales session.
Make sure you meet with the doctor who’s going to do the procedure.
During each consultation, ask each provider to open up their portfolio and show you their entire collection of before and after pictures of previous patients who had similar body characteristics.
You’re looking for people who had the same Candidacy for the procedure.
It’s really important to differentiate between skin laxity, excess subcutaneous fat, muscle separation from previous pregnancies or excess visceral fat. all of these tissue variables can affect the way the abdomen looks, but only subcutaneous fat is treated with liposuction.
If you’re lean and weigh 128 pounds then my best guess is you don’t have a problem with excess subcutaneous fat.
What you need is a quality assessment and then you can select the correct procedure whether it’s a tummy tuck, liposuction or doing nothing.
Delivering consistent quality Liposuction results is not easy or straightforward.
In reality most plastic surgeons aren’t particularly good at the procedure so there is that as well.
The key to a high-quality outcome is understanding your candidacy and then provider selection.
If you get those two variables correct then the chance of being disappointed is minimal.
If you get either one of those two variables wrong and then you stand a high chance of being disappointed or worse.
Thousands of people have been left disfigured by poorly done, Liposuction.
The process is inherently, confusing and misleading.
The Internet is not a good source for information because everything available to you is biased.
There are remarkably a few resources of quality information for cosmetic surgery that serve as patient advocacy without bias.
The take home message is twofold.
Understand if you’re a candidacy for Liposuction in the first place and secondly find a surgeon who is mastered this procedure.
You can get both of these variables taken care of in the same manner.
Do that by scheduling multiple in person consultations.
Bring pictures of your body taken the same way plastic surgeons take before and after pictures.
Ask providers to show you all of their before and after pictures of previous patients who look just like you do.
And experience, plastic surgeon should have no difficulty showing you the before, and after pictures of at least 50 previous patients.
Highly experienced plastic surgeons should in fact have access to hundreds or preferably thousands of before, and after pictures to choose from.
Make sure the pictures you’re looking at our results done by the provider who’s going to do your procedure.
This is an issue when going to companies like Sonomello.
The companies has had 30 years to collect quality pictures.
That doesn’t mean your surgeon has the ability to deliver those results.
You can be assigned to a surgeon who was hired yesterday and has virtually no experience. You can be assigned to the surgeon who is going to be fired next week because they’ve had problem after problem.
This is why I generally recommend people go to private practice individuals or if you go to a corporate outfit then insist on consulting with the provider who’s going to do your operation.
This is an absolute minimum!
The absolute biggest mistake. Patients make is having virtual consultations.
This more or less eliminates the ability to properly vet the provider.
The second biggest mistake is scheduling only one consultation and then scheduling surgery.
The third biggest mistake is assuming that a plastic surgeon who is board-certified with years of experience and a handful of good reviews has mastered most plastic surgical procedures.
There’s no correct number of consultations needed to find the right provider.
The more consultations you scheduled the more likely you are to find the right provider for your needs.
You may in fact not to be a Liposuction candidate at all.
Consider reposting with abdominal pictures and you’ll get some feedback if this may be a viable option for you.
I generally don’t put too much emphasis on positive reviews.
Clinics and providers who have excessive numbers of positive reviews often have those numbers manipulated. The best plastic surgeons I know do not focus on self promotion.
They’re busy, taking care of patients and living their lives.
They have a busy practices from word of mouth and simply having reputation from the people they’ve taken care of.
Practices engaged in extensive social media campaigns, or those who pay for advertising are probably not the providers to go to.
I do however, give full credence to negative reviews.
Negative reviews almost always speak the truth.
Most plastic surgeons will get a mix of reviews.
It’s difficult to keep everybody happy.
When there is series of negative reviews back to back it usually represents a big red flag and people should be aware.
Poorly done Liposuction can leave you disfigured.
You’ll be reminded of the outcome every day for the rest of your life.
The time to be picky and critical of plastic surgeons is during the vetting process before you schedule the procedure.
I don’t think people can accurately select providers using computers.
It requires having in person consultations at which time it is your responsibility to vet the provider and make sure they can show you what seems like an endless supply of quality before and after pictures of people who look just like you.
When you find that you’re in the right place.
Went out, slow down and schedule more consultations.
If you get lost in all of the confusion, just remember patient candidacy and provider selection.
Those are the only variables that determine quality outcomes.
I use word recognition so my apologies if the response seems a bit rambling and has grammatical errors.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom MD