 What is liposuction?
Also termed liposculpture, it is the surgical method of altering the body contour by removing collections of fat, but not skin, by suction. Common examples are trimming a double-chin, reducing a ´potbelly´ and slimming down lateral thighs. Why liposuction?
It is a relatively easy method of losing unwanted subcutaneous fat. Normally most people have this superfluity fat spread relatively evenly around the body. It is very difficult to lose by dieting. How can it help me?
In women, it is usually the hips, thighs and the lower abdomen which have become exaggerated with the fatty build-up. A woman may have such large lateral thighs that ready-made trousers cannot be worn. After the treatment, even jeans can be bought off-the-shelf. Another woman may have over-sized inner thighs which can be particularly uncomfortable in a warm climate, coupled with the problem of the two trouser legs rubbing unnaturally against each other during every step taken. A third woman might have a large belly but otherwise be trim and well-proportioned. Most people undergoing this type of surgery are in fact of normal weight. With men, a double-chin might be the reason for seeking help. Liposuction can reduce the extra part of the chin, and restore the original chin shape. Another common factor can be the "spare tyre" of fat rolls which can extend right around the waist. In all these examples, liposuction can help to correct the problem by restoring the original contour. It is not however, a substitute for losing excess weight via dieting and exercise. The Surgery
It is carried out under a local anaesthetic with adrenalin added. This ensures minimum blood loss during the procedure. Local, rather than general anaesthetic, is both safe and allows the patient to move. It is none-the-less surgery and all normal operating rules apply. The fat is removed via a small incision and sucked out with a thin, tubed instrument connected to a vacuum pump. The procedure must be performed with great sensitivity and care to ensure that the treated area is left with as smooth a surface as possible. After just a few hours, the patient can return home. Healing
The treated area is bandaged for a period dependant upon the scope of the treatment. The bandaging is for holding back some of the inevitable swelling after liposuction. After treatment of upper body parts, like the chin for example, healing is quite fast, taking between 2 weeks and 2 months. Lower down the healing process takes much longer and it may be six months before every trace of post-operative swelling has gone. Convalescence
The patient can often resume their normal business routine after a couple of days. Some occupations may require a few days more rest. The pain is tolerable and more like an extreme tenderness, which abates after ten days or so. Paracetamol is the drug of choice to help with the tenderness. Complications
Correctly carried out, liposuction causes just minute loss of blood. After larger procedures, which may remove several litres of fat, much fluid and fat as well as blood can be lost into the surgical cavity. These losses must be balanced by an intravenous physiological salt drip during and after surgery. To avoid serious problems following liposuction, this clinic carries out procedures requiring a fat removal of no more than around 1 litre. One possible complication is the formation of pits in the treated area. Correctly performed surgery should avoid this, and it is therefore not strictly accurate to list as a complication. Infection is very rare following surgery that has been carried out, lege artis, following the pattern of correct procedures and basic rules. Throughout the world many thousand liposuction procedures are carried out annually and tens of thousands of patients have undergone surgery since the technique was first offered more than twenty years ago. The rate of serious complications is extremely low. The most important complication is fat emboli to the lungs. A number of patients have suffered from this acute disease and some even have died. That said, it must be stressed that these tragic accidents have occurred only after over-ambitious surgery. Liposuction as a surgical tool is brilliant and used correctly with common sense virtually harmless. The result
Clearly, a person of normal weight suffering disfiguring excess quantities of fat deposits may experience a hugely improved life after successful liposuction surgery. Gone will be the need for photographs having to be taken "only from this angle". Off-the-peg clothes can be worn and finally, after lower abdomen treatment, people will no longer offer congratulations for a forthcoming birth! Men too, will appreciate having the fat reduced around the top of the hips and the flanks, taking away that premature ´middle-aged spread´ appearance. |
