Will liposhifting & fat grafting to my arms help smooth dents in my arms out and give them that more natural curve? (Photos)

The dent is visible and if the dent is bothering you, then you should do what makes you happy and have it corrected. The way to correct this is to perform some blending liposuction around the area as well as add a small amount of fat back into the dented area to fill the contour irregularity. Technically, people with lower body fat do naturally create have that dent there when they flex their triceps so it is up to you whether you want to have a smooth look even when you flex or leave it as is for a more muscular look. Hope this helps!

Johnson C. Lee, MD
Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon

Correcting poorly done liposuction it’s difficult and sometimes the improvements are very limited.

This is especially true for those who have been over treated.

Fat transfer is one option as is revision Liposuction. sometimes done together.

The inherent problem with correcting this with fat transfer is that the over treated areas are now devoid or are lacking sufficient amounts of host tissue to support significant graft volumes. On the small amounts of fat grafted will survive because the thickness of subcutaneous tissue between the skin and muscle is very thin because of previous overzealous Liposuction. over grafting leads to higher percentage of graft loss with increased fat necrosis and scar tissue formation.

This means that in order to build up sufficient amounts of tissue to correct the defects for the transfer needs to be done in multiple rounds.

To get an ideal outcome this may require 4 to 6 rounds of fat transfer.

Even then it’s going to be difficult to restore your arms to looking normal or not have any imperfections.

Sometimes disfigurement from previous liposuction can also be treated by direct skin excision. This is more appropriate for those who have significant skin laxity.

You can have this treated with fat transfer you just need to understand the inherent limitations and how much work actually goes into getting the improvements you hoping for.

Revision work is also many times more difficult than primary Liposuction.

You know from first-hand experience how important it is to choose a plastic surgeon who has sufficient skill and experience to deliver high-quality outcomes.

In order to not make things worse you need to be in the hands of a plastic surgeon who is exceptionally talented and has years of experience with a proven track record with both liposuction and fat transfer.

This is by far the most important message.

Finding the most talented and experienced plastic surgeon for your needs will require multiple in person consultations.

I’ve written some recommendations I give to patients to help get the best outcome and have cosmetic surgery be a good experience.

All of these recommendations apply to you in addition to recognizing that a single procedure is not going to be sufficient to restore your arm to a normal outcome.

To get good results often requires multiple rounds of fat transfer slowly building up to tissues one step at a time.

Patients have been disfigured are also often scared and gun shy of trusting any other plastic surgeon to do the right thing.

In order to have this be a good experience it is absolutely critical that patients understand what is possible and what is not possible. This is true even in the hands of the most talented plastic surgeon.

I recommend patients avoid traveling long distances for elective surgical procedures. There are of course instances where there is a lack of local talent and traveling to some degree is inevitable. If traveling for the procedure patients should be ready to travel to have the consultation, post operative appointments and follow up should there be issues or complications.
Patients sometimes do not appreciate the importance of in person consultations, that complications do happen or the number of people who have issues with their results or need revisions.

Schedule multiple consultations with different providers in your area who seem to have a good reputation for the procedure you’re interested in. Starting with at least five consultations seems like a reasonable number to me.

Whenever possible schedule in person consultations.
During in person consultations ask each plastic surgeon to show all of their before and after pictures for the procedure you’re interested in.

The goal is not to see the best results of their career but to get an idea of what average results look like and get some type of confirmation of how many of these procedures that provider has performed.

Ask to see results that were not as good as the doctor would’ve hoped for and talk about the differences in outcomes.

Honest and experienced providers should have no problems presenting this type of information.

A highly experienced plastic surgeon should have hundreds of before and after pictures for the procedure you’re interested in. At a minimum at least 20+.

Read all the reviews on various physician review websites paying close attention and avoiding providers with any significant number of justified negative reviews. Providers with an abundance of reviews often have aggressive marketing campaigns.

The plastic surgeons I respect most all have the single variable of not having justified negative reviews on their online profiles.
In my opinion justified negative reviews are far more telling than an abundance of positive reviews.

Avoid scheduling for surgery or making a deposit on the day of the consultation. Give yourself some time to think about the decision and make sure you finished all scheduled consultations before committing to having surgery that will permanently and irreversibly change your body.

When in doubt slow down and schedule more consultations.

Choosing the right plastic surgeon is the single most important variable to having a positive experience.

Don’t go chasing after technology or names of certain equipment. Instead focus all your efforts on finding the most experienced and talented board-certified plastic surgeon.


Best,

Mats Hagstrom MD