Liposuction revision for contour irregularities (photo)

Dear yazzie98,

I would have to examine you but it appears that this is a contour irregularity after liposuction. This happens often when areas the undergo liposuction are not feathered appropriately.

The good news is that it can be fixed and I have done so with good results before.
While there is always a chance for contour irregularities with liposuction, someone who takes their time and uses the appropriate sized cannulas should give you a superb result.I have all my patients wear compression garments and I use multiple sized cannulas to feather out the result.


Daniel Barrett, MD
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

Correcting poorly done, liposuction or fat transfer is inherently difficult.
The chance of having a quality outcome goes down with each previous attempt.
Finding the right provider is an urgently difficult.
My best recommendation is the following.
Try to stay local whenever possible.
Start the process by making a list of plastic surgeons in your community who seem to have extensive experience with Liposuction and fat transfer.
Look for those who specialize in this procedure or do a high percentage of this type of work.
Look at there websites and see what percentage of there before and after pictures are of liposuction and fat transfer.
If it all possible look for people who specialize exclusively in these procedures.
Next contact your previous providers and ask them to forward the entire collection of before and after pictures and copies of your operative reports.
These are all part of your medical records that you ever write to obtain by requesting them.
When having second opinion, consultations, always come prepared bringing with you a complete set of proper before and after pictures and previous operative reports.
These can be very important for the next doctor taking care of you.
You should also bring a complete set of proper pictures of what you currently look like.
Either taken by yourself or use your last set of after pictures.
Go down the list of potential providers and schedule in person consultations with each one of them.
Avoid virtual consultations entirely.
For revision work or secondary Liposuction/fat transfer equality assessment has to include an examination.
Likewise, your ability to vet the provider requires meeting them in person as well.
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 problems.
Plastic surgeons tend to do far less revision work than primary procedures.
Sufficiently experienced provider should have done enough secondary or revision work to have a good collection of before and after pictures.
Whenever reviewing after pictures of procedures that include fat transfer, always confirm the timeframe of when the after picture was taken.
After pictures are not representative until at least three months from the date of surgery.
Early after pictures can look very impressive, but do not represent long-term final outcome.
Revision work is usually done by either the post section, fat transfer, or often a combination of both.
Revision work is many times more technically difficult than primary procedures.
As the situation becomes more complex and difficult, they need to find sufficiently talented providers becomes more important.
Delivering consistent quality, liposuction, and fat transfer results is more difficult than most people realize.
The number of plastic surgeons of truly mastered this kind of work is in reality very small.
Most plastic surgeons think they’re good at Liposuction, but in reality most people do average work.
When it comes to liposuction and fat transfer, average work tends to not be very impressive.
At this point, you probably know first hand the importance of provider selection, and that plastic surgeons with an overall good reputation may not be very good at these procedures.
There’s no correct number of consultations needed to find the right provider.
The more consultations you schedule the more likely you are to find the right provider for your needs.
Having lots of consultations, not only allows you to meet a lot of providers, but makes you better at learning how to vet plastic surgeons.
Take careful notes during each consultation, especially regarding the number of before, and after pictures of previous patients who had similar body characteristics or conditions.
If providers don’t have an impressive number of before and after pictures of revision work, then at a minimum ask them to open up their portfolio and show you at least 20 sets of before, and after pictures of previous patients who had similar bodies to your own.
Look very carefully at all areas treated to make sure there are no contour irregularities, etc. etc.
The inner thigh is technically difficult to treat and is prone to having encounter irregularities when providers don’t recognize the uniqueness of this anatomic area and don’t have sufficient skill and experience. Liposuction of the inner thigh, can be done without any contour irregularities in the hands of the right provider.
Sometimes correcting previously poorly done work may take multiple operations.
In the end provider selection is the most important variable so I suggest you focus your efforts on that which is I think what you’re doing.
When in doubt, slow down and schedule more consultations.
There’s nothing wrong with going back to a provider and having a follow up consultation if you’re not sure.
At this point provider selection is so critical in your case.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom MD