Liposuction

LIPOSUCTION

Liposuction is the process of removing fat cells from your “trouble spots”. These are commonly the thighs, arms, tummy and neck, but fat can removed from virtually any area on your body. We remove the fat using the gentlest and most advanced techniques, minimizing the pain and recovery. In the privacy and safety of our certified operating room, our skilled and knowledgeable board-certified cosmetic surgeons personalize each treatment to their patient, and they offer around the clock access and care so that no patient ever feels like they are alone in this process.

Facts

TIME REQUIRED

1-2 hours

ANESTHESIA

General Anesthesia

RECOVERY TIME

1-2 Weeks

SUCCESS RATE

Very High Success Rate

Areas Liposuction Can Improve

Liposuction may be used to reduce localized fat deposits of the:

  • Abdomen and waist
  • Back
  • Bra line
  • Breasts
  • Buttocks
  • Calves and ankles
  • Cheeks, chin and neck
  • Chest area
  • Hips and buttocks
  • Inner knee
  • Pubis
  • Thighs
  • Upper arms

Pre-op Preparation

Listed below are some common pre-op instructions that nearly every patient needs to follow:

  1. On the evening prior to the surgery, be sure to get a good night sleep.
  2. On the day of surgery, limit food intake to light breakfast or lunch. Bring your prescriptions to the office when you come in for the procedure. Upon arriving to the office inform nurse.
  3. Be sure that your home and car will be prepared for you. Following surgery, drainage of tumescent anesthesia may ruin car upholstery, carpeting, linens, and bedding. We recommend covering car seats, your bed, and any other furniture that you might rest on with a waterproof pad or cover.Wear old, loose, dark colored clothes to the office on the day of surgery. Sweats and warm-ups suits tend to work best. Women are usually most comfortable in a cotton sports-type bra. Be aware that anything you wear to surgery may end up ruined by tumescent anesthesia drainage. Men should bring an extra pair of boxers or briefs.

Post-op Care

Listed below are some common pre-op instructions that nearly every patient needs to follow:

  1. Immediately following surgery, absorbent dressings will be placed on incision wounds to collect drainage and you will be fitted with a tight compression garment which will facilitate retraction of the skin over suctioned areas. Please wear the garment overnight. If the absorbent pads become saturated with drainage, they may be replaced with dry absorbent pads if this can be done without removing the garment.
  2. Sitting in an upright position will facilitate drainage. If you lay flat on your back at home immediately after liposuction, you will start draining profusely as soon as you next stand up. After 6-8 hours postoperatively you may lie flat, and sleep in any comfortable position.
  3. The morning after the surgery, you may remove the garment and absorbent dressings and take a shower. Wash and dry your garment. It is perfectly acceptable for incision wounds to get wet after this point. Wash incision sites with soap and water, apply a small amount of Vaseline ointment and cover incision with Band-Aids. Repeat wound care once daily until your post-op appointment. Put your compression garment back on.
  4. We recommended avoiding strenuous activity for the first two to three days following surgery. Be sure to get out of bed for meals, bathroom, etc. to keep the circulation in your legs flowing. Most patients are usually able to return to normal activity and work within 2-3 days following liposuction. Some patients who experience above average soreness may require a longer convalescent period. High impact aerobic activities or exercise that will raise the heart rate should not be performed for two (2) weeks minimally.

Before & After

Benefits of Liposuction

  1. It can enhance the shape and contour of your body.
  2. It may help to, or completely remove, lipomas, which are benign fatty tumors in certain areas of the body.
  3. It can help treat lipodystrophy syndrome, which is when there is a fat metabolism disturbance in which there is excessive fat in some areas of the body, but none in others.
  4. The effects of lipo can be very long-lasting so long as the patient’s weight does not greatly increase any time after the procedure.
  5. It can improve the appearance of someone’s body, making it more natural looking, for someone who has, for instance, had a gastric band or bypass procedure by correcting abnormalities that resulted from the weight loss, like excess skin.
  6. It can help treat excessive sweating in the armpit areas, as well as chafing in other areas, such as the thighs.
  7. The results are for the most part immediate, so you can enhance your appearance in as little as a day. Besides swelling, which may take a few weeks to subside, the enhancements are immediate.
  8.  It often influences better habits, such as exercise and good dieting, as the results of lipo must be maintained.
  9.  It can improve a person’s well-being by improving severe imbalances and abnormalities in the body’s appearance. While it is not a substitute for a healthy living style, it can make you feel good.

FAQ

Liposuction is not a substitute for eating well or exercising. It is not meant to remove all the fat in your body. Rather, it is intended for fat deposits that don’t respond to diet or exercise. It is a shaping procedure, not a weight loss procedure. Liposuction is best for people who are in good shape, but just have some “problem areas”.

The most dangerous aspect of liposuction is an attitude that ignores the risk of doing too much liposuction on a single day, or disregards the risks of doing multiple unrelated surgical procedures on the same day that liposuction surgery is performed. As judged by current worldwide experience, liposuction is amazingly safe. Rare problems that can potentially occur with any surgical procedure include infections, bleeding, skin ulcerations, and nerve injury.

During the two days immediately after liposuction, the amount of pain experienced depends on the type of anesthesia used for liposuction. Soreness is usually the most intense 2 to 4 days after liposuction and then decreases steadily. The tenderness and soreness typically is quite bothersome for up to 4 weeks, but gradually subsides over the following next 4 to 8 weeks.

The appearance of skin after liposuction depends on the skin’s elasticity. Skin with good elasticity should look smooth and natural after liposuction. Scars are not a common problem with modern liposuction which uses very small cannulas (microcannulas) and thus only very small incision are required.

The typical risks associated with liposuction  are standard with every procedure, such as problems with anesthesia, bleeding, and infection; however, these risks are low. The removal of fat through small incisions with cannulas is an inexact science and occasionally there will be contour irregularities or mild asymmetry when comparing sides. This is more common in individuals who are very overweight, have poor skin quality or smoke.

Liposuction can cause pain and discomfort in especially the first few days. The most intense pain occurs during the first week after surgery and is not usually too high or disabling (although the perception of pain is very different from one person to another), the pain is usually controlled by the administration of analgesics and anti-inflammatories. After the first week, the pain decreases a lot so that it is not usually necessary to continue with the analgesic treatment. After 2-3 weeks of the surgery, the patient can lead a normal life.

No. Immediately after surgery there is a significant inflammation that decreases during the first weeks. After a month you can see certain changes. However, as the edema slowly disappears, the permanent results of lipo are realized after approximately 6 months. Therefore if you submit to this treatment you have to have patience.