Thigh Revision Liposuction

Patients who come into Dr. Amron’s office for a thigh revision liposuction procedure usually target one of two areas:

1. Outer Thighs
   In some ways the outer thigh or “saddlebag” area can be easier to make the patient happy with liposuction as it defines the silhouette or width of the lower half of the body. In addition, the skin is somewhat more forgiving unless the surgeon treats it with disrespect. Being overly aggressive or approaching the area horizontally or jabbing the underneath side of the skin greatly increases the chances of skin irregularities in this area causing a rippling. This rippling primarily occurs from tethering of the skin in an area where gravitationally the weight of the buttocks is pushing down. The skin is then getting “hung up” on the underlying uneven scar tissue causing rippling or indentations.Another mistake is to create an unnatural silhouette or appearance to the buttocks. Most commonly this occurs from bringing the area down too much by removing too much fat and possibly masculinizing the female buttock.One last common mistake occurs from poor positioning of the body leg during surgery. It is important to contour the outer thigh with the leg completely straight as to simulate the anatomic standing position. A common mistake is to let the leg flop over while creating the desired contour. Though the surgeon may feel he has sculpted a good line, when the patient stands up there will be an indentation because the leg was not contoured with it being in the correct position. Once again, having the patient conscious and able to assume perfect positioning at all times is crucial to a consistently great result.As with most revision liposuction procedures I perform, the correction may be one or a combination of the methods described in other areas of this website such as blending adjacent areas, smoothing irregularities with small flat tipped spatula cannulas, fat transfer to build up indentations or skin tightening procedures.
2. Inner Thighs
   The inner thighs are one of the most commonly done areas by liposuction. Unfortunately this area is one of the most commonly poorly done areas. One of the main reasons for this is that the inner and especially the upper inner thigh skin is some of the most delicate on the body, with commonly less than perfect elasticity. It is not tolerant of aggressive liposuction or disrespect for the skin by the surgeon during the procedure. This is one area it is extremely important for the surgeon to err on the side of being conservative rather than too aggressive in his or her sculpting. Improperly placed incisions or poor positioning can contribute to difficulty staying in the proper plane during the sculpting procedure and either jabbing the underlying muscle (increasing pain, trauma and bruising) or jabbing or poking the skin with the cannula tip causing irregularities (once again the importance of a conscious patient).It is very important to either determine whether the patient just needs the upper inner thighs done or the whole inner thigh all the way down to the medial knee. Much of my revision liposuction work involves blending the lower medial thigh and knee in a patient who only had the upper inner thigh done. As a thigh lift is rarely a good option, I may also recommend nonsurgical skin tightening with Thermage to achieve further tightening.