Is lipo enough because it will give me skin retraction - what should I expect realistically? (Photos)

Hi, thank you for sharing your question. You are a good candidate for 360 liposuction with fat grafting to your hips. Liposuction of the arms and thighs can also be added. This will help you achieve your goal.

Thank you for your question. Looking at the photos you have provided I agree that your a great candidate for Liposuction. This will help contour the mid section and I do believe you will receive some nice skin retraction. I would suggest speaking with a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon in person to evaluate you and discuss your options. Best of luck to you.

Thank you for your question. You are a good candidate for Lipo 360. Lipo to your inner thigh will give you a good result if you’re looking for a thigh gap. However, Lipo to your thighs and arms are probably not necessary for the amount of fat transfer that you need. Good luck.

Liposuction will make your skin more droopy not less droopy.
I do not think you need to do anything, but if you do, liposuction may make it worse

Good luck,

Greg Sexton, MD

Dear xxkeiko,
it is hard to tell for sure without an examination. If you are considering surgery, I would suggest you 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

I would start with liposuction to remove the excess fat. it will not, however, tighten your abdominal muscles which can be done with a tummy tuck or noninvasively with EMSculpt Neo.

From your photos it appears you should have a good result from liposuction. I encourage you to discuss your concerns and surgical goals with your surgeon. It is important to be comfortable and confident in your surgical plan.

Fat loss from weight loss typically causes the skin to become more loose. Liposuction does create some scar tissue that contracts and I would say the net and outcome is probably that there is no real skin improvement or worsening from Liposuction.
Delivering consistent quality liposuction results is more difficult than most people believe and this includes plastic surgeons.
Surprisingly high number of board-certified plastic surgeons with overall good reputations are not particularly talented at Liposuction so make sure that you find someone who’s really good at the procedure.
Liposuction results are permanent, irreversible and can lead to disfigurement if not done correctly.
Women of had children who want to type flat admin generally are better candidates for a full tummy tuck but it doesn’t appear you have significantly loose skin so in the end it depends on what you’re trying to achieve. A full tummy tuck specifically treats pregnancy related changes which are skin laxity and muscle separation.
First and foremost I suggest any patient interested in any cosmetic surgical procedure have multiple consultations.
The outcome for all surgical procedures varies substantially based on who does the surgery.
Some procedures are fairly straightforward and the variation between different providers isn’t all that great.
Other procedures have long steep learning curves and the difference in outcome based solely on who does the procedure can be the difference in outcome between a stunning beautiful body transformation to disfigurement leading patients with PTSD and I regret of ever having considered cosmetic surgery.
If you don’t know how the process works than these are my general recommendations to minimize the chance of having a negative experience and maximizing the chance of high-quality consistent outcomes.
Start by scheduling at least five consultations.
All consultations should be in person limiting virtual consultations only one in person consultations are not at all possible.
It’s not possible for the surgeon to accurately assess the patient or for the patient to proper leave that the provider virtually.
During each consultation ask each provider to open up their portfolio a before and after pictures and show you their entire collection
The goal here is to first and foremost see what the average results look like not just the preselected best of their career pictures they tend to show you when you do a consult. secondly by opening up their before and after picture portfolio you’ll get an idea of how many of these procedures they’ve actually done.
An experience provider should have no problem showing you at minimum at least 50 sets of before and after pictures of commonly performed procedures like a tummy tuck or abdominal liposuction.
This would also include fat grafting of the buttocks or hips. Highly experienced surgeons will have hundreds or potentially even thousands of before and after pictures for commonly performed procedures.
If you’re content seeing only the preselected best results of the providers career you’ll have no idea what average results look like. All plastic surgeons will from time to time get an impressive result but this is not a reflection of an average results look like and you will not know until you see a variety of outcomes.
Ask the surgeon to show you examples of excellent outcomes, average outcomes and less than outcomes. ask the surgeon with the revision rate is, what the revision policy is and asked to see pictures of other patients who needed the revisions and what their before and after pictures look like.
Bring pictures of your own torso with you for comparison and I as the provider to shows many pictures as possible of patients with very similar body characteristics to your own.
Make absolutely sure your provider is board-certified by the American Board of plastic surgery. No other board certification will do. especially not the American Board of cosmetic surgery which is not recognized by any academic medical training center in the world.
Make sure the surgeon has operating room privileges and can do both tummy tucks and Liposuction.
When reviewing before and after pictures look very carefully at all areas treated with Liposuction to make sure there are no skin contour irregularities anywhere on any of the pictures. Ask the surgeon to review the pictures with you and have them point out what areas were treated and what areas were not treated then look very carefully a transition zones between treated and untreated areas.
Ask the surgeon to review the pictures with you and have them point out what areas were treated and what areas were not treated then look very carefully a transition zones between treated and untreated areas.
For a fat transfer ask the surgeon specifically how long after the procedure the after pictures were taken. No one should be showing after pictures less than three months from the date of fat transfer. Early fat transfer pictures can look very impressive but do not at all represent the final results because it takes 3 to 6 months for the results to be final and a substantial amount of the fat will shrink and disappear during that time.
When consulting for a tummy tuck look specifically and who gets the most natural looking belly buttons. This is one of the harder parts of the procedure so surgeons who get that right usually are detail oriented and are technically talented.
Other characteristics of quality tummy tuck surgery include a very low set scar with a convex curvature over the mons pubis with the incisions going equally and evenly on both sides following anatomical contours naturally preferably placed in the groin crease. The torso should look attractive balanced and proportionate from all angles including from behind.
Personally I view the torso as a single anatomic unit and when doing liposuction of the abdomen I typically include the entire torso. This means doing upper abdomen, lower abdomen, love handles all the way to the top of the hip dip, waist, entire back and under arm area all the way to the side of the breast. cheating the entire torso leaves patients with a natural even thin fat distribution that looks natural without having had any evidence of previous liposuction. Having part of your torso left untreated is a bit like painting three walls out of four when repainting a house.
Finally I recommend reading all reviews and various physician review websites avoiding providers with any significant number of justified negative reviews. The absence of justify the negative reviews is more important and more telling than having an abundance of positive reviews.
Continue having consultations until you feel quite certain you found the most talented and experience provider. they may happen after the second or third consultation or it may take over 10 consultations.
I recognize this is a time consuming process but consider that poorly done Liposuction can leave you disfigured irreparably for life it is an effort that is completely justified.
Cutting corners when it comes to vetting your plastic surgeon is just as bad as surgeons cutting corners when they’re doing your procedure.
Unfortunately I’ve seen both too many times.
When in doubt slow down and schedule more consultations.
Find the right plastic surgeon and everything falls into place.
Ethical talented and highly experienced surgeons should not have any difficulty showing you as many pictures as you want including results that are less than what anybody had hoped for.
We all have a variety of outcomes including results were not proud of.It’s fair and appropriate for patients to see a full variety of outcomes and have an honest they’re a discussion about what they can expect, what can be done and what cannot be done with each procedure.
Whenever possible stay local for elective surgical procedures.
This is especially true for major operations like a tummy tuck.
The success of fat grafting is primarily based on the presence or absence of sufficient host tissue to support the graft.
If there’s virtually no soft tissue in your hip dips then do not expect a substantial amount of fat to survive in the area.
Your gluteal implants may potentially get in the way of successful grafting of the hips and often patients with hip dips who opt for gluteal implants have hip implants to match.
Personally I’m not a fan of gluteal implants or hip implants for that matter.
The majority of plastic surgeons in the United States don’t offer gluteal implants for a good reason.
That is not to say you can’t have fat transfer and move forward with your procedure.
Gluteal implants have unfortunately high complication rate and undesirable side effect making them have not such a great long-term track record for long-term patient satisfaction.
If you’re happy with them and they’re working then don’t mess with them.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom MD