Is circumferential thigh liposuction a good procedure? How risky is this compared to lipo in particular areas of the thigh?

Dear Affectionate11592,
it is hard to tell for sure without an examination. If you are considering surgery, I would suggest you 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

Circumferential or semi Circumferential liposuction of the thigh is fine for those who are good candidates and if done by a plastic surgeon who has sufficient skill and experience.
Most people have substantially less fat on the back of the thigh and that area is also prone to cellulite. It’s pretty uncommon to do liposuction on the post of your thigh. medial, anterior and lateral are much more common and those three areas together is usually what’s done for patients who need Circumferential liposuction.
Without pictures we can’t make an assessment and you’ll find the different plastic surgeons have different opinions and obviously people have different fat distributions.
Delivering consistent quality liposuction results is more difficult than most people believe. Most plastic surgeons think they’re better at Liposuction and they actually are.
Considering that Liposuction is a permanent and irreversible procedure that can easily leave people disfigured it is in patients best interest to be highly selective when choosing providers.
On top of this lower extremity liposuction is technically more difficult than treating other areas.
In my opinion the procedure is much better done with patients awake avoiding general anesthesia. The reason for this is awake patients can move and hold many different positions multiple times throughout the procedure.
This greatly enhances the ability for the surgeon to get proper access and visualize the work better.
That’s not to say the procedure cannot be done well using general anesthesia.
They liposuction also typically delivers less of a response than most people had hoped for.
It simply isn’t a part of the body that responds really well to Liposuction.
The exception is the inner knee area and through saddlebags. if outer thigh form this is more posterior lateral then through lateral then liposuction often becomes limited because skin laxity or skin bulging is often a contributing factor in an upright standing position. inner thigh Liposuction typically gives substantially less results than patients and hope for it. Contour is highly determined by inherit the skin laxity in the upper inner thigh region.
Anterior thigh liposuction is perhaps one of the most underrated areas treated. it is not frequently requested except for individuals who are asking for a total of thigh reduction.
In the end patients should not expect to see enough change to change clothing size or even notice differences in inches.
In the end there are two variables that determine what liposuction results will look like. The first patient candidacy and the second is the skill and experience of the provider.
Ideal candidate for Liposuction tend to be young individuals with tight skin and a pudgy fat distribution.
Men rarely have excess subcutaneous fat on their lower extremities so the procedure is almost exclusively done on women.
Liposuction has probably more variation and outcomes based purely and who does the operation than any other plastic surgery procedure.
There can be startling differences in outcomes among board-certified plastic surgeons with overall good reputations.
For that reason patients should select their provider very carefully.
The vetting process of plastic surgeons is not some thing everybody is familiar with or comfortable doing.
I recommend starting the process by first becoming familiar with what quality results look like.
Review lots of online before and after pictures looking especially for patients who have similar body characteristics to your own in the before pictures.
Look very closely at how the feet are placed in both before and after pictures. Putting the feet wider apart gives the appearance of having smaller inner thighs.
Create a reading or grading system for quality results. look very carefully for any areas of contour irregularity on the skin and overall quality looking results.
Bring pictures of your own thighs taking the way plastic surgeons take before and after pictures with you during the consultation and use them as a reference.
Schedule multiple in person consultations with local board-certified plastic surgeons who seem to have a substantial number of quality before and after pictures of Liposuction results on their websites. Preferably including lower extremity liposuction.
During each consultation ask each provider to open up their portfolio and show you their entire collection of before and after pictures of lower extremity liposuction results.
Being shown a handful of before and after pictures which most likely represent the best results of the providers career is totally insufficient to get a clear understanding of what average results look like in the hands of each provider or how many of these procedures each surgeon has actually performed. I typically state that an experienced provider should have no difficulty showing you at least 50 sets before and after pictures for commonly performed procedures. That said lower extremity liposuction is not as common of a procedure as many other anatomic areas. there’s a substantial number of people requesting lower extremity liposuction but it’s difficult to consistently deliver results that patients are happy with so at least in my experience I tend to be more conservative when recommending having the procedure. for reference I will tell you that I’ve been a board-certified plastic surgeon who’s been doing liposuction for over 22 years. 10 years ago I began focusing my career exclusively on doing only Liposuction and fat transfer procedures and have not done any other plastic surgical procedures in the last decade. I have done over 8000 liposuction procedures to date an am one of the only board-certified plastic surgeons in the United States who specializes exclusively in doing only Liposuction..
Back to the consultation.
Even if providers don’t have 50 sets of before and after pictures the goal is to get them to show you a variety of outcomes and get some sense of how many of these procedures they’ve actually performed. Count exactly how many before and after pictures they show you and push them to look for more.
Ask the providers to show you examples of excellent outcomes, average outcomes and less than outcomes. ask providers what the revision rate is and what the revision policy is.
It’s very important that you try to get providers to show you patients who have similar body characteristics to your own to get a good understanding of what providers can or cannot achieve with this procedure. differences in skin laxity makes a Normas difference in regards to candidacy.
Older individuals or individuals have had substantial weight fluctuations did not get good liposuction results.
Skin laxity is the number one reason patients failed to be a good candidate for Liposuction.
Skin laxity or loss of skin elasticity contribute significantly to body contour.
Since this is not treated with Liposuction Results have less impact.
Don’t bother choosing providers based on what equipment they use including various current skin tightening modalities including Renuvion and bodytite. neither of these have a significant impact and make very little difference in comparison to who is doing the procedure.
There’s no major advantage to any one brand of Liposuction Equipment in comparison to choosing the right provider.Plastic surgeons have the equipment they need to do their job. The difference in outcome is either based on plastic surgeons having skill and experience or not.
Make notes during the consultation of how thorough the provider is regarding all aspects of the consultation. This includes physical examination, reviewing before and after pictures, preparation for surgery, recovery, discussing risks and benefits, reviewing alternative procedures, reviewing before and after pictures and medical history.
Oh there’s no right number of consultations to have to find a way provider. Because Liposuction has such variety in competence between different providers I recommend patient start with a minimum of five consultations and consider having more if needed.
Avoid virtual consultations whenever possible and avoid traveling long distances for elective surgical procedures if possible.
When in doubt continue having more consultations.
Plastic surgeons who work for specialty liposuction corporate clinics may have advantages and disadvantages.
I would look clearly at each clinics overall reputation especially online reviews on various review websites.
Avoid providers or clinics with any significant number of justified negative reviews.
The absence of justified negative reviews is more important and more telling than having an abundance of positive reviews.
Good luck,
Mats Hagstrom MD