Candidate for HD liposuction on thighs? (photos)

Question

Would I be a candidate for HD lipo on my thighs or would it possibly make them look worse ? I'm 48 and a healthy weight, I lift weights 3 days a week.

Gerald Minniti, MD, FACS · Answer

The thigh is not a 'hi def' area. You would get a nice improvement to your thigh contour with expertly performed liposuction though.

Daniel Barrett, MD · Answer

Dear Timeforme0919,
it is hard to tell for sure without an examination. If you are considering a surgery, I would suggest you to consult a board-certified plastic surgeon. Only after a thorough examination you will get more information and recommendations.
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

The area focused in the center of your picture is one of the most commonly disfigured areas from Liposuction I see.

There are numerous red flags going on here.

Perhaps the first one is high definition. This area should absolutely not have high definition Liposuction.

It will look disfigured and completely unnatural.

When it comes to Autothigh liposuction if the problem is more on the posterior or backside rather than true lateral or anterior lateral(lateral means to the side, posterior means to the back, anterior means to the front) then the bulching is more related to skin bulging than it is fat distribution.

The hip is capable of greater than 90° flexion and in an upright standing position the skin is pushed together just like the skin on your lower abdomen is pushed together causing a bulge in a sitting position.

Joints that have great range of motion need to have skin laxity in certain positions and with age we loose skin elasticity causing those areas to bulge. Typical ones include skin on the lower abdomen, back bra roll on the mid back and the back side of the upper thigh.

You also have some cellulite that will not be corrected with Liposuction.

You can have a partial improvement with well done Liposuction but way too often providers botch this area and create a shark bite.

The outcomes often show patients  overtreated and the procedure is done with patience in the wrong position because general anesthesia‘s used.

All of that said when the problem is true lateral or true saddlebags rather than a problem blending to the back of the upper thigh liposuction works perfectly well and it’s an excellent procedure.  True saddlebags are evenly split between anterior and posterior fullness.  patients with saddlebags have had the problem their entire life and it doesn’t typically get worse with age.

When the problem is more related to skin bulging it tends to get worse over the years.

These are my opinions and other providers will vary and say that you’re a great candidate.

Simply for reference I will tell you that I’ve been a plastic surgeon for over 20 years. I spent the first 10 years doing general plastic surgery and I spent the last 10 years doing nothing but liposuction and fat transfer procedures.

There aren’t a lot of plastic surgeons who specialize exclusively on liposuction and fat transfer only but I am one of them.

This gives me a unique experience having done almost 8000 Liposuction procedures to dates.

You can have liposuction of the area but you need to choose your provider very very carefully.

Don’t expect the results to be as good as what you want but you can have a partial improvement.

Defined the most experienced and talented provider in your community you will need to schedule lots of in person consultations.

Look for providers who seem to speak firsthand about the complex nature and difficulties of this area, have a collection of before and after pictures of patients just like you wanting the same area treated that has at least 30 examples.

Ideally an experienced provider should have hundreds of before and after pictures of the procedure and area you’re interested in.

Lastly review all online physician review websites and choose providers with the least number of justified negative reviews.

The combination of having no to very few justified negative reviews and a collection of before and after pictures that reads like a telephone book tends to be the only two variables I have found that distinguishes truly grates in our field.

No other variables seem to matter. The number of positive reviews is completely unrelated to plastic surgeons talent as is being famous, having published articles or being on TV.  if anything plastic surgeons focused aggressively on self promotion tend to inherently lack skill and empathy.

That’s my best answer for you.

Mats Hagstrom MD

Candidate for HD liposuction on thighs? (photos)

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