Am I a good candidate for smart lipo? I’m 5’7 and weight 131lbs. (photos)

Nice pooch! Your belly is poking because the abdominal six-pack muscles are widely separated and bulging out. You're not fat and most of what you see isn't fat. There's a small amount on the surface, but the pooch won't go away without a muscle tightening full tummy tuck. I would recommend a combo with lipo for a better overall contoured effect. Nonetheless, lipo alone won't do much more than wrinkle up that pooch. The video will help you understand better.

Even though you might be less than a half hour drive from my office, many experts, myself included offer the ease and convenience of a virtual consultation to answer the rest of your questions about your options. It's a conversation by zoom, skype, email or phone. You could have a complete estimate before the end of today.

Thank you for your question and pictures. you are a good candidate for a tummy tuck with liposuction. If you're willing to travel, Surgeons in the Dominican Republic have experience and very high standard of excellence when it comes to plastic surgery. I'm positive you can get what you're looking for

You could be a very good candidate for liposuction if you have realistic expectations about how much improvement you will see. I would probably combine the lipo procedure with a nonsurgical skin tightening treatment like ThermiTight to create a smoother result. This approach will be able to remove a significant amount of the fat, but is unlikely to create a completely flat abdomen. The advantage is that it can be performed using local anesthesia and only requires a few days of downtime. It also does not leave much visible scarring behind. I recommend scheduling a consultation with an experienced, board-certified physician who has expertise in this type of body contouring. With a qualified doctor and customized treatment plan, you should see good improvement.

no you need a tummy tuck, liposuction and internal heating to get a good outcome. liposuction alone will be disastrous.

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.

Because of excess skin as stretch marks, your skin will not shrink after liposuction and there will be irregularities. Smart lipo is a laser assisted liposuction. The theory is that the heath of the laser would help the skin to shrink. In reality it is not much better than the standard liposuction and most often when you are not a candidate for liposuction, you are not a candidate for laser lipo either. The good news is that you are an excellent candidate for a tummy tuck. A standard abdominoplasty will get read of all your loose skin, tighten you abdominal muscles and the scar will be very low and covered by underwear or bikini. A virtual or in person consultation could confirm these recommendations.

Smart Lipo Laser Liposuction is a very good option. You might need a mini tummy-tuck for residual laxity as well.

Unfortunately it's too common for patients to believe that somehow smart lipo or any other form of liposuction will help the loose abdominal skin. In your case you will benefit from an abdominoplasty which is combined with liposuction so as to create the smallest waistline and a flatter tummy. I hope this helps and good luck from New York City plastic surgery

Based on your pictures you are an excellent candidate for a Mommy Makeover. Common complaints from woman after having a child is, laxity of the skin around the buttock, abdominal, and breast regions, excess skin in these regions, loss of volume in the breasts and buttock, and protruding abdominal muscle. The mommy makeover is a procedure​ that helps to address all these issues. Coupled with high definition VASER liposuction and renuvion skin tightening the results are incredible and produce an amazing youthful, natural aesthetic. A Skype or FaceTime consultation with a mommy makeover specialist will help you get an accurate recommendation and pricing.

Respectfully,
Arian Mowlavi MD, FACS
Realself 100 Hall of Fame Inductee

I would say you’re an OK candidate at best. To get a tight flat abdomen and you will need a full tummy tuck.

If you don’t mind the skin laxity then you can certainly have improvements from Liposuction.

Laser assisted Liposuction or smart Lipo adds very little in Comparison to other forms of Liposuction.

This device is fairly obsolete and are selling for pennies on the dollar on eBay because they really never delivered.

The form of liposuction isn’t important. Who does the procedure is the only variable that matters.

In your case you need to decide if you want a tummy tuck or not.

If you’re planning on having more children than a tummy tuck is probably not appropriate at this time. If no more children are in the plans then consider a full tummy tuck with liposuction.

Best,

Mats Hagstrom MD

Hi and welcome to our forum!
From your photos, I note a full abdomen associated with significant stretch marks. There is a hanging lower abdominal pannus. From your height and weight information, your BMI is 20.52, in a normal range. You are not overweight.
As a result of each pregnancy, your abdominal skin and soft tissues have stretched out to accommodate the growing fetus. In addition, your underlying anterior abdominal musculature most likely has been splayed out and thinned.
A liposuction will not address either issue.
An abdominoplasty will repair the musculature (thus flattening the belly) and remove excess stretched out skin.
Visit a board certified plastic surgeon for evaluation and discussion.
Best wishes...