Liposuction and Renuvion for more defined and tightened arms - should I be concerned about possible deformities? (photos)

Delivering consistent quality liposuction results is more difficult to believe. The surgeons are not as good at liposuction as they think.
I purchased the Renuvion device when it first came out for cosmetic purposes.
The device was initially designed to treat endometriosis.
After one year using the device I literally saw no subjective or objective skin tightening in any of the patients treated. None of my treated patients noticed any skin tightening.
This included making objective measurements between skin and markings such as moles or incision sites. There was literally no skin tightening.
I don’t believe the device delivers anything close to what is claimed and I have since sold a device regretting having ever purchased it.
Armor Liposuction is technically challenging and patients should be highly selective when choosing a provider for the procedure.
Knowing one plastic surgeon is completely insufficient when it comes to provider selection.
If you judge your arm results with your arms in a straight out position where the skin can hang you will see the same contour.
Arms should be judged in a down position for those who have skin laxity.
With your arms not along your side you should see substantial improvement in overall size and contour.
There is no operation that successfully treats skin laxity except excision of skin which leaves an unacceptable scar for most individuals.
Except that you’ll have a skin laxity especially when you hold your arms straight out but when your arms are down by your side the skin laxity doesn’t show.
The key to finding a good provider is to do multiple in person consultations at which time you need to vet six provider for this exact procedure.
It’s not possible to vet plastic surgeons through virtual consultations so I will schedule the time and meet with them in person.
During each consultation ask each provider to open up your portfolio and show you their entire collection of before and after pictures of Arm Liposuction. Liposuction of any other body area doesn’t count.
An experience provider should have no difficulty showing you at least 50 sets of before and after pictures, only perform procedures. I am Liposuction is not as common as treating the abdomen but it is certainly not an uncommon procedure. A typical plastic surgeon should still be able to show you at least 20 sets of before and after pictures.
Ask specifically for the providers to show you previous patients with similar arms to your own.
The same amount of subcutaneous fat, overall size and similar amount of skin laxity.
Being shown a handful of preselected images representing the best results of the providers career is completely insufficient to get a clear understanding of what average results look like in the hands of each provider nor telling you how many procedures they’ve actually performed.
Instead ask providers to show you their entire collection including excellent outcomes, average outcomes and outcomes that didn’t turn out as well as they had hoped for.
Plastic surgeons may not be willing to show you all of their pictures but you should at least ask and make it clear that your decision of who is going to do the operation is highly dependent on who has the most number of pictures and who is most honest about showing their outcomes and experience.
Personally I treat arms circumferentially blending into the forearm.
Look very carefully in every set of after pictures for contour irregularities.
If a provider can show you at least 25 sets of quality before and after pictures with no contour irregularities you’ve probably found someone who is confident at doing the procedure.
For reference highly experienced surgeons will have hundreds or possibly thousands of before and after pictures of commonly performed procedures.
In my portfolio I have at least 100 before and after pictures of arm liposuction.
In the end there are only two variables that matters when it comes to this procedure. The first is the patient’s candidacy and the second is the skill and experience of the surgeon. Equipment has no part in or differentiates quality outcomes from the rest.
Your provider spent well over $100,000 on the device and is trying to recoup his expense.
If the provider claims the procedure works and delivers skin tightening and ask them to show you 25 sets of before and after pictures showing that it works.
In my experience Renuvion did nothing other than increase pain during and after surgery.
I personally prefer to do all liposuction but especially arms using local anesthesia keeping my patients awake.
We usually add mild sedation to reduce chances of discomfort during surgery.
This allows the patient to move around in whole different anatomic positions which is helpful when doing circumferential work. It’s certainly possible to deliver a quality liposuction results using general anesthesia but in my experience keeping patients awake allows me to do my job easier with more consistent quality outcomes. Avoiding general anesthesia is also preferred by most patients and serves as a cost saving measure.
Most plastic surgeons are not nearly as good as liposuction as they think. Far too many providers think of Liposuction as a simplistic procedure that has a nonexistent learning curve.
The truth couldn’t be more difference.
Liposuction results are permanent and irreversible. If done poorly it’s almost impossible to improve on the outcome.
Contour irregularities isn’t something that just happens. Is a direct reflection of surgeons lacking skill and experience.
The best way to prevent that from happening is to confirm your surgeon has the skill and experience to do the procedure correctly.
The only way to demonstrate that is to show you enough before and after pictures that you are left with no doubt that the person your consul thing with has sufficient skill and experience.
The fact that your provider left you wondering tells me he didn’t show you a sufficient number of quality before and after pictures to convince you he knows how to do the procedure well.
If that’s the case then whether he’s a nice person or not he’s probably not the right provider for you.
I suggest patients start by scheduling a minimum of five in person consultations and consider scheduling many more if there’s any doubt as to providers having sufficient skill and experience.
You can start the process by looking at different providers websites seeing who shows the most number of Liposuctiona before and after pictures.
If they don’t have any arm liposuction before and after pictures on their website then they probably don’t have any good pictures in their portfolio.
Being a board-certified plastic surgeon with overall good reputation is not sufficient to confirm someone has mastered arm liposuction.
This procedure has an erroneous reputation of being simple and it’s not.
It takes thousands of procedures and years of practice with the dedication of always improving your outcomes to master body contouring.
It is not an easy procedure to do well consistently.
Find the right plastic surgeon and everything falls into place.
Don’t buy the hype that equipment makes the difference.
It doesn’t.
You are a reasonably good candidate for arm liposuction. You’re not the best and you’re not the worst. I would give you a seven out of 10 regarding candidacy.
The best candidates are young women with tight skin and fat arms.
The worst candidates are old women with a history of weight loss.
You’ll still have the skin laxity when you hold your arm straight out but your arm can be thinner and have better definition in a down position.
You can look at some of my arm before and after pictures I have posted on this website.
I no longer pay to be a member of realself so a lot of my information has been taken down by realself.
Continue having consultations until you feel very comfortable you found the right provider.
I don’t think you’re there yet.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom MD