Don’t get all starry eyed at the thought of finally shaping your body the way you want it, and then drop the ball when it comes to the most important decision you can make AFTER the decision to get stomach liposuction or any other fat removal procedure. It’s crucially important to select a plastic surgeon with the best chance of making your vision into a reality and the lowest chance of things going anything less than absolutely perfect. After all, even when it takes place in a doctor’s office, liposuction is a form of surgery and like any surgery there are risks. It is also a skill and art, and like any skill or art some practitioners are better than others.

Try to find someone who can give you a personal recommendation. Ask them details about their experience and make sure you are comfortable with everything you are told. Some people might recommend a doctor but once you get them talking about their experience in the middle of the story you might here something that they forgot, or maybe dismissed as unimportant (e.g. doctor kept your friend waiting an unprofessional amount of time) even though it’s the sort of detail that could make or break the experience for you.

This next part may sound shallow, but take a look at your friend and judge the doctor’s handiwork. After all, if you don’t think your friend’s double-chin has been properly dealt with, or their stomach liposuction seems a little uneven, there’s no reason for you to think the doctor will do any better for you. This is important, don’t let yourself cut any corners.  Check out this video of a surgeon doing liposuction on the stomach:

At a minimum you should select a surgeon who has been performing the specific procedure you are planning to have done for at least two years, if not more. Don’t just accept that the doctor is “board certified”. Not all boards are created equal. Find out which board the surgeon is certified with and look them up. Find out what their standards are. Heck, you might even want to give them a call to confirm the doctor’s certification. It’s nice that most plastic surgery procedures don’t require going to a hospital anymore, but at least in the hospital there were certain assumptions you could depend on. With procedures done primarily straight out of the doctor’s office these days, you have to take the doctor’s word on everything — even that they’re a real doctor.

Of course there are many excellent and experienced plastic surgeons out there, but there are also some less qualified people who get patients by exaggerating their experience or lying. It’s not common, but it happens and you should do your due diligence before letting your excitement get the better of you. Once you can rest easy having selected an excellent surgeon for your stomach liposuction (or other procedure) then it’s time to sit back and count the days until that unwanted fat goes away forever.