Liposuction
Lipoplasty
Liposuction is the ‘gold standard’ for removing excess, unwanted subcutaneous body fat from specific areas of the body with minimally invasive scars. It can provide for true ‘spot reduction’ of excess fat in a well-controlled, sculptural fashion. All other methods of reducing excess fat (freezing; thermally heating; etc.) simply provide for less controlled and less reliable removal of excess subcutaneous fat.
Liposuction Areas
It is perfectly safe to perform liposuction surgery on multiple different areas of the body at the same setting. It is not necessarily safe to perform extensive liposuction in combination with other large body contouring procedures wherein a large area of the body is being disrupted in a single procedure. Such “whole body makeovers” are often much safer to perform on patients in separate settings. Surgical liposuction procedures can be safely performed almost anywhere on the body, wherever there is excess ‘structural fat’. In women, this most commonly includes:
Abdomen
Hips
Thighs
Arms
Best Candidates
All fat cells are not created equally. The superficial subcutaneous fat layer that encompasses a majority of the body (much like a diver’s wetsuit) contains fat cells that are physiological in nature. These cells enlarge in volume when caloric intake exceeds caloric demand, and shrink in size when caloric demands outstrip caloric availability.
In contrast, there are specific deposits of Body Fat deep to the superficial layer that contain fat cells that are primarily structural in nature. These fat cells are genetically designed to protect specific areas of the body. As such, they vary little in size with fluctuations in the energy balance of the body (these cells have fewer cell surface receptors and respond differently to physiological changes). Liposuction surgery is ideally suited for those patients who have reached a healthy body weight via diet and exercise but still have ‘diet-resistant’ genetic deposits of fat that will not shrink in size. These deposits are outside of the physiological loop of the body and will remain in place until physically removed.
Does liposuction work? Liposuction procedures are not a quick and easy solution to being overweight. Far from it. Like many other procedures in plastic surgery, the best results are ultimately obtained by combining the procedure itself with healthy changes in eating habits and increased levels of physical activity.
Surgery & Recovery
All liposuction procedures are performed in our private surgery center under IV sedation only. General anesthesia is not necessary and most procedures last less than an hour. There are no stitches and no drains.
Patients will realize the best results when they wear appropriate compression garments for the first 6 to 8 weeks. Patients have very minimal downtime and most are able to drive within the next one to two days. Recovery is often described as a sense of ‘soreness’ without actual pain. Exercise can be resumed as soon as it is comfortable to do so.