What determines how much/how dramatic results can be when performing liposuction on someone? What is realistic & safe?

Thanks for your question, Jennybbx.
Though the goal of liposuction is to produce a trimmer figure with a more defined muscle tone, the actual results vary from person to person. A person may get fantastic results from liposuction alone, while another may need to have an additional tummy tuck to improve her appearance. In short, there is no single answer to your question, as it will always depend on each patient’s condition.
That is why it’s important to consult a board-certified and reputable plastic surgeon before your liposuction. He can tell you exactly what you can expect from your surgery and let you know whether the dramatic results you’re envisioning are achievable or not.
Make sure that you have a good talk with your surgeon so that he can address all your concerns and allay your fears.
Good luck on your liposuction!

Your bring up many important and interesting points.
Liposuction is somewhat unique in that many patients are not good candidate for this procedure.
I like procedures like breast augmentation more less any woman who wants to have larger breasts can I have implants placed and obtain almost any size they desire.
My practice is exclusively devoted to only liposuction and fat transfer procedures.
I would say an average have to patients I see are only moderate or poor candidates for liposuction.
Liposuction that's one thing and one thing only it removes subcutaneous fat(The fact that you can pinch or the fat between the muscle and skin.)
If the primary reason someone does not have an ideal aesthetic figure it's because of subcutaneous fat the liposuction it is the ideal treatment.
If there are other causes of someone not looking their best, in other words their primary diagnosis is not excessive amounts of subcutaneous fat in the wrong areas, then liposuction will not treat the primary problem.
The most common scenario when I see patients who are not good candidates for liposuction it is typically a middle-aged woman who is had several pregnancies, has muscle separation, skin laxity, excessive amounts of intra-abdominal fat and relatively thin layers of subcutaneous fat.
These patients need a full abdominoplasty with or without weight loss to look their best.
The ideal candidate for liposuction has tight skin, thick layers of subcutaneous fat and no other issues keeping them from looking their best.
It's a little bit difficult to decipher the relationship between the four pictures you have posted.
If the third and fourth picture represent before and after pictures that I would say with 100% certainty they are not realistic.
Unfortunately some clinics are tempted and do manipulate before and after pictures.
This is not difficult to do.
In fact at one of my resident conference is a professor showed a series of before and after pictures
And asked the question, what do all of these patients have in common?
The answer was that none of them had any surgical procedure.
They were simply manipulated pictures showing how important being honest with photographic evidence is.
I have a little interest in meeting with dissatisfied Who is goals were not met patients six months after the procedure.
I would much rather lower the patient's expectations or simply deny the patient or recommend not having surgery.
The most common photographic manipulations are asking to patients to suck in their abdomen during the after picture, asking the patience to race to arms straight up in the air during their after picture tilting the chin up or down on the after pictures, Taking pictures from different distances are used in different angle cameras, selecting patients who did an immense amount of exercise and had weight loss during their postoperative course giving them phenomenal improvements but only part of the improvement was from surgery.
The majority of plastic surgeons show honest and realistic pictures though almost everyone select their best before and after pictures.
Personally I show patients consecutive results and try to find before pictures that match the patient being consulted as much as possible.
This helps set realistic expectations which leads to overall high patient satisfaction.
This is true with so many things in life if it seems too good to be true it often is.
Perhaps 10% of patients I see during consultations are ideal candidates for liposuction.
When this is the case I can with honesty express excitement and the sure the patient they will have a transformative procedure that will drastically change their aesthetic outcome.
Doctors in the Dominican republic work hard at convincing patients cosmetic surgery tourism is a good idea because of great results in lower costs.
I personally have quite strong believes that traveling for cosmetic surgery is generally not a very good idea.
Patients do not believe the complications, the need for follow up or revision rates apply to them.
When they do happen they find themselves desperately seeking help posting questions on real self or asking local plastic surgeons to help which is often met with low  enthusiasm.
There's no question that results vary dramatically from doctor to doctor.
This is really not much different than other aspects of life.
Some restaurants serve spectacular food with excellent service while other restaurants failed miserably.
Some contractors cut corners don't follow rules or even finish jobs after having taken payments.
Other contractors stand by their work and will finish projects on time and revise anything that is less than perfect.
Doctors are not all that different.
Unfortunately the cosmetic and history as a whole has a somewhat higher level of unethical behavior with overpromising and under delivering.
Most doctors went to medical school to help patients others saw this as a means to an end of making a high income.
In my practice I follow the Golden rule and treat each and every patient asked if they were a family member.
This has  serve me well in regards to being successful, having lots of referrals, good online reputations and I sleep well at night.
The best take-home message I can give you is to review before and after pictures of patients who have very similar bodies to your own when interviewing doctors.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom M.D.