What is LiposuctionLiposuction is a procedure that results in the removal of unwanted fat from specific regions of the body. Liposuction is an effective procedure and it is one of the most commonly performed cosmetic procedures in the United States. The number of liposuction procedures performed annually doubles every 8 years.Why have liposuction?Liposuction can remove fat that you have not been able to shift with diet or exercise.The fat cells will not be replaced by your body, so there should be a long-lasting change in your body shape, especially if you exercise, eat a healthy diet, and maintain a healthy weight after the operation. Liposuction is not a treatment for weight control or obesity and it cannot remove cellulite or stretch marks. What are the alternatives?If you want to lose weight from your tummy, an alternative may be a tummy tuck, where excess fat and skin is removed from the abdomen.Who is the ideal candidate for liposuction? The ideal liposuction candidate is near their target body weight (within 10% to15%), exercises regularly, consumes a healthy diet, and has fairly elastic skin with either one or a few stubborn fat deposits that are resistant to diet and exercise. By removing fat cells, you will have less bulk, be slimmer, and it have less tendency for fat to accumulate in that area again.Patients with chronic medical conditions should avoid liposuction, especially in the case of heart or kidney disease. During your consultation with the doctor, he or she should examine you thoroughly, especially in the areas to be treated. You should tell your doctor if you have a hernia as it may be punctured during the operation. Liposuction Techniques
How is liposuction performed?Liposuction surgery can be performed in the cosmetic surgeon's office, an outpatient surgical facility or a hospital, depending on the cosmetic surgeon's and patient's preference. It can be done under general anesthesia with the patient asleep or under local anesthesia in which the area is numbed and the patient remains awake. Pre-medication administered to help the patient relax. When performing what is known as the "tumescent" procedure, the cosmetic surgeon injects a large amount of diluted local anesthetic solution into the area. This procedure has the advantage of reducing pain and bruising in the area. The cosmetic surgeon then makes a small incision in the skin and inserts a tube (cannula) either attached to a high pressure vacuum suction to a syringe system. The fat is loosened from surrounding tissue by moving the tube back and forth and is then removed or vacuumed from the body with the suction device. The cosmetic surgeon determines the amount of fat to remove by feeling the skin and pinching the tissue. Some cosmetic surgeons are now using ultrasound-assisted lipoplasty (UAL), which significantly differs from traditional liposuction. In UAL, mechanical sound waves are transmitted via a generator to the tip of a suction cannula. When this cannula comes in contact with fat cells, it causes them to emulsify or to become fluid. The liquefied fat is then removed from the body by suction. UAL has the additional risk of causing burns to the area and it's long term effects are unknown at this time. After the incisions are closed, a compression dressing or bandage is applied to the area to prevent bleeding, reduce swelling, and support the affected area. The procedure can last from thirty minutes to several hours depending upon the amount of fat removed. Can the fat grow back?Doctors believe that once the fat cells have been removed by liposuction, these same cells do not grow back. The patient's new, more balanced and pleasing silhouette should be long lasting or permanent following liposuction if proper diet and exercise are a continued part of the plan. Usually, if the patient does gain weight in the future, the change tends to be distributed proportionately over the entire body. The same applies to weight loss. Doctors believe that the total number of fat cells in the body of an adult, once established during adolescence, is fairly constant. The more fat cells there are in a specific location, the more difficult it is to reduce that area simply by dieting. Weight gain by fat formation in an adult is the actual enlargement of existing fat cells, not the creation of new ones.Liposuction recoveryEven though the incisions look small, your operation affects lots of tissue beneath your skin. Blood vessels that carried oxygen to fat cells; lymph channels which brought fluid to spaces too small for blood; connecting fibers that attached skin to deeper structures -all of these were probably altered, severed or removed during your plastic surgery. Though hidden, the result is a large wound your body needs to repair. It must rebuild the capillaries (your smallest blood vessels) leading to your skin; restore the fine transport network, which carries clear, nurturing liquids to and from each cell, and reconnect the links that hold your skin tightly, but flexibly in place. While this reconstruction is going on, these same, damaged structures must work hard. Blood clots will be removed. Building materials will travel to the repair zone. And if you had liposuction, skin that had been stretched to accommodate now-discarded fat, will tighten to a smaller, tighter shape. The combined "traffic jam" of extra blood and lymph trying to find its way to the wound site, and fewer exits for the fluids already there, shows up as swelling. This swelling - or "edema" as your doctor calls it - can create problems which may slow down your recovery healing process. The backward force of accumulated fluids can prevent fresh supplies of oxygen and nutrients from reaching the damage areas. This can slow the mending process, or in rare but severe cases, cause some cells to die. If pockets of lymph (called "seromas") or pools of blood ("hematomas") occur, the immune system may not be able to clean these spaces. Infections can result. Occasionally, these pooled fluids form clots, which - in another rare, but serious complication - could break away and block blood flow to other parts of the body ("thromboses"). Possible side effects of liposuctionAs with any surgical procedure, liposuction is associated with possible side effects, such as bruising, swelling, temporary numbness, and discomfort in the surgically treated areas. Although irregularities of the skin are possible following liposuction, this side effect is greatly minimized by the use of small-diameter cannulae and the tumescent technique. Swelling usually gradually improves within one to three months after surgery, with optimum results being apparent in about six to twelve months. Bruising varies from person to person, although noticeable bruising is usually gone within a couple of weeks. Cost of liposuctionThe cost of liposuction varies depending on several factors: the number of areas treated, the type of area treated, the amount of fat to be removed from the areas, etc... Usually, the liposuction cost per body area decreases if more than one body area is treated, since it is relatively easier and more efficient to treat one more area than it is to treat the first area. |
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