60s woman, what's the real deal with lipo, isn't it possible to do just the waist? (Photos)

Thank you for your question. Liposuction is excellent for improving those areas of stubborn fat that don’t seem to go away with diet and exercise. It is not for removing fat from an arbitrary 360 degree zone around the torso or around a limb. You can dictate what areas you want treated, and it is up to the surgeon to try and blend it in to the surrounding areas. To be honest, there really isn’t much fat under the skin of the mid-back/bra roll area in most people. The skin there is simply very thick, making it appear that there is a lot of excess fat there. The areas you highlighted are very amenable to “spot” treatment and can greatly enhance the contour of the entire region.

If the surgeon does not do much liposuction, then yes, can just do the love handles, but you will not see much difference there because not much fat will be removed. But if a surgeon does aggressive liposuction and removes most of the fat, then just doing the flanks will look weird because it would be half a job. The love handles/waist are continous with surrounding areas and you need to treat them as one unit. Otherwise if you gain a little weight later it will be uneven.

Yes, you can just treat with excess fat in the waist area. I would find a different doctor who will not try to upsell your surgery.