Is it safe to have liposuction on abdomen & flanks at a resident clinic?

Question

I'm considering lipo for small, stubborn areas of fat on my abdomen & flanks. I'm still researching. Some nearby plastic surgery residencies (& sometimes fellowships) offer discounted surgery by residents (or fellows) under supervision. Safe? Budget conscious here, but don’t want to be impaled w/ lipo cannula.

Semih Yildiz, MD, FEPOBRAS · Answer

Resident or fellow clinics can be a safe option for the right patient, but the safety depends less on the discount and more on the structure around the surgery. Liposuction is still real surgery, even when the areas are small.

Before choosing that route, ask who is doing the operation, who is supervising in the room, whether the supervising surgeon is a board-certified plastic surgeon, and what parts of the procedure they personally oversee. Also confirm that the facility is accredited, what type of anesthesia will be used, who provides it, and what emergency protocols are in place.

For abdomen and flank liposuction, important safety points include staying in the correct tissue plane, avoiding overly aggressive fat removal, limiting total volume, and making sure your skin quality and anatomy are appropriate. Serious cannula injuries are uncommon, but they are one reason experience, supervision, and proper patient selection matter.

If the answers are clear and you feel comfortable with the attending surgeon's involvement, a teaching program may be reasonable. If you feel rushed, cannot meet the supervising surgeon, or the plan sounds vague, it is worth getting another consultation before proceeding.

Connie Hiers, MD, FACS · Answer

These residents have already completed at least 5 years of general surgery training and are competent. Plus, they will be supervised. You should do very well.  If you are still concerned, find a board-certified plastic surgeon who has had more experience.

Mats Hagstrom, MD (license on probation) · Answer

In our program we also had a resident cosmetic surgery clinic where people could get discounted cosmetic surgery. Sometimes we had very talented attending surgeons who would take us through the procedure in detail, and the patients got amazing results. That were some of the best I’ve ever seen at a very reasonable price. Other times we were left alone, and there was virtually no supervision at all.
Other times we were assigned a professor, who really wasn’t very good at cosmetic surgery. And the same program I only recall one Doctor Who was good at Liposuction. None of the others really knew what they were doing when it came to Liposuction.
There’s no possible way a patient will be able to select which attending surgeon is overseeing the case so you have no way to vet your provider. There’s no way to get a clear understanding of either the Resident, or the attending‘s skill or fund of knowledge of the procedure by seeing a complete set of before and after pictures of lots of previous patients when you’re doing it this way.
Generally speaking, the surgeons at the University were not technically good surgeons, and they were generally not very good at cosmetic surgery. There were a few exceptions, but many of the famous academic surgeons were actually technically terrible surgeons.
Personally, I would never gamble with some thing that can easily leave you disfigured for life.
Delivering consistent quality, Liposuction results is more difficult than most people believe. The master this procedure takes years Dedicated work, and doing thousands of cases with the intent of mastering the procedure. There are plenty of board-certified plastic surgeons who are not good at liposuction and don’t like doing the procedure.
The number of plastic surgeons who are truly excellent, and Liposuction and can consistently deliver quality results based on making an accurate assessment and understanding each unique patient’s candidacy for the procedure is a relatively small.
For that reason, I recommend anybody consider Liposuction have at least five in person, consultations and consider having more. During each consultation, ask you to provide her to open up your portfolio of previous patient, so I have similar body characteristics to your owner. And experience provider should have no difficulty showing you the before and after pictures of at least 50 previous patient.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom, MD

Is it safe to have liposuction on abdomen & flanks at a resident clinic?

Answers (3)

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