Cosmetic surgery such as liposuction removes fat from various areas of the human body. As in most surgical procedures, there are risks, which your doctor will advise you of.

Abdomen surgery is one of the most frequent procedures. Abdominal liposuction removes abdominal fat. The national average cost is $4,250.

Body contouring is another cosmetic surgery performed. This is most often used for a patient after significant weight loss. The cost of this procedure is $6,250.

Facial liposuction fixes lumpy necks, double chins, and chubby cheeks. This removes small amounts of fat compared to other procedures. Most often, facial liposuction works in conjunction with face lifts. This cost is $5,250.

Neck liposuction results in a firmer neck. It can also give your face a youthful look. This is a minimally invasive procedure. This procedure runs $5,250.

A popular cosmetic procedure to shape and slim the upper legs is thigh liposculpture. This method uses ultrasound to break up the fat into small sections. The cost for this is $4,250.

There are differences in the types of liposuction, which may result in a difference in pricing also.

There is wet liposuction. This procedure injects a fluid injected into the area to help loosen the fat cells. This also reduces the bruising.

Super-wet liposuction is the preferred technique for high-volume procedures.

Tumescent type liposuction is where a large amount of fluid is then injected. This creates space between the fatty tissue and muscle and makes more room for the suction tube that is used.

External ultrasound-assisted liposuction is where the ultrasonic energy is applied through the skin from outside the body.

It is important to remember that the liposuction prices are averages and you will need to contact a doctor in your area. Prices may differ according to your specific body type needs and the surgeon.

• The number of areas on the body that patient wants treated

Patients going in for liposuction surgery will pay less per treatment if they get multiple treatments done. What this means is that if you go in for just thigh liposuction, the surgery for this is more expensive, per surgery, than if you also added on buttocks or abdominal liposculpture. Yes, you will spend more money total but save on costs on a per treatment basis. However, you will often need to add more than just a single additional body part or treatment in order to maximize savings – typically, you’ll need to cover 4 or more body parts to save money this way per treatment.

• The total amount of fat to be removed from patients body

The more fat that is to be removed, the more expensive the cost of liposuction. This also means that the doctor will be responsible for more body contouring, thus the added expense the more fat that’s removed.

• Anesthesiologist fee

Note that not all surgeries will require an anesthesiologist, but if needed, this will tack on another fee to the over cost of liposuction. (And possibly to help cover the cost of the average salary of an anesthesiologists, which is in the 6 figure+ range.)

• Hospital Operating Room

Another factor that may or may not be applicable to your situation. If the surgery is performed in a hospital, then there might be some sort of Hospital Room fee that is passed on to the patient.

• Geographic location of doctor

Cost of surgery varies by location, including city to city and state by state within the US as well as the differences in cost between US doctors and doctors in Europe. There are services for Americans to travel abroad to save money on liposuction procedures.

• How much the patient weighs

There is a rising cost associated with a heavier patient.

• The skill, experience, and reputation of the doctor performing liposuction

Certainly a huge factor when it comes to pinning down the real numbers for liposuction prices, the skill and experience of a doctor will have a lot to do with how much the procedure costs. The reputation of the doctor can certainly cause prices to go up, as a simple fact of supply and demand economics. In some places, such as Hollywood, probably home to more plastic surgeons and liposuction doctors than anywhere else, this can be especially true.

One question that people have a lot is this:

Can you really save money going abroad for liposuction treatments?

It depends. This question is generally oriented towards Americans thinking of traveling out of the USA and going to Europe for treatments. While some places, such as the Czech Republic, are known to have some very low prices for liposuction, the cost of airfare, hotels, food, transportation, and so on, typically wipes out any savings that look real on paper.

While it’s certainly an attractive option financially to take a look at a dozen different doctors prices and then go with the cheapest, let’s not forget what’s at stake here: the human body, more specifically, your body.

Just as you wouldn’t buy a home or a car of even a meal based on price alone, you should review your liposuction options in the same light – you have to take into consideration what your overall goal is and go from there. In this case, obviously, the goal is to improve your body. If a good deal on liposuction can get you there, and your research shows this, then great! But blindly picking a doctor based on liposuction prices only can get you into big trouble.

Consider this:

A cheap liposuction procedure results in your skin having weird folds and even deformities! What is it going to cost you now to repair the damage? Just as upsetting, imagine the emotional damage it will do if you literally look funny. This is not something you want to happen because a cheap price suckered you in to a bad doctor.

Or even worse, imagine paying a cheap fee only to get cut up and wonder later if any fat was really removed? It sounds horrible to imagine, but these types of things happen. Don’t let it happen to you!

Do your research. Don’t be scared to ask direct questions to the doctor. Look at before and after pictures of his or her work. Search for online reviews. Ask friends and associates who may have had liposuction performed on them if they can recommened someone.

Disclaimer: this does not mean that you can’t find a great doctor at a great price. Just be wise, be smart, and don’t let price be your only decision making guide for liposuction.

As you can see, it’s not so simple of a question to answer. There are a lot of different factors which influence the price of liposuction, such as the body part to be treated, the amount of fat to be removed, and in some places, like Hollywood, the reputation of the doctor can greatly influence (translatino: skyrocket) the price.

Nevertheless, the internet is a wonderful thing, and has helped collect data from doctors and patients everywhere to come up with a price guide of sorts that we can fall back on as a baseline of expected costs when it comes to liposuction, or as some doctors prefer to call it, liposculpture.

The range of costs for liposuction are on the low end of just $1,500, and on the how end of $7,500. Interesting, but not very helpful or useful. What about specifics?

Here’s a good chart addressing the lower and upper range of fees assessed for various liposuction procedures:

• Upper and Lower Abdomen: $3,000 – $7,500
• Arms: $1,500 – $5,000
• Back: $1,500 – $4,000
• Breasts: $3,000 – $7,500
• Buttocks: $1,500 – $4,500
• Chin, Cheeks, Jowls, Neck: $2,000 – $4,500
• Flanks: $2,000 – $5,000
• Anterior Thighs and Knees: $2,000 – $5,000
• Inner Thighs and Knees: $2,000 – $5,000
• Hips/Waist: $1,600 – $5,000
• Outer Thighs: $1,600 – $5,000

Compare this with the users at another site whose overall various procedurse, including multiple treatments, etc, come to an average of a little more than $5,000 per person. This is an interesting tidbit because it’s highly common for patients to go in for more than one treatment. For some, $5,000 on average will not sound like a lot of money and will be worth the costs of liposuction.