Liposuction

Liposuction is a minimally invasive plastic surgery technique which removes excess fat (but not excess skin) and is best applied in cases where a patient has good skin tone and elasticity. This is because, if a patient has loose skin or inelastic skin, removing excess fat from beneath the skin can accentuate the bagginess or wrinkling of the skin. Though some methods such as ultrasound-assisted liposuction or liposuction combined with either water pulsation or laser energy attempt to improve upon liposuction or provide some element of skin tightening, these are not indicated in all patients. Usually, skin laxity and mild excess fat are better corrected by an excisional procedure such as abdominoplasty or an arm or thigh lift. This can help correct the excess fat and reposition the skin while removing extra wrinkled skin.

By removing the excess skin, the shaping of fat and soft tissue, and re-suspending the tissues where they are supposed to be, plastic surgeons can rejuvenate certain parts of the body. The fat removed with liposuction will not return – it is gone forever; however, if a patient does not stick to a healthy diet and exercise regime following the procedure, they can still gain fat in the remaining cells. Some element of swelling or mild bruising can occur after liposuction. Patients are typically provided with a lightly compressive garment to wear for the first one to two weeks. Swelling can take several weeks beyond that to resolve but patients typically do not object to this since their shape and contour tends to gradually improve over the subsequent weeks. Liposuction can be performed under general anesthesia, sedation, or under local anesthesia in some select cases. The risks related to liposuction are contour deformities, bruising or bleeding, injury to the surrounding structures in very rare cases, or some patients with very large volumes of liposuction can be predisposed to other more serious problems such as fat in the bloodstream. Frankly, however, this is very rare. Liposuction is accepted as a safe, effective, and very popular form of reshaping and contouring the body especially in areas that are very difficult to address by diet and exercise alone.

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