Compression garments do not have any impact on final liposuction or fat transfer results. There’s no evidence that they are of any significant value regarding outcome.There are generally only two variables, that matter for the results of this procedure. The first is your candidacy for the procedure itself and the second is the choice of surgeon or who does the operation.Candidacy is fairly complex, but includes a multitude of variables. Fat transfer is in fact two operations done at the same time so patients should be assessed in regards to candidacy for both Liposuction and fat transfer. Somebody can be a good candidate for Liposuction, but not a good candidate for fat transfer, a good candidate for fat transfer, but not a good candidate for Liposuction, a good candidate for both, and not a good candidate for either. Provider selection is equally as important as patient candidacy.A patient who is a good candidate for both Liposuction and fat transfer has the potential of having a very high quality outcome. This is likely to happen if they find a sufficiently talented and experienced provider. Somebody who is a good candidate can also have a disfiguring outcome with very low Quality results if they choose a provider who does not have sufficient skills and experience. Understanding your own candidacy, for the procedure is probably the first step in the process. This is not something most patients can do on their own. It requires the skill of an experienced plastic surgeon to understand who has the potential of getting good results and who does not. Choosing the best provider requires interviewing multiple surgeons through in person consultations, taking an active role and vetting providers in the process. I recommend patients do this by first and foremost, asking providers to open up their portfolio and show you and their entire collection of before and after pictures of previous patient requesting the sane procedure who had a body characteristic similar to your own. Ask providers to show you enough before, and after pictures that you have a clear understanding of what average results look like. This should include requesting to see a variety of outcomes, including excellent results, average results and results that did not turn out, as well as the surgeon had hoped for. Plastic surgeons may be reluctant to open up their portfolio and show you all of their results. Instead, plastic surgeons are more likely to show you preselected images, representing the best results of their career. While these pictures may be more impressive, they are not helpful when it comes to understanding what average results look like or understanding how many of these procedures any surgeon has actually performed. In order to understand your potential outcome you also need to see you before and after pictures of patients who have the same candidacy for the procedure as you do. During a thorough consultation, a surgeon should explain to you your degree of candidacy for the procedure. Whatever words they use to describe it, you should have a clear understanding if you are an excellent, good, average, or less than the average candidate for the procedure. Candidacy means your potential for having an exceptional outcome. For reference, an experience surgeon should have no difficulty showing you at least $.50 a before and after pictures of commonly performed procedures. In reality, highly experienced surgeons should have hundreds or even thousands of before and after pictures to choose from. Whether they choose to share these pictures with you or not it’s up to the provider. You need to trust your own gut instinct in regards to providers, honesty, and transparency. Delivering consistent quality, liposuction and fat transfer results is far more difficult than most people believe. Being able to deliver, consistent quality results as good as some of the best requires years of dedication with the sole purpose of a mastering this procedure. In reality, most plastic surgeons never even come close to mastering Liposuction and fat transfer even towards the end of their career. This means that being board-certified and plastic surgery with having years of experience, and an overall good reputation, does not mean somebody has mastered liposuction, or is necessarily even good at liposuction let alone fat transfer.The number of plastic surgeons who have truly excelled and mastered these procedures is a small select individual group of providers with taking it upon themselves to painstakingly take steps in the right direction, never being content with their current results with a continuous commitment to always getting better outcomes. With the correct attitude and having had experience doing thousands of procedures, some providers will simply XL to the top and be able to deliver outstanding results on a consistent basis that are predictable based on each individual patients candidacy. These providers should be able to show you before and after pictures of previous patient who looks just like you and with good accuracy tell you exactly what your results will look like. It is not easy to find a provider who has mastered, liposuction or fat transfer. Generally, if you find providers to specialize exclusively in these procedures, then you are probably getting close. Alternatively, finding providers to work for specialty centers who focus exclusively on these procedures, and have been employed at the same facility for a number of years then you are more likely to find someone who has mastered both Liposuction and fat transfer. In the end, there is no substitute for having multiple consultations. I don’t think you can get an accurate assessment or properly vet your provider by doing virtual consultation so I personally recommend having in person consultation so whenever possible. I recognize that some people may live in communities where quality of care of they are seeking may simply not exist, and travel may be inevitable. Yesterday I took care of a patient who traveled from the Middle East for the sole purpose of having me do a fat transfer procedure. Before selecting me as a provider I encouraged her to have Still, I generally recommended patience, avoid traveling, long distances for elective surgical procedures. The importance of having multiple in person, consultations and direct access to your provider after surgery cannot be overstated. When, in doubt, slow down and schedule more consultations. Stop focusing on variables that are irrelevant like what type of compression garment to use. Focus instead on the two single variable, that actually matter which is understanding your own candidacy for the procedure, and choosing the best provider. If people would focus enough effort on these two variables, the number of patients who are disfigured or have negative experiences with both Liposuction and fat transfer, would be far lower. The general take-home message is to understand your candidacy for the procedure before choosing to have surgery, and secondly be far more critical of providers than you ever thought necessary. Best, Mats Hagstrom, MD