Am I A Good Candidate for Secondary Liposuction and Rib Removal Surgery?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am considering rib removal surgery, of the floating ribs, and also shaving of the ribs, rib removal of rib #9-10 the ribs that are attached. Or I’d like to do everything I can to have my waist line slimed as small as possible. I read something about doing something to the lat muscle, I do have wide Lats cause I’m into pole fitness. I have always had a more athletic figure broad shoulders and I’ve always wanted a hour glass figure shape. I had a BBL maybe over a year ago and it left some lumps in my stomach, even though I did the massages. I think what happened is they tried to take to much fat out of my lower abdomen below my belly button, and they didn’t take ANY fat out of my upper abdomen below my boobs. I didn’t have enough fat on my lower abdomen so it caused ripples which destroyed my tummy. Because they tried to take a liter of fat out of only my Lowe abs and there just wasn’t enough there. I use to love how my stomach looked and how I hate it & have to cover it all the time! and there is a lump above my belly button since they didn’t take ANY fat out of there. I cried when I looked at the before and after pics of my tummy, I feel like I spent so much money to look worse! Then I did before. My belly button looks gross now. My butt barely looks bigger at all, and if I could choose I’d rather not have a lumpy tummy. Is there anyway you can correct that? Or do some sorta body sculpting on my abs so it looks half way normal, I’ve had to wear a garter set, or only high waisted pants to cover my tummy since the BBL, and it’s effected my work. Cause I can’t wear a low bikini. It looks like cellulite on my stomach. Does the doctor do webcam consultations or in person consultations? Because I’d really like to speak to the doctor himself to see what his opinions are about what is possible in my case. And then get a estimate of costs so I can start saving up, and see what kind of financing options are available to me. And I’d also like a BBL while we are in there since we are going to be removing the ribs and sucking out all the fat in my midsection.

A:Thank you for your inquiry and sending all of your pictures. Unfortunately you show all the effects of being a poor candidate for BBL surgery. The abdominal irregularities are the direct result of trying to take fat from someone who simply didn’t have it to give. Thus the thin smooth subcutaneous fat barrier between the skin and the abdominal wall has been disrupted and can never be restored. Trying to do further liposuction to try and smooth it out will only make it worse. The only potential liposuction benefit is in the upper umbilical area where there is some residual fat thickness so at least that could be made less raised.

The conclusion is that, while liposuction always has the risk of postoperative irregularities, that risk is magnified when the abdominal fat layer is thin and then an aggressive approach is used for the fat removal. This is largely irreversible and don’t waste a lot of money chasing treatments and surgeries that are not going to really fix it.

Dr. Barry Eppley

World-Renowned Plastic Surgeon