Q: I am a healthy 41-year-old woman. I want to desperately get rid of a tiny lower belly and smooth out little bulges on my thighs. I've heard that traditional lipo makes your skin sag. Lasers, I've been told, cause fat to be dissolved under the skin and then sucked out or dissolved completely and released through the lymphatic system. What is your professional opinion?
A: My professional opinion is that you should never listen to unprofessional opinions! Everybody likes to think they are experts even though they did not finish 10+ years of training. If there was ever an ideal candidate, based on what you are describing for traditional liposuction, it is you. Perhaps the people who gave you the misinformation were overweight, with excessively loose skin? Or possibly they read it in a paid advertisement for a dubious weight-loss product.
Traditional liposuction is a very useful tool for exactly what you want to take care of. You need to see your physician, discuss what you would like to accomplish and leave it up to him/her to guide you. I would get two opinions, see before and after pictures, ask about the risks and benefits of the operation and proceed with caution. There are many ways to get great results; no one way is the only way. I practice with two plastic surgeons and we often do the same procedure in three different ways. Each way works for us and our patients.
