How accurate is Vectra 3D?

Question

Hello, thank you for taking the time to help with my question. I recently had a consultation with a DR that I was impressed with as far as his work with before and after pictures. During the consultation, he showed me a Vectra 3D illustration of my potential results for hip dip augmentation. How accurate is it for the hip dip? I ask because I understand that hip dip fat transfer is one of the hardest for fat survival and may not always produce more than 50% fat retention.

Mats Hagstrom, MD (license on probation) · Answer

Treating hip tips it’s pretty easy and straightforward for providers who have enough skill and experience to do liposuction and or fat transfer well.
In other words providers who have the bastard these procedures will have closer to 100% success rate.
It’s highly unlikely I have a patient who still has a hip dip after having these procedures.
Most hip tips can be eliminated almost completely with liposuction alone by simply removing the fat at the top edge of the hip dip into the live handles, waist back and abdomen.
When fat transfer is added, I usually place patients on their side, which makes seeing the contour very straightforward and allows for easier grafting of plenty of fat in the area.
There are individuals who have virtually no host tissue, and these individuals getting sufficient amounts of fat to survive, may be challenging.
In other words, not everybody is a good candidates for the procedure.
 Morphing software is really good at selling surgery.
It really is irrelevant to what the surgeon can do with his own hands.
I think it’s far easier to create impressive looking images using that program, which I think is called vectra H2. I don’t use the device, so I’m not that familiar with it.
I do know that it doesn’t make surgeons better at doing surgery.
In the end, there are really only two variables that determine quality outcomes for this type of procedure.
The first is patient candidacy, and the second is the skill of the provider.
Durgan in person consultation, if done correctly, you should have a good understanding of your own candidacy, as well as have reviewed numerous before and after pictures from the provider..
Delivering consistent quality, liposuction and fat transfer results is not as easy as most people realize.
The number of plastic surgeons of master dis procedure is relatively small.
Never assume somebody is good at liposuction or fat transfer because they are nice, they have an impressive office, they have a lot of reviews online or any other form of self promotion.
 in the field of plastic surgery, I’ve literally found that famous surgeons tend to be average or less than average when it comes to surgical skills and tend to be more focused on promoting themselves.
Poorly got Liposuction into some degree fat transfer can potentially leave people disfigured for life.
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of prudently vetting, plastic surgeons and going through a strategic approach to finding the best provider for your needs.
To do this I recommend patient do the following.
Start by making a list of providers who seem to do More liposuction and fat transfer than other providers in your community.
If you find providers who do this procedure exclusively, then go to those providers first.
After you have a list of plastic surgeons, that seem to do a lot of impressive Liposuction by for example, having excellent reviews on that procedure or an impressive collection of before, and after pictures on their website then schedule in person consultations with these providers.
I highly recommend people avoid virtual consultations whenever possible.
I simply don’t think you can properly vet providers and the provider can certainly not get equality assessment unless we meet in person.
I also highly recommend people travel along. This is for elective surgical procedures, but do understand there are some individuals who simply don’t have local talent and travel may be necessary.
 During each consultation, ask each provider to explain their assessment and your specific candidacy for the procedure.
Ask them the exact variables for why you are a good average or not such great candidates.
Recognize that fat transfer is always two procedures done at the same time it is liposuction and fat transfer.
During your assessment you need to be assessed for both quality liposuction outcomes and quality fat transfer outcomes.
 Often when things go wrong with transfer, it is due to the providers lack of Liposuction skills.
This is not at all uncommon.
Next ask each provider to open up their portfolio and show you their entire collection of before, and after pictures of previous patients who have similar body characteristics to your own.
Most providers will have a show until collection of pictures, representing only their best results.
What you want is access to average pictures and most surgeons have that.
You will need to ask an asked of the point about a handful of patients. Who look just like you.
In reality an experienced plastic surgeon. Should have no difficulty showing you the before and after pictures of at least 50 previous patients.
Highly experienced providers will have access to hundreds or preferably thousands of before and after pictures to choose for a period.
 Take care notes regarding the quantity and quality of before and after pictures.
Start looking at before, and after pictures so you can recognize problematic outcomes like contour, irregularities, and high-quality outcomes.
Asked the provider to show you exactly what areas were treated with Liposuction, including what areas were not treated then look carefully at transition zones between treated and untreated areas.
 For fat transfer recognized that early transfer results can look very impressive but do not in anyway represent long-term final results.
Injecting enough fat to get volume and contour for the first few weeks is easy.
Getting it to look good for the rest of the patient’s life is a whole Nother story.
 Never assume that after pictures were taken when results are final.
Always ask the exact timeframe of when after pictures were taken in relationship to the procedure.
After pictures should not be taken less than 3 to 6 months from the date of surgery.
This is really important. If that transfer is the main procedure you’re looking for.
 Next ask providers what the most common reason for revision surgery is. What their revision rates are, and what the revision policy is.
Provider to claim to have very low revision rates are may not be delivering the best possible outcomes.
All plastic surgeons, good and bad have a certain revision rate.
I think a healthy revision rate for body contouring is about 10%.
Being shown a handful of pre-selected images, representing only the best results of a provider career, maybe insufficient to get a clear understanding of what aver results look like in the hands of each provider.
For that reason that patients should insist on seeing more pictures than what’s simply provided.
I think you have all the rights in the world to ask providers to show you many more.
Specifically ask providers to show you pictures of patients who look just like you.
Remind them that maybe they have pictures in another album.
If a provider claims to have done hundreds of procedures, then they should in fact have hundreds of before and after pictures.
If a provider claim stove on thousands of procedures, then they should have access to thousands of before, and after pictures or at least some valid reason, why not.
Being dhown a very limited number of before and after pictures is the biggest red flag you can possibly have when doing a plastic surgery consult.
The best plastic surgeons tend to be detail oriented and not rush through their work.
This typically means spending sufficient amounts of time, making sure their patience are well informed.
Avoided providers, who rush through the consultation with minimal explanation of prep preparation, recovery, outcomes, complications Etc. etc. 
It’s probably reasonable to have an assistant explain some of the logistics parts of the procedure but if someone other than the doctor who’s going to do your procedure is explaining the operation and doing the consultation with you you’re probably at the wrong place.
There’s no correct number of consultations needed to find the right provider.
The more consultations you scheduled the more likely you are to find the best provider for your needs.
Considering how much variation there is in Liposuction skill among well intended well educated highly trained plastic surgeons, I suggest patience Lean on scheduling what may seem like an excessive number of consultation.
My recommendation is to do 5 to 6 consultation for body contouring work.
There is simply so much variation and outcome and the difference between having four outcome and a stellar outcome will affect every day for the rest of your life And it’s simply worth putting in the time and effort.
Do not assume things will be fine because the doctor has board certification or is nice, etc. etc. 
Publishing textbooks, working at the university giving fancy lectures or having been on television has really nothing to do with surgical skill.
To some extent, this is also true for those who are highly involved with promoting their practice on social media.
The very best plastic surgeons I’ve known have not spent any effort on promoting their practice, but simply work by word-of-mouth.
You may be surprised at how talented some very low-key providers with very few reviews may actually be.
I would definitely not select providers based on those who have the most number of reviews either.
This is a clear sign that they are encouraging their patients to promote the practice.
Organic reviews, are pretty rare , and if people are motivated to write reviews, they lose credibility in my opinion.
Lastly, is to never schedule surgery on the same day as your consultation.
Make sure you finished all the consultations on your list even if a provider seemed really great.
They’ll still be there tomorrow and until you finished the full list, you haven’t compared all the providers.
Finally, there’s nothing wrong with going back for a second consultation if you still have questions or want to brush up on what they told you.
 I cannot begin to emphasize how important providers selection for these procedures.
If you’ve been on this form enough, then you know that there are some pretty horrific things that have come out of cosmetic surgical outcome.
Unfortunately these happen, probably more frequently than most people realize.
Patient candidacy is equally as important as provider selection.
It’s really important to understand if you’re a good candidate or not.
It is not black-and-white but more of a spectrum.
Somebody was not a good candidate does not have the potential of getting a high-quality outcome regardless of who does the procedure.
Somebody who is an excellent candidate has to potential of having stunning results if they choose the right provider.
They can equally be left disfigured if the choice of provider was not done well.
 Understanding your own candidacy is key to being happy with your outcome.
Talented plastic surgeons are not just good at doing the procedure, but should also have the skill to assess patients accurately and know in advance exactly the type of results they are going to have based on their candidacy for the procedure.
Variable stat determine candidacy include specifically any type of skin, laxity, body changes from previous pregnancy, Excess visceral, fat, increased age, etc. 
Of all of these skin laxity is probably the number one reason patients failed to be good candidates for liposuction or fat transfer.
I see a lot of patience who are open to having Liposuction, but don’t want to have skin surgery so they’re hoping that Liposuction will give them enough of the results.
If you choose the wrong procedure, then don’t expect quality outcomes.
Ask your provider to describe your pendency the best they can. This should not only be yes or no but why.
Good luck,
Mats Hagstrom MD

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