Liposuction: Info, Prices, Photos, Reviews, Q&A

Liposuction can definitely improve your appearance by recontouring areas where there is excess fat. It is important to remember not to use liposuction as a means of weight loss though.

It is very important that you try to maintain a healthy lifestyle (i.e. diet and exercise) after liposuction surgery so that you get the full benefits of the surgery. (Peter Newen, MD, Orange County Plastic Surgeon)

Lipo is a reproportioning procedure to improve silhouette and contour

As I have always emphasized and continue to stress, liposuction is a procedure to target areas of disproportion and create proper balance in a disproportionate patient.

It has virtually nothing to do with weight loss, or muscle tone, those are the patients responsibility. Well done liposculpture should create a beautiful contour for that patient. But there are many factors to how a dress fits.

In the more than 6000 liposuction surgeries I have performed in almost 20 years, I have seen many patients drop 2 even four dress sizes while others don’t change.

It really depends on the particular patient, where it is that the lipo needs to be targeting and how a particular dress may fit.

I would have to also say that weight loss, which is the patients responsibility may play a more important role for a certain patient, while a very disproportionate patient with a thin upper body and huge saddlebags and hips may see a big reduction in dress sizes.

The goal for each patient should be a well balanced proportionate natural looking result not only in clothing but not in clothing. (David Amron, MD, Beverly Hills Dermatologic Surgeon)

Liposuction For Body Contouring

Liposuction is a great option for body contouring, and our practice uses the gold standard of liposuction, tumescent liposuction. Tumescent liposuction is scientifically proven to remove fat deposits from targeted areas of the body. (Brian Coan, MD, FACS, Raleigh-Durham Plastic Surgeon)

Liposuction addresses fatty deposits. The fat is removed and the skin tightens over the new contours.

If the proportion of fat to skin tightness is right, then liposuction is a powerful way to contour the body. (Gary Lawton, MD, FACS, San Antonio Plastic Surgeon)

Better Clothing Fit After Liposuction

Liposuction provides excellent reduction of problem fat deposits, particularly when they are out of proportion to the amount of fat in other parts of the body. Most patients will report a significant improvement of the way their clothing fits after the procedure and will often be able to decrease clothing size as a result.

Nonetheless, liposuction is not a weight loss procedure, and some weight loss is often recommended in conjunction with liposuction to optimize the end result of the procedure. (John K. Wakelin III, MD, FACS, Columbus Plastic Surgeon)

Liposuction does improve your silhouette and reduces dress size. The swelling can be reduced by lymphatic massages 4 weeks post surgery. (Mel T. Ortega, MD, Miami Plastic Surgeon)

Lipo eliminates inches to reduce your dress size.

Liposuction can definitely smooth away the isolated fat deposits. However, whether those alone are responsible for your dress size will not be clear until after your procedure.

In some cases, your label size is due to the frame of your body more than fat deposits.

However, that being said, sculpting the problem spots should help you bump down a little to a smaller size and enhance your natural hourglass shape. Be sure that you are at your target weight before you consider lipo, and have maintained a steady weight for a few months already in order to see the best results. (Jeremy Pyle, MD, Raleigh-Durham Plastic Surgeon)

Liposuction improves curves

Liposuction will enhance your curves by creating a more hourglass figure. Fat grafts to the buttocks (the Brazilian Butt Lift) will enhance your curves further. (David Stoker, MD, Los Angeles Plastic Surgeon)

Liposuction for reduce areas with fat deposits.

In generally Liposuction can definitely be used to reduce areas with fat deposits. So surely you can reduce your dress size. (Jhonny Salomon, MD, Miami Plastic Surgeon)

Liposuction is for isolated areas of fat

Liposuction is most effective for refining isolated areas of the body that are difficult to tone through diet and exercise; it is not a weight loss procedure. That being said, it’s not uncommon to go down a size or two after surgery since liposuction removes fat.

It’s difficult to say what your dress size will be after surgery. Liposuction could eliminate “back rolls” and give you a smoother, more proportional body contour, as long as you have good skin elasticity. (Thomas McNemar, MD, FACS, Stockton Plastic Surgeon)

Lipo can definitely improve your silhouette

Liposuction is ideal for sculpting or reducing fat at particular problem area such as tummy (abdomen), sides, back rolls, arms, thighs and even the neck. So lipo can definitely improve sillouette. Though ideal for contouring, liposuction may not necessarily reduce your dress size.

There are just too many factors which determine your dress size. If you have to buy a larger dress size to accommodate your large breasts, a breast reduction by liposuction or other techniques is necessary to reduce your dress size.

If your dress size is more determined by your wide hips, liposuction to reduce your hip size can reduce your dress size. Lastly, if your thighs are too large to fit into smaller dress sizes, liposuction of your thighs can reduce your thighs to enable to buy the smaller dress you’ve been longing for.

However, lipo is not a substitute for weight loss; it’s a body sculpting technique. Losing a dress size or two is really a byproduct of a healthy lifestyle including good nutrition and exercise. Liposuction can then be performed to address the areas which are disproportionately too large and perhaps a result of your genetic makeup. (David N. Sayah, MD, FACS, Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon)

Liposuction can cause you to go down in dress sizes because it removes fat. In some patients the shape is also drastically changed. Liposuction is not, however, a weight reduction tool and one should be close to their ideal weight and stabilized prior to undergoing liposuction. (Thomas Guillot, MD, Baton Rouge Plastic Surgeon)

For an individual who is not over weight/obese and is concerned about accumulated fat resistant to diet and exercise liposuction is the treatment of choice. For a person who had liposuction before, liposelection (ultrasonic liposuction ) is more effective especially in the inner thighs and arms.

Some reduction in dress size is expected and the silhouette will definitely improve. (Fereydoon S. Mahjouri, MD, Minneapolis Plastic Surgeon)

Liposuction to reduce dress size

Liposuction properly performed not only reduces inches, but sculpts the body to a more harmonious proportions. The patient can definitely reduce dress size, assuming there is excess fat to be contoured during surgery. On your back it appears that the rolls also have some loose skin.

Make sure that your surgeon uses appropriate lipo-sculpting technique on those areas, such as ultrasound lipo, etc. so that there is some skin contracture. If improperly performed you could end up with some loose skin and skin folds. (Boris M. Ackerman, MD, Newport Beach Plastic Surgeon)

Liposuction to remove unwanted fat

Liposuction is a technique used to remove unwanted fat. Liposuction is appropriate to remove unwanted fat in the flanks, love handles, hips, thighs, buttocks, and posterior torso. These areas have a hormonal pattern of fat deposition and are thus ideal for liposuction.

In terms of realistic goals, liposuction will work appropriately to remove fat in these areas, however, an experienced surgeon will rarely guarantee success based on dress size. You should strive for safe removal of fat with minimal contour irregularities. (Raffy Karamanoukian, MD, FACS, Los Angeles Plastic Surgeon)

Smartlipo (laser assisted lipo) can help improve the torso (back, flanks, hips) & arms

I use Smartlipo MPX which is laser-assisted liposuction that uses 2 wavelengths of laser light, blended at different strengths to not only contour fat, but also tighten the skin.

Skin tightening has always been a significant limitation to the result of liposuction and what I would do is use Smartlipo to tighten the skin in the areas where you have the back folds (flank area) and also in the arms where the skin is loose along the inner aspect and up towards the armpit.

In truth, I do not feel that I can predict that you will get as smooth of a result in the back fold area as you “show in your desired after” picture, but I know that with the techniques that I use with Smartlipo-you will have the best chance to get near this result.

The back skin is heavy and just the weight of this heavy skin, in addition to the natural tendency for individuals to “accordion” in this area (poor posture and collapse of the spine support—definitely better to “grow an inch” as they say in Pilates!) leads to folds of skin and not just fat.

That is why Smartlipo MPX is best and I spend extra time tightening the skin in 5 x 5 cm grids to a temperature that will allow collagen to be remodeled in order to promote skin shrinkage, which has been demonstrated scientifically in recent studies with Smartlipo MPX.

As far as going down a dress/pant size, this may be possible, but more importantly, it is best to know that it is the contour that will be improved, but the liposculpture procedure and with vigilant healthy eating habits and exercise, the smaller size will definitely come.

You will have the benefit of modern technology to get a better result with the skin and this is important in these areas of the torso (back, flank, hips) and arms. (Christine A. Petti, MD, Los Angeles Plastic Surgeon)