Can you advise on arm indentations & bulge around elbow area? (Photos)

Question

I am in my late 40’s that had arm lipo in 2018 and there is deformity on tricep area and fat bulge on elbow . I had a consult and the Plastic surgeon said the elbow part is risky due to it may not heal due to the area of concern. Thank you

Daniel Barrett, MD · Answer

Dear Peanut75,
I understand your concern. However, without a proper assessment, it would be difficult to determine what went wrong. It is best that you visit your plastic surgeon for further assessment or ask for a second opinion. Only after a thorough examination, you can get proper recommendations and advice.
Daniel Barrett, MD
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

Mats Hagstrom, MD (license on probation) · Answer

Delivering and consistent quality liposuction results is more difficult than most people believe and this includes plastic surgeons.
Arms can be technically difficult unless the provider has sufficient skill and experience.
Revision work is many times more difficult than primary Liposuction so they need to find the most talented and experienced provider goes without saying.
Delivering smooth even results from Primary Liposuction is it doable but requires skill and experience. Taking an uneven fat distribution and making it even is many times more difficult.
Each individual area of contour irregularity needs to be assessed whether fat needs to be added or removed. Corrections can be done with Revision Liposuction fat grafting or a combination of both. The hardest defect to correct come from overaggressive excessive fat removal.
Some improvements can most likely be had with just doing revision liposuction but the shot of getting a perfect outcome is lost after the first procedure.
Defined the most experienced and talented provider requires multiple in person consultations. During each consultation ask each provider to show their entire collection of before and after pictures for arm liposuction. simply seeing a handful of pre-selected pictures which most likely represent the best results of the providers career is insufficient to get a clear understanding of what the average results look like in the hands of each provider.
As the provider to show as many pictures as possible of patients with similar body characteristics to your own.
As well, ask the provider to show examples of excellent outcomes, average outcomes unless than outcomes. 
An experienced provider should have no difficulty showing you at a minimum 30 sets of before and after pictures of arm Liposuction. Highly experienced surgeons will have hundreds or even thousands of before and after pictures for commonly performed procedures like liposuction. 
When reviewing pictures look carefully at all treated areas to look for areas of contour irregularities. Ask the provider to describe what areas were treated versus areas not treated and look carefully at transition zones between the two.
Finally I recommend reading all reviews on various physician review websites avoiding providers for any significant number of justified negative reviews
The absence of justified negative reviews is more important and more telling than having an abundance of positive reviews.
In the end your surgeon is responsible for the outcome and you are responsible for choosing that surgeon.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom MD

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Can you advise on arm indentations & bulge around elbow area? (Photos)

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