Liposuction
If You're Considering Liposuction
Liposuction is a procedure that can help sculpt the body by removing unwanted fat from specific areas, including the abdomen, hips, buttocks, thighs, knees, upper arms, submental area, and neck. During the past decade, liposuction, which is also known as "lipoplasty" or "suction lipectomy," has benefited from several new refinements. Today, several new techniques, including the tumescent technique, and microaire powered cannulas are helping many plastic surgeons to provide selected patients with more precise results and quicker recovery times. Although no type of liposuction is a substitute for dieting and exercise, liposuction can remove stubborn areas of fat that don't respond to traditional weight-loss and exercise methods. Our goal is optimizing your body contours and proportion, and ultimately, enhancing your self-image.
Despite good health and a reasonable level of fitness, some people may still have a body with disproportionate contours due to localized fat deposits. These areas may be due to family traits rather than a lack of weight control or fitness.
Liposuction surgery can be used to treat stubborn fat pockets in many parts of the body including the thighs, arms, neck, hips, waist, back, inner knee, chest, submental area, calves, and ankles. Liposuction will not remove loose skin, nor will thin, stretched out skin contract once the fat is removed from under the skin. Loose skin needs to be addressed as a separate issue.
In some cases, liposuction is performed alone, in other cases it is used with plastic surgery procedures such as a facelift, breast reduction, or a tummy tuck.
What liposuction won't do:
Liposuction surgery is not a treatment for obesity and is not a replacement for regular exercise and good eating habits. People with stubborn areas of fat and who exercise regularly are the best candidates for this procedure.
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The Best Candidates for Liposuction
To be a good candidate for liposuction, you must have realistic expectations about what the procedure can do for you. It's important to understand that liposuction can enhance your appearance and self-confidence, but it won't necessarily change your looks to match your ideal or cause other people to treat you differently. Before you decide to have surgery, think carefully about your expectations and discuss them with Dr. Sasmor.
The best candidates for liposuction are normal-weight people with firm, elastic skin who have pockets of excess fat in certain areas. You should be physically healthy, psychologically stable and realistic in your expectations. Your age is not a major consideration; however, older patients may have diminished skin elasticity and may not achieve the same results as a younger patient with tighter skin.
Liposuction carries greater risk for individuals with medical problems such as diabetes, significant heart or lung disease, poor blood circulation, or those who have recently had surgery near the area to be contoured.
Technique Variations
The basic technique of liposuction, is used in all patients undergoing this procedure. However, as the procedure has been developed and refined, several variations have been introduced.
Fluid Injection, a technique in which a medicated solution is injected into fatty areas before the fat is removed, is commonly used by plastic surgeons today. The fluid -- a mixture of intravenous salt solution, lidocaine (a local anesthetic) and epinephrine (a drug that contracts blood vessels) -- helps the fat be removed more easily, reduces blood loss and provides anesthesia during and after surgery. Fluid injection also helps to reduce the amount of bruising after surgery.
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Large volumes of fluid -- sometimes as much as three times the amount of fat to be removed -- are injected in the tumescent technique. Tumescent liposuction is the most common technique used for liposuction. The injected fluid contains an adequate amount of anesthetic, which helps to lessen the need for significant anesthesia. The name of this technique refers to the swollen and firm or "tumesced" state of the fatty tissues when they are filled with solution. In addition the local anesthesia contained in the tumescent solution provides a significant amount of post op pain control.
Your New Look
You will see a noticeable difference in the shape of your body quite soon after surgery. However, improvement will become even more apparent after about four to six weeks, when most of the swelling has subsided. After about three months, any persistent mild swelling usually disappears, and the final contour will be visible.
If your expectations are realistic, you will probably be very pleased with the results of your surgery. You may find that you are more comfortable in a wide variety of clothes and more at ease with your body. And, by eating a healthy diet and getting regular exercise, you can help to maintain your new shape.
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