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So many people are naturally endowed with a beautiful slender figure — a slender waist and hips, beautiful arms, a flat stomach. But for some, all this beauty eventually hides under a layer of fat accumulated by “overwork”, that is, sitting on the couch in an embrace with a box of cakes and sandwiches.
Someone gets rid of excess weight and volume by adjusting nutrition, going to the gym and showing perseverance and determination, and as a result gets what they want — a toned, slender figure. For others, this path seems too complicated, and they either get used to what has accumulated on the abdomen and hips, or try to solve the problem radically: liposuction. And here it may turn out that everything is not as dreamed …
MedAboutMe will help you understand what liposuction is, when it is performed, and what effect you can expect from it.
Liposuction is not a method of combating obesity and overweight
This is the first thing to understand and remember. You cannot accumulate and accumulate fat, and then go to get rid of your accumulations with the help of a surgeon. It doesn’t work like that. Because the volume of fat pumped out once is small, and rarely exceeds 3 liters. Removing more fat at once is dangerous to health. And in addition to medical complications, undesirable consequences can occur.
Pumping a large volume can cause life-threatening bleeding or other complications, because liposuction is a surgical operation. The fact that there are no large incisions on the skin does not mean that this intervention is not noticeable to the body.
In adipose tissue, sex hormones are synthesized and accumulated. Getting rid of a significant amount of fat can lead to an imbalance in the hormonal system.
Removing some fat while maintaining the same lifestyle will return the weight. Only fat will begin to be deposited in other places — where the fat cells have not been removed. Sometimes this leads to the appearance of bumps and irregularities of the most unsightly kind.
Excessive pumping of fat can cause sagging of the skin. Have you seen a deflated balloon? That’s about the same thing happens with the skin. It hardly looks more beautiful than the folds of fat.
Why then do you need liposuction?
Not weight loss, but aesthetic correction of the figure
Liposuction helps eliminate fat «traps» — places that accumulate fat and stubbornly refuse to part with it, regardless of proper nutrition or regular exercise in the gym. In men, this is usually the stomach, folds under the chin. In women, the abdomen, buttocks, thighs, knees, upper arms and double chin.
Liposuction cannot get rid of stretch marks and cellulite.
If an obese person just comes to a plastic surgeon and requires liposuction, he will be offered to start losing weight on his own and stay in the new weight for at least six months. And be sure to undergo a medical examination, without which it is impossible to start liposuction, as there are contraindications.
If, as a result of weight loss, the skin sags and hangs like an “apron”, the patient may be offered to simultaneously remove “excess” skin and fat — abdominoplasty with liposuction.
How does this happen?
There are several methods for performing liposuction.
- The classic method involves the mechanical pumping out of fat by a vacuum apparatus using a cannula — a medical instrument that looks like an intimidating needle. Fat cells are preliminarily destroyed mechanically. The operation is performed under light anesthesia, after which the patient is left under the supervision of doctors for at least a day.
- The method of tumescent liposuction involves the introduction of a special preparation under the skin that dissolves fat. The resulting fluid is also pumped out by a vacuum pump, but the risk of damaging blood vessels is greatly reduced. When using this method, more fat can be removed than with classical vacuum liposuction, and rehabilitation is faster.
- Lipolysis, or ultrasonic liposuction, can be performed without pumping out fat, that is, it refers to non-invasive methods. Fat cells are destroyed under the influence of ultrasound, and the resulting decay products are excreted from the body on their own, through the lymphatic system. It is used only to combat small fat deposits, it may require more than one session, but several.
- Laser-assisted liposuction is also performed in cases where it is necessary to eliminate small amounts of fat, and at the same time tighten the skin at the site of exposure. The latter occurs as a result of tissue photostimulation by a laser beam.
On average, the operation lasts from one to three hours.
What happens after the operation?
It depends on the fat removal method used. With a small volume and gentle method, the patient can go home the same day, and return to work after a few days.
In all cases, it is necessary to wear compression underwear for a month and limit physical activity. At first, edema may develop at the site of exposure, so you can see the result of liposuction only after 1-3 months.
There may be pain, the occurrence of hematomas. Gradually, everything passes, but you should not expect an instant and painless effect from liposuction.
Moreover: the lifestyle will still have to be adjusted so that fat does not begin to form again.
What are the complications and side effects?
One of the most dangerous complications after liposuction is fatty or thromboembolism, which can end in the most fatal way.
In addition, infection is possible, so the patient is often prescribed antibiotics to help avoid inflammation.
Of the aesthetic consequences, bruises are most likely to appear at the site of intervention, which sometimes do not disappear even within a month.
Possible prolonged numbness at the site of liposuction, sagging and flabbiness of the skin. If the recommended mode is not observed, bumps and bumps may appear, and all this can be located completely asymmetrically.
Contraindications for surgery
For some people, liposuction should not be performed at all, it is dangerous for many reasons. Therefore, it is necessary to go to a plastic surgeon with your medical card or an extract from it, with a description of the existing health problems.
Contraindications are:
- pregnancy;
- diabetes;
- blood diseases, clotting problems;
- diseases of the liver and kidneys;
- diseases of the heart and blood vessels, including varicose veins and thrombophlebitis;
- acute infectious diseases;
- mental disorders;
- oncological diseases.
Is liposuction worth it?
In order to lose weight — no, it’s not worth it. It is safer and more correct to undergo an examination, identify the causes of the appearance of extra pounds, conduct a course of treatment if necessary, and then lose weight in a natural way by changing your lifestyle and diet.
In order to correct the figure and eliminate fat pads that are not amenable to other methods, it is worth it, but only after consulting a doctor. Perhaps he will suggest other ways, less radical.
If there is no intention to change eating habits and lifestyle after the operation, then most likely it is not worth it. Because the effect will not last, so why expose the body to such an effect?
The patient still makes the final decision. We hope that the information in this article will help you make the right decision.
Expert comment
Karol Gutowski, plastic surgeon
For those considering liposuction, I have good news.
The first is that the analysis of the database on the results of liposuction shows that this operation is much safer than previously thought. According to our data, minor complications occur in less than one case per 1000 liposuctions performed. Serious problems occur even less often. Of course, this applies to operations performed by good and highly qualified plastic surgeons. And you don’t have to deal with others.
The second news concerns the limitation on the volume of pumped fat. Until now, it was believed that it was impossible to remove more than 5 liters in any case. Our research shows that this is not the case. When calculating, the doctor should be guided by the patient’s body mass index (BMI), and not the same numbers for each. The higher the BMI, the more fat can be removed without dangerous consequences.
However, it should be remembered that the risk of complications increases with an increase in the amount of fat removed. The safest are operations in which a small volume is pumped out, which allows you to aesthetically adjust the figure, and not eliminate excess weight.
It is also necessary to take into account the individual characteristics of the body of each patient and the presence of chronic diseases.
Is There a Safe Lipoaspirate Volume? A Risk Assessment Model of Liposuction Volume as a Function of Body Mass Index. / Chow I, Alghoul MS, Gutowski KA, Kim JY et al // Plast Reconstr Surg — 2015 Oct — 136
High Definition Liposculpture in Male Patients Using Reciprocating Power-Assisted Liposuction Technology: Techniques and Results in a Prospective Study / Saad AN, Arbelaez JP, de Benito J // Aesthet Surg J. — 2019 Jun 30
Liposuction in the complex treatment of severe obesity // MS. / Shikhirman E.V., Puchkov K.V. — 2016 — #17
Modern methods of liposuction used for body contouring / Grishkyan D. R., Khatkov I. E. // VNMT — 2010 — Number 3
Complications of abdominal liposuction / Popova O.V., Sorokina V.O., Popov O.S. // Perm Medical Journal — 2012 — #1
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