Question:
Lipo on just outer thighs, or lipo on inner, outer, and buttocks?

I saw my plastic surgeon yesterday for a consult about lipo on my thighs. I am very bothered by the amount of excess fat on my hip/outer thigh area, and that is truly the area that I focused on. He said he can address just this area for $3450, or address that area plus lower buttock, and lower and upper inner thigh area for $5400. Anyone else made this decision, and were you happy with it? Did you wish you had done something differently? I'm 5'9", and 168 pounds. I have some baggy skin on inner thigh, which he said could be slightly more pronounced after lipo. I would just hate to come out of surgery thinking, "I wish I had had everything else done." or, "Gosh, that extra $2000 really wasn't worth it." I'm scheduled for July 15. Thanks for your response!    — raye (posted on June 8, 2004)

June 8, 2004
I would get at least one more opinion. I have a large lump on each outter thigh, the right is the size of a grapefruit and the left, an orange. The first 2 doctors I consulted with wanted to cut over and under the lumps then join the skin at the panty line. One wanted $5,500, the other $5,000. For the inner thighs it was $4,500 and $4,000. The third doctor I saw wanted to do a total LBL for $12,000 plus $4,500 for the inner thighs at a later time. Lipo was never an option because of the amount of excess skin.
   — Tawnda C.

June 9, 2004
Think carefully about the lipo on your inner thigh. My PS told me it would just make the sagging worse, so recommended against it. Of course, everyone is different, so this may not be the case for you, but you'd hate to end up needed an inner thigh lift due to the lipo if they look OK now.
   — mom2jtx3

June 10, 2004
If you are young and have awesome skin that has been shrinking very good, then just lipo might work. Otherwise go for the more extensive procedure. For what he is talking about, $5400 is a good price. I had a LBL on Feb 23rd and my cost for the lateral thigh portion was $3400 OR and anestheiology and $2547 for surgeon. He lipo'd my saddle bag area some and then pulled the saddle bags up and anchored them to the fascia at the hips. This worked great, except that I still had tons of weight in my legs and over time that skin relaxed a little and 3-1/2 months later he could lift up a significant amount of skin at the outer thigh area again. He was bugged by that, but the truth is he had it so tight from the start that he could not have done anything more. Ideally in my case doing my legs first and getting the weight off there and then doing the LBL would have provided the best results, but hardly anyone does things in that order. <p>I just had stage two of an abdominoplasty on Monday (panni above the belly button removed) and he removed 4 liters of fat out of my thighs in preparation for the skin removal in Nov. In my case it has taken a lateral thigh lift to deal with the saddle bags ($6000), significant liposuction on the legs ($2700) and the skin removal in Nov ($9000) to deal with my legs. It may also take one last leg procedure to open a section of my LBL scars and pull up excess skin vertically if I still have too much sag at the knees. That would be fairly minor in the scheme of things but likley would cost me $3000-4000. So the legs will be the most major investment on my body. Fortunately insurance covered the 2 stages of abdominoplasty, otherwise I have no idea what I would do. Ideally I also need skin removal on the arms and a breast lift and implants. That another $13,000. So I have at least another $22,000 in work to ideally be done but not the money sitting around. The leg skin removal is a must but the arms and breasts may or may not get done. I don't want to be paying off PS till the day I die either. <p>All I can say is my gut and upper legs are the best looking they have been in years. The first 12 inches above my knees right now are SOOOOO swollen that they are at least twice their size. Once the swelling goes down they will be very baggy and ugly looking till the skin is removed in Nov. I decided I'd rather look like the beautiful swan with ugly duckling legs for 5 months and then look like the beautfil swan the rest of my life once the skin is removed. It will be worth it, that I am sure of.
   — zoedogcbr