Laser lipolysis undecided - should I feel safe to do it?

The very simple answer is yes as long as you choose your surgeon wisely. Marketing can be misleading so be careful. Make sure to get references, read reviews and get examples of the doctor's work (before and after photos). And experience is very important. Since you are healthy you should not be overly worried as complications should be very rare. Hope that helps!

Provided you are a good candidate, you should feel comfortable with your plastic surgeon and procedure.

In my experience, laser (or ultrasound) liposuction can remove stubborn fat and tighten skin in problem areas such as arms, thighs, abdomen.

This may be different from laser lipolysis which targets fat but does not remove fat via liposuction and has limitations.

You should seek other opinions, exam and consultation with plastic surgeons who regularly perform liposuction of these areas until you feel comfortable and have clear goals, expectations.

Laser lipolysis has been pretty much outdated and not a single Plastic surgeon in this country is using it. It is clear to me that the doctor you went to see is not a Plastic Surgeon and offered you or promised you amazing results with this “wonderful laser” machine. The truth is that laser lipolysis causes more problems and has the highest rate of complications. It’s not the device but the skills of the Plastic surgeon that creates results. Find a plastic surgeon who specializes traditional or power assist liposuction. In the right hands, you should have wonderful results. I hope it helps and good luck from New York City Plastic Surgery.

This response was written using dictation.
My apologies for any grammatical errors.
In my opinion, patients considering permanent, irreversible body contouring procedures should be a bit apprehensive.
These procedures can leave people permanently disfigured.
Quality outcomes with overall positive experiences are based on two variables.
The first variable is the patient’s candidacy for the procedure in the first place.
The second variable is the skill and experience of the provider you select.
Both of these variables are equally as important.
Without including pictures, we can’t assess your candidacy for the procedure.
If you’re not a good candidate for Liposuction, then you should probably not have the procedure unless you’re willing to accept the results may not be that great.
If you’re an excellent candidate for Liposuction, then you have the potential for having excellent results if you find as sufficiently skilled provider.
a patient who is an excellent candidate can also have poor outcomes if they are working with a provider who does not have the skill and experience to do quality work.
A patient who is not a good candidate for a surgical procedure does not have the potential to have a good outcome regardless of who does the surgery.
Individuals who have significant weight loss often develop skin laxity and skin laxity is probably the number one reason patients fail to be good candidates for Liposuction.
I have no idea what your candidacy is because he did not include any pictures.
In a nutshell, the ideal candidate for Liposuction is an individual who is generally “young, tight, and pudgy”.
The opposite is also true.
Older individuals who have thin layers of subcutaneous fed with lots of skin laxity do not get good Liposuction results.
Rarely are people either ideal candidates, or non-candidates.
Most people will fall somewhere on a spectrum.
The ability to differentiate the exact candidacy of each patient which will intern predict the exact type of potential outcome is a skill not all plastic surgeons have mastered.
Finding the right plastic surgeon is far more difficult than most people realize.
Delivering consistent quality Liposuction results is much more difficult than most people realize.
Being board-certified in plastic surgery with years of experience, and an overall good reputation is not sufficient to confirm that somebody is good at Liposuction.
Never assume somebody has the skills necessary until you have seen proven evidence of the contrary.
In other words, do not schedule surgery unless you have seen a very Impressive collection of quality before and after pictures of previous patients done by the surgeons who is going to do your procedure.
Finding the right provider is time-consuming, and requires significant effort.
It generally requires an active engagement on the part of the patient.
View the consultation process as you are hiring someone to do a service for you. This is essentially what you were doing anyway.
It is your responsibility to make sure the provider has the skill and experience necessary to deliver the type of results you want.
Before going over provider selection, I’d like to just mention a few things about Liposuction itself.
The form of Liposuction you choose is irrelevant.
All forms of Liposuction are more or less the same and the Equipment used makes absolutely no difference.
If one form of Liposuction was clearly better than the other than all plastic surgeons would be using that equipment.
Do not let anybody tell you that laser Liposuction, VASER Liposuction, or any other type of device has significant advantages over other spread.
Obviously some people like the device they use but it’s not the device that delivers the results it’s the surgeon.
It’s nice to have a brand new Mercedes but if the job is to get you to work, a Honda Civic will do the exact same thing.
Do not select providers based on the equipment they use.
To find the right provider I suggest you start by making a list of plastic surgeons or clinics in your area that seem to have a strong reputation for Liposuction.
Confirm the providers you are contemplating working with our board certified and plastic surgery, and have been in practice for at least a decade.
Next schedule in person consultations with each of those providers.
I highly recommend you avoid virtual consultations whenever possible.
If the consultation is done by a professional sales person and not the doctor, then you should probably just cross that potential provider off the list.
Consultations must be done with the surgeon. Who’s going to do your operation if it’s going to mean anything.
Bring pictures of your body and have those in printed format to use as reference during the consultation.
To get an idea of what pictures should look like take a look at how plastic surgeons take before and after pictures for each of the body areas you’re thinking about having treated.Do not rely upon memory, or using mirrors for reference.
During each consultation, ask each provider to open up their portfolio and show you their entire collection of before, and after pictures of previous patients who have very similar body characteristics to your own.
This means that the degree of skin laxity should be about the same.
The thickness of the fat layers should be about the same and the patient should be about your age.
an experienced provider should have no difficulty showing you the before and after pictures of at least 50 previous patients.
Being shown a handful of pre-selected images, representing only the best results of providers career is insufficient to get a clear understanding of what average results look like or how many of these procedures they’ve actually done.
Highly experienced surgeons should have access to hundreds or preferably thousands of before and after pictures.
It is your job to find out what results look like not the best results of the providers career.
If a provider can show quality outcomes 100 times then there’s a good chance. Your outcome will be similar to the patients in the pictures.
If they only show you two pictures of quality outcomes, then the provider probably has a collection of pictures they don’t want you to see.
In my opinion, I think it’s appropriate to ask providers to show you a variety of outcomes.
I think it’s totally appropriate to ask the provider to show you their best outcomes, average outcomes, and outcomes that did not turn out, as well as they had hoped.
A confident, honest, talented provider should have no difficulty at all, showing you a variety of results and being willing to open their portfolio and show you everything.
Take care of notes during each consultation, especially regarding the quality and quantity of before and after pictures.
There’s no correct number of consultations needed to find the right provider.
The biggest mistake patients make is having only one consultation and then scheduling surgery.
Having only one consultation, basically eliminates your ability to choose a better provider.
Considering the impact of these procedures, and that you’ll be reminded of the outcome every day for the rest of your life, I think it is a worthy investment to have at least four or five consultations before considering selecting a provider.
Never commit to having surgery during the consultation visit.
Do not selected Date and do not make a deposit on the day of the consultation.
You should probably plan on spending several months during the provider vetting phase.
Scheduling this many consultations is going to take some time, and there may be potential cost involved if providers charge for consultations.
Do not see this as money wasted.
It is an investment in yourself and an investment in the selection process, which is in the end, the most single, important variable.
If you follow these steps and have at least five consultations in person, you are fairly likely to find somebody who has efficient, skill and experience to deliver a fairly competent Liposuction outcome for you.
The biggest mistakes patients make is scheduling, only one consultation, or assuming that being board-certified in plastic surgery with years of experience, and overall good reputation means that they have mastered most plastic surgical procedures.
Delivering consistent quality Liposuction results is much more difficult than most people realize.
The number of plastic surgeons who are truly excellent Liposuction is small.
Most plastic surgeons think they’re better at Liposuction than they actually are.
When in doubt, slow down and schedule more consultations.
No one has to have cosmetic surgery.
If you get confused by all the variables, then go back to the basics.
The first is to understand your own candidacy for the procedure.
Inequality consultation that will be explained to you.
The surgeon will explain why or why you will not have good Results and show you appropriate pictures of previous patients who had similar body characteristics to your own.
The second variable is finding the right provider, and I’ve outlined how to do that.
The best plastic surgeons are often not engaged in self promotion, advertising, or have large social media campaigns.
The best plastic surgeons are busy taking care of patients and are more focused on patient care.
Avoid providers, trying to differentiate themselves by selling you on equipment or technology.
Good luck to you,
Mats Hagstrom, MD