Liposuction Problems

Your physician should be able to answer any questions that you have about liposuction including questions about what to expect during and after liposuction and the complications or problems that sometimes occur with liposuction. If you gain weight after liposuction surgery, the fat may return to sites where you had liposuction or to other sites. Remember that you are purchasing a service when you pay a physician to do a liposuction procedure and you shouldn’t feel embarrassed to ask hard questions about the procedure or about the physician’s experience in performing liposuction. Charles Hughes of Indianapolis, Indiana, who heads the society’s body contouring committee, pointed out that only a handful of surgeons around the United States now perform large-volume liposuction, with most of the 385,000 liposuction procedures done annually involving less than 5 liters of fat removal.

The website author now suggests wearing liposuction garment a hundred percent of the day and nighttime for the first week following liposuction, decreasing to 50% of the day or nighttime in the second week following liposuction.

A newer technique called ultrasonic liposuction ultrasonic liposuction may be able to remove larger amounts of fat larger amounts of fat.

Your physician should be able to answer any questions that you have about liposuction including questions about what to expect during and after liposuction and the complications or problems that sometimes occur with liposuction.

Health professionals or consumers should report serious adverse reactions or other problems related to equipment or medications used for liposuction through the FDA’s MedWatch Program .

To minimize these risks, patients may research which procedures are safest and choose an experienced liposuction surgeon.

To minimize potential liposuction side effects liposuction side effects, risks, complications, or other problems, make sure you fully understand the procedures you wish to have done, and discuss your expectations and concerns with your physician. With any type of cosmetic surgery, including liposuction liposuction, complications may arise, but they are rare.

The best place to find out about potential dangers of liposuction is from your physician. Less severe liposuction risks include bruises and scars, a numbing of the skin, and moderate problems such as changes in skin pigmentation.

Excessive liposuction can cause problems including dents, lumps, and sagging skin.

All liposuction problems should be discussed with your doctor, as some may become serious if left untreated.

Ultrasonic Ultrasonic liposuction also has complications such as nerve damage but probably causes less bleeding and irregularity.

some possible problems and complications of ultrasonic liposuction Complications with ultrasound-assisted lipoplasty can occur but major problems seem uncommon.

This will include information about wearing compression garments, taking an antibiotic if that has been prescribed, and the level of activity that is safe for you after your liposuction procedure.

You should learn as much as you can about liposuction. Before you have liposuction, you should be aware of these risks and should weigh the risks and benefits based on your own personal value system.

While medical complications are important, the reason that people have liposuction surgery is for cosmetic reasons.

It is important to remember that liposuction is a surgical procedure and that there may be serious complications, including death.

Some of the studies indicate that the risk of death due to liposuction is as low as 3 deaths for every 100,000 liposuction operations performed. Other studies indicate that the risk of death is between 20 and 100 deaths per 100,000 liposuction procedures.

Although it is difficult to be sure how often death from liposuction happens, there are several studies that estimate how often patients undergoing liposuction die during the procedure or as a result of it.

Remember, even the best screened patients under the care of the best trained and experienced physicians may experience complications as a result of liposuction.

Physicians may inject large amounts of fluids during liposuction. This may result in a fluid imbalance.

On the day of the liposuction surgery, the physician will mark your body with a pen to indicate where the fat is to be removed.

Liposuction - a usually cosmetic surgical procedure in which fat is removed from a specific area of the body, by means of suction.

Liposuction is also used to reduce breast size in men with large breasts or to remove fat tumors but it is most commonly used for cosmetic body shaping.

Liposuction is a surgical procedure intended to remove fat deposits and shape the body.

Liposuction is a procedure for shaping the body and is no t recommended for weight loss.

If you decide to take the step to talk to a doctor about liposuction, be sure that you ask questions and understand what happens during the liposuction procedure and what you can expect.

A liposuction procedure may include more than one site, for instance, the abdomen, back, and thighs all on the same day.

When organs are damaged, surgery may be required to repair them.

The decision you make about liposuction surgery is an important one but not one that you must make right away.

Because liposuction is a surgical procedure, it is important that it be performed in a clean environment.

One study suggests that the death rate is higher in liposuction surgeries in which other surgical procedures are also performed at the same time.

Many liposuction surgeries are performed by plastic surgeons or by dermatologists.

This causes shortness of breath or trouble breathing.

Embolism may occur when fat is loosened and enters the blood through blood vessels ruptured during liposuction.

Persons with localized fat may decide to have liposuction to remove fat from that area.

Ultrasound assisted liposuction - a type of liposuction in which fat is first loosened by using an ultrasonic probe and then removed by means of suction.

These scars are usually small and fade with time but in some people, scars may be larger or more prominent.

Seroma - a collection of fluid from the blood that has pooled at the liposuction site.

You may also take information from this website to your appointment to discuss with your physician.

If you have the signs or symptoms of fat emboli after liposuction, it is important for you to seek emergency medical care at once.

If you gain weight after liposuction surgery, the fat may return to sites where you had liposuction or to other sites. Remember that you are purchasing a service when you pay a physician to do a liposuction procedure and you shouldn’t feel embarrassed to ask hard questions about the procedure or about the physician’s experience in performing liposuction.

While some physicians’ professional societies may recommend training before performing liposuction surgery, no standardized training is required.

After liposuction, there may be a pooling of serum, the straw colored liquid from your blood, in areas where tissue has been removed.

Your doctor will evaluate the skin at the site where you are considering liposuction to determine if skin is elastic enough to shrink after liposuction.

This may happen after you go home and can result in serious conditions such as heart problems, excess fluid collecting in the lungs, or kidney problems as your kidneys try to maintain fluid balance.

A condition called seroma, or an oozing or pooling of serum, or body fluid, may be a problem after the more aggressive ultrasound techniques during which some skin is detached from underlying tissue and fluid accumulates in a subcutaneous pocket.

With liposuction, doctors have gone under the carpet of skin and have taken away the fat undercoating, so the raw surface oozes serum on the inside. Prior to surgery, doctors flush the targeted area or areas with a solution composed of lidocaine , saline, and epinephrine .

For “wet” liposuction, the surgeon injects only a small amount of fluid, about six to eight ounces and usually containing small amounts of ephinephrine, regardless of how much tissue is subsequently removed. Anytime there’s an injury - and liposuction surgery is really a controlled injury - body fluid rushes to the site and the injured tissue becomes like a sponge, he explains.

An estimated 287,000 procedures were performed in 1999, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Although most people would admit to wanting to reshape their body in some way, not everyone makes an ideal liposuction candidate, says Daniel , M.D., president of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

Liposuction is for body contouring, recommended for people who want to remove small amounts of fatty deposits. They have undergone liposuction for weight reduction, not just body sculpting.

According to a consensus of the experts, the ideal liposuction candidate is a mature adult between the ages of 30 and 50 years old, male or female, in good health, who has dieted and exercised to lose unwanted pounds, with good skin tone, with a set of realistic expectations, and who wants a limited procedure for body contouring.

Liposuction, in general, is a purely elective procedure. Although many consumers think of liposuction as a quick and permanent fix, it’s likely that few understand its risks and frequently temporary results.

Discuss the procedure thoroughly with your doctor, and make sure you understand the differences between the various types of liposuction.

Callaway says that the people who have the most trouble after a liposuction procedure are the really obese who have had large amounts of fat removed. “They have a compensatory increase in new fat cells,” Callaway says.

Because the injected fluid also contains large amounts of lidocaine, tumescent liposuction is generally performed with only a local anesthetic.

Although lidocaine is sometimes added when performing wet or superwet liposuction, patients will also receive general or epidural anesthesia.

Liposuction for obese patients is “a prescription for disaster,” according to Gerald Imber, M.D., a plastic surgeon in New York City and clinical assistant professor of plastic surgery at Cornell-Weill Medical College.

Anyone considering liposuction should consider all the options, and consumers need to be very careful when selecting a doctor.

Fighting fat may be the number one battle for many Americans, but liposuction may not be the best weapon to win that slimmer, trimmer body.

The brain becomes very agitated at first, which may cause a seizure, before coma sets in.” At least one study links possible lidocaine toxicity to liposuction deaths, says Horbowyj, adding that people with less than normal liver function or those who have been drinking alcohol may not be able to metabolize lidocaine well.

Liposuction may be used in conjunction with facelifts, for chin and tummy tucks, and to reduce the size of abdomens, hips, and thighs.

If you smoke, your cosmetic surgeon will advise you to stop two weeks prior to and following liposuction surgery.

Non-life-threatening liposuction complications include bruising, scars, a lumpy appearance, sagging or discolored skin, focal skin necrosis, fainting after surgery, numbness, and non-lethal drug interactions.

In order to minimize surgical complications and the side effects of overexposure to anesthesia, patients should schedule multiple liposuction procedures at least several days apart.

Severe complications can be minimized by disclosing your entire medical history to your doctor and discussing all prescription and over-the-counter medications you take on a regular basis. Patients should be good candidates for liposuction candidates for liposuction and fully understand what is involved in this procedure.

There are non-surgical liposuction alternatives available to patients who are not good candidates for liposuction or simply prefer other methods.

Before deciding to proceed with liposuction, patients should understand the dangers of cosmetic surgery.

The most common dangers of liposuction include risks associated with removing too much fat from targeted areas at once, as well as having too much liposuction performed in a single day.

Compression garments for every surgery from liposuction to breast reduction.

It can be treated by using a syringe and needle to draw the fluid out .

Consider a tummy tuck tummy tuck rather than liposuction of your abdomen if you have loose skin, stretch marks, and a loose inner girdle. Avoid liposuction of buttock creases and calves unless your surgeon is highly experienced in liposuction of these areas.

The total cost of liposuction, including surgeon fees, hospital fees, and anesthesia fees for one area is $3,200; for three areas is $5,800; and for five areas is $7,700. Loftus.

You may regain weight in the area of liposuction, or you may develop fat deposits in other places.

As it turns out, some plastic surgeons created these terms to make their technique of liposuction sound better than their competitors’.

Exercise within 2 weeks of liposuction will increase swelling and postpone your final result.

Your Final result will be seen following resolution of swelling . If your surgeon performed a large-volume liposuction then you should stay in the hospital overnight for observation and safety.

If performed in the office, be certain that your plastic surgeon’s office has been accredited and that your plastic surgeon has hospital privileges for liposuction.

In addition to excess fat, they also have loose skin, stretch marks, and a loose inner girdle .

Do not use the information herein to diagnose or treat your plastic surgery or cosmetic surgery problems.

Patients who are considering the operation should be sure their surgeon is well-trained in the technique and has performed several, he advised.

Factors that increase the risk of complications include: large volume liposuction, because of the use of greater amounts of fluid and anesthesia, as well as removal of more fat; extended length of surgery; multiple procedures; or a patient whose preoperative health is compromised.

Several measures were identified as ways to increase patient safety, including: 1) using stricter patient selection criteria, 2) limiting the length of surgery, 3) avoiding pre-injection of excessive amounts of fluid and local anesthetic, 4) removing a smaller volume of fat, 5) avoiding the combination of liposuction and certain other procedures, and 6) careful postoperative monitoring.

According to statistics from their respective professional organizations, dermatologic surgeons currently perform about 100,000 liposuctions annually, with plastic surgeons accounting for more than 170,000 fat removal procedures per year.

Patients planning to have large volume liposuction, which involves the removal of more than 5 liters of fat and fluid may have an overnight stay at the hospital.

The PIAA study confirmed that patients who had liposuction performed under local anesthesia using the tumescent technique had no fatalities and fewer complications.

“Our study found that liposuction is safest when it is performed as a solo procedure under local anesthesia in an outpatient setting by a board-certified dermatologic surgeon.

Anesthesia Liposuction can be performed under general anesthesia , sedation , or under local anesthesia depending upon your surgeon and your circumstances. Suction-assisted Liposuction : The traditional method, by which the surgeon removes fat by inserting a small, hollow tube connected to a vacuum pressure unit, directing the cannula into areas to be suctioned through tiny incisions.

The final result may not be clear until 6 months after surgery. Adults have a fixed number of fat cells, and liposuction removes some of these cells permanently.

You are also at increased risk for complications from liposuction if you have diabetes, poor circulation, heart, lung or liver disease, smoke, have a family history of blood clots, take certain medications, etc. You’ll want to discuss your medical history thoroughly with your physician before you choose to undergo surgery.

A review of malpractice claims from the Physicians Insurance Association of America showed that of the 257 claims filed from January 1, 1995 through December 31,1997, less than 1 percent were against dermatologists even though dermatologic surgeons perform more than one-third of the liposuction procedures in the United States.

In 1997 board certified plastic surgeons formed a task force to investigate liposuction safety. Their research led to increased efforts by ASAPS and other plastic surgery organizations to re-educate plastic surgeons about risk reduction in lipoplasty procedures.

Since 1995, the number of deaths related to liposuction have decreased dramatically, to around 1 in 100,000 .

Deaths related to liposuction surgery can happen for a number of reasons: blood clot, perforation of the abdominal wall or bowels, shock and hemodilution , and possibly excess amounts of lidocaine.

The brain becomes very agitated at first, which may cause a seizure, before coma sets in.” Some patients find liposuction to be a good incentive for weight loss, but it is not a remedy for obesity.

Questionnaires were sent to 332 patients who had liposuction performed at Alia Clinic in 1999 and 2000. 123 patients responded

The Task Force reviewed 24,295 liposuction surgeries performed by board-certified plastic surgeons for the study and found that only.03 percent reported significant complications.

There is not a consensus among plastic surgeons as to which technique is superior. Discuss these technique with your surgeon.

Ultrasonic liposuction also starts with filling the fat with tumescent fluid to make the fat stiff.

Power-assisted Liposuction : A cannula with a back and forth motion of the tip passes through tissue to suction out fat and fibrous or scarred tissue with reduced effort.

VASER -assisted Liposuction : Intermittent, or continuous bursts of ultrasonic energy can be used to break up fat cells which are then removed by suction.

Which type of liposuction? Charles Hughes of Indianapolis, Indiana, who heads the society’s body contouring committee, pointed out that only a handful of surgeons around the United States now perform large-volume liposuction, with most of the 385,000 liposuction procedures done annually involving less than 5 liters of fat removal.

If your surgeon performed a large-volume liposuction then you should stay in the hospital overnight for observation and safety.

These high numbers may be due to an increase in unqualified surgeons performing liposuction during that period.

Major weight gain or loss after liposuction can produce skin surface irregularities.

In some but not all liposuction patients trauma from cannulas that have sharp tips or are pushed too fast through the tissue by the surgeon or have too much vacuum applied.

If a patient has had liposuction in the same area of treatment once or twice before, there is hidden scar tissue laid down within the body.

The lower on the body that the liposuction performed the greater the chance of having some swelling in that area.

Having a good and comfortable liposuction garment is important to help make sure the patient wears the garment for the right amount of time.

The third week following the liposuction, the website author recommends that the garment be worn at least 25% of 24 hours which usually works out best to wearing the garment from 6:00p.m until midnight. These recommendations may vary from patient to patient, site to site and situation to situation.

The website author now suggests wearing liposuction garment a hundred percent of the day and nighttime for the first week following liposuction, decreasing to 50% of the day or nighttime in the second week following liposuction. This second week period usually works out to wearing the liposuction garment all night long.

When liposuction is done as we have said before, tunnels are left behind in the fat where sucking tube or cannula has passed. These tunnels would tend to collapse flatter if a lot of outside pressure is provided usually by a garment.

Recently in the tumescent liposuction community, there has been a trend to decrease the amount of time that constrictive liposuction garments are worn.

Usually a combination of events determines how much swelling a patient will have after liposuction.

While on the subject of trauma and other difficulties with liposuction some surgeons are now debating whether or not ultrasonic liposuction can cause damage to our genes.

It is often hard for the patient to decide between an abdominoplasty and liposuction.

Liposuction is used to sculpt areas and is not designed to remove large amounts of fat or to treat obesity.

prolonged drainage: drains are sometimes used after surgery but in some patients the drainage may be persistent. seromas: this is a collection of fluid or serum and in some series is the most common complication of ultrasonic liposuction.

A newer technique called ultrasonic liposuction ultrasonic liposuction may be able to remove larger amounts of fat larger amounts of fat.

Liposuction does not tighten skin although sometimes the underlying tissue seems pulled tighter by a thin layer of scar tissue .

For more information see the list of frequently asked questions about Liposuction.