This response was dictated. My apologies for grammatical errors and the rambling nature. There are two valuables that determine Liposuction results. These are the only variables that are importance, and I suggest you focus your efforts on only these two variables. The first is understanding your candidacy for the procedure. Not everybody everybody seeking Liposuction is a great candidate for the procedure. In my practice out of every 10 patients I consult with only two or three are good or excellent candidates for Liposuction. Two or three will end up being non-candidates and the rest end up being average candidates. Candidacy is half of the result. In a nutshell, ideal candidates for Liposuction are young, tight and pudgy. The opposite is also true. Older individuals with any degree of skin laxity, or loss of skin, elasticity and individuals with thin layers of subcutaneous fat tent to not be great candidates for Liposuction. The biggest difference between your body and the woman in your wish picture is skin tightness. With successful weight loss, the subcutaneous fat layer becomes thinner and people develop more skin laxity. Weight loss in reality lessons your candidacy for having Liposuction results. Individuals who had substantial weight loss typically don’t get Liposuction results because they tend to be left with a skin laxity issue not fat distribution problem. It’s very important to differentiate between even mild skin, laxity and fat distribution problems. The second variable is provider selection, or the skill of the surgeon. Delivering consistent quality Liposuction results is more difficult than most people realize. Being good at Liposuction, not only includes the technical aspect of the procedure, but also the ability to make accurate assessments and deliver predictable outcomes. This kind of work is pretty complex. The number of plastic surgeons who come close to mastering Liposuction is quite small. I would say only 5% of plastic surgeons are good to excellent at the procedure. Most plastic surgeons think they’re much better at Liposuction than they actually are. Finding the right provider is inherently difficult. I suggest patients do it by having multiple in person consultations. Start the process by making a list of local plastic surgeons who seem to have extensive experience with the procedure. Schedule in person consultations exclusively, avoiding virtual consultations. Bring pictures of your body, preferably in printed format to use as reference during each consultation. 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 had similar body characteristics to your own. You need to look very carefully at previous patients to make sure they are of similar age, Similar amounts of skin laxity, and similar thickness of subcutaneous fat layer. Seeing results from patients who were ideal candidates is not going to be a representative if your candidacy is different. An experienced plastic surgeon should have no difficulty showing you the before, and after pictures of at least 50 previous patients. Highly experienced providers should have access 100 or preferably thousands of before and after pictures. You may not have time to review that many pictures, but they should have more pictures than you have time to look at during the consultation. The inability to assess candidacy properly leads to unpredictable outcomes. Look and listen very carefully for plastic surgeons and see if they can express your unique candidacy for the procedure. This means the ability to clearly differentiate between Subcutaneous, fat and other variables that also influence body appearance and shape like skin laxity, muscle separation from previous pregnancies, excess visceral fat Muscular skeletal structure etc. Delivering consistent quality liposuction results, including the ability to make accurate assessments is far more difficult than most people realize. The number of plastic surgeons to come close to mastering this procedure is quite small. Most plastic surgeons think are better at Liposuction and then they actually are. Not getting these variables correct can easily lead to significant disappointment or disfigurement. There’s no correct number of consultations needed to find the right provider. The more consultations you schedule the more likely you are to find the better provider for your need. The biggest mistake I see patients make is having only one consultation and then scheduling surgery. The second biggest mistake I see patients make, is assuming that being board-certified in plastic surgery with years of experience and a handful of good reviews means that somebody has mastered most plastic surgical procedures. This is simply not true. Cosmetic surgery is very much a caveat emptor experience. Considering how much variation there is in Liposuction skill among plastic surgeons, I suggest patients schedule at least four or five consultations, and consider scheduling more unless you feel very confident you found as sufficiently talented provider. I don’t believe you can do this by Internet, searches or virtual consultations. A patient who is an excellent candidate for Liposuction has to potential of having excellent outcomes. This happens if they are able to find an excellent provider. The same patient can also be left disfigured if provider selection is not done well. Patient is not A good candidate for Liposuction does not have the potential of having excellent outcomes. Individuals who are less than ideal candidates should consider carefully if the procedure is warranted. In your case, I think your greatest area of potential improvement is reducing your love handles. Your abdomen and back does have some skin laxity which is contributing to contour. Liposuction can definitely make you look better, but the degree of improvement may be somewhat different than what you anticipate. I personally view the torso as a single anatomic unit and generally treat the entire torso when doing Liposuction. I tried to avoid spot treating the torso because doing so leads to transition areas that look unnatural between treated and untreated areas. A “full torso” includes upper abdomen, lower abdomen, love handles, waist , full back and under arm or armpit area all the way to the side of the breast. There are substantially different approaches to how this procedure should be done and results will likewise very depending on who does the surgery. There are a lot of variables being used for marketing purposes to try to differentiate among plastic surgeons. If you just focus on understanding your own candidacy and provider selection, then you’ll probably be ahead of those or trying to figure out if VASER is better than some other form of Liposuction. In the end, A talented plastic surgeon can use any brand equipment and get virtually the same results. The procedure is not dictated by Equipment or type of Liposuction. It is exclusively determined by understanding, candidacy and provider selection. Schedule some in person consultations with providers in your community. I recommend people do not schedule surgery on the same day as the consultation and finish all scheduled consultations before considering selecting a provider. When doubt slow down and schedule more consultations. Best, Mats Hagstrom MD