It’s not unusual for people to have bands of connective tissue at the same level your rectus abdominis muscle has hemi inscriptions. You can look at anatomy textbooks to get an idea. The hemi inscriptions not only contour the muscle, but they also include connective tissue that can pull on the skin creating what some people think of as muscle definition lines, and other people think of as undesirable folds on their mid abdomen. Well done the construction would give spectacular results and can diminished align significantly. I’m guessing even though the lines were present at a lower weight they become more visible with weight gain. The key is not figuring out which form of Liposuction to use but instead, it’s to find the right provider. Finding the right plastic surgeon to do your work is going to be much more difficult than you may realize. Liposuction has an enormous variation in skill among properly trained, experienced and well intended board, certified plastic surgeons. Delivering consistent quality Liposuction results turns out to be much more difficult than most people realize. The number of plastic surgeons have truly mastered this procedure is quite small. It doesn’t matter what device they use those some providers have preferences for one device over another. The device is never going to be the determining factor in regards to your outcome. Any plastic surgeon can get good or bad outcomes using any brand surgical equipment. The addition of the laser ads, virtually nothing other than cost and most plastic surgeons who do a lot of Liposuction do not believe laser treatments adds any significant value to the final outcome. I include myself in that group. Find the right provider I suggest you first look for plastic surgeons in your community who have a proven track record doing a lot of Liposuction preferably those who focus exclusively on this procedure. Try to get a list of at least five or six providers. Avoid virtual consultations whenever possible and insist on having in person consultations with the provider. Who’s going to do your procedure. Bring pictures of yourself to use as reference during the consultation. Look at how plastic surgeons take before and after pictures to get an idea of what you need. You need a frontal sideways and a rearview picture. Preferably you should print these pictures on paper and bring them with you to use as reference during the consultation. Do not rely on your memory or looking in mirrors during the consult. It’s fine for your surgeon to use mirrors to point certain things out but when reviewing before, and after pictures, you should be having your own pictures to use as a 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 had similar body characteristics to your own periodic. An experienced provider should have no difficulty showing you the before, and after pictures of at least 50 previous patients, who had similar body characteristics to your own. Being shown a handful of pre-selected images, representing only the best results of a providers career may be insufficient to get a clear understanding of what average results look like in the hands of each provider. You should also have a very clear understanding of exactly what areas are going to be included in the procedure and make sure You see the results of every area that is going to be treated. Personally, I usually view the torso as a single anatomic unit, and generally believe in treating the entire torso. If someone is going to have liposuction of their abdomen. To include a full torso, I generally treat, upper abdomen, lower, abdomen, love handles, waste, the entire back and under arm areas all the way to the side of the breast. by treating the entire torso as one anatomic unit patients are left with an even thin fat distribution without unnatural transition zones between treated and untreated areas. 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. The two biggest mistakes I typically see patients make is first having only one consultation, then scheduling surgery. The second biggest mistake is assuming that plastic surgeons who are board certified with years of experience and lots of good reviews have mastered most plastic surgical procedures. This is simply not true. Spite having proper qualifications and good reviews there are many plastic surgeons, who simply aren’t good at Liposuction. The outcome of this type of work is permanent and a reversible. In my opinion I suggest patient consider having at least five consultations before considering selecting a provider. Rather than spending hours on the Internet trying to figure out which treatment is better try to focus your efforts on the one single variable that is going to determine your outcome and that is provider selection. Selecting the right plastic surgeon is labor intensive and takes time. It may also include costs for consultation fees, though many plastic surgeons offer, free consultations. When in doubt, slow down and schedule more consultations. If done poorly Liposuction can leave people permanently disfigured. This happens in the hands of well intended board-certified plastic surgeons on a fairly regular basis. This type of outcome is completely avoidable if patients take precautions and properly vet providers and compare by having multiple consultations. Best in your pictures you are a fairly ideal candidate for Liposuction. A patient who is a good candidate for a surgical procedure as the potential of having excellent outcomes if the provider has excellent skill. That same patient also has the potential of having poor outcomes if provider selection is not done sufficiently. A patient who is not a good candidate does not have the potential of having a good outcome regardless of who does the surgery. In a nutshell, somebody who is an excellent candidate, for Liposuction is generally” young, tight, and pudgy”. Best, Mats Hagstrom, MD