Liposuction

Q: What changes to the diet or lifestyle do you have to make to maintain liposuction appearance after the procedure?
A: The main thing about liposuction is that though you need not be in great shape, you certainly should not be obese before you have liposuction surgery. Liposuction is really a procedure for problems at specific body areas on people who are normally around the right weight but they have certain distributions of fat that are not aesthetically pleasing to them.

The same thing goes for losing too much weight before hand. You shouldn’t go to your plastic surgeon after you have lost a lot of weight and say, “Oh look at these extra love handles I have.”

As far as lifestyle changes go, liposuction usually jumpstarts people into a better exercise and a diet regimen. Diet is very important afterwards. There are some patients who think that they can eat anything now because of the concept of having a finite number of fat cells (once they are gone the fats cells really are gone forever). However if you do overeat, you can develop something called lipodystrophy or lipodystrophic areas. This refers to a condition whereby someone will then gain weight in other areas disproportion to where they had the liposuction performed.

Having said that, there is a current study out which is fascinating. Plastic surgeons from The Netherlands recently showed that women who have had liposuction done in their abdomen and lower extremities are finding a half cup to one cup size increase in their breasts. Nobody really fully understands why. One theory is that there are circulating fat cells during liposuction that stimulate fat stem cells to then propagate and increase fat stem cells in the breast tissue. But so far no one is really sure what the cause is.

Many people will tend to say, “Oh you know my hips look great, my stomach looks great but now the fat went somewhere else. Now the fat is in my arms or underneath my chin.” Then you find out that they have just been eating a lot more and exercising less, and that that is the true cause of the extra fat appearance.

Q: What changes to the diet or lifestyle do you have to make to maintain liposuction appearance after the procedure?

A: The main thing about liposuction is that you not be obese before you have liposuction. The same thing goes for having just lost a lot of weight. The reason why one should not be obese is because liposuction is really a procedure for problems with specific areas. It is for people who are normally around the right weight but they have certain distributions of fat that are aesthetically obtrusive.

Liposuction usually jumpstarts people into starting a good exercise and a diet regimen. Diet is very important afterwards. There’s a small group of people that think they can eat anything after liposuction and not gain weight again. And if you really overeat, you can get something called lipodystrophy or lipodystrophic areas, which basically means that you will then gain weight in other areas disproportionate to the areas where you had liposuction. A lot of people will tend to say, “Oh you know my hips look great, my stomach looks great but now the fat went somewhere else. Now the fat is in my arms or underneath my chin.” Then we find out that they have been eating a lot more and exercising less, that’s really the reason for it.

Having said that, there’s also a current study that’s out now which is fascinating. A study from plastic surgeons has came out of The Netherlands this year which shows that women that have had liposuction done in their abdomen and lower extremities are finding a half cup to one cup size increase in their breasts. Nobody knows why. There are some theories that there’s circulating fat cells during liposuction that stimulates fat stem cells to then propagate and increase fat stem cells in the breast tissue. But nobody’s really sure what it is.

At the completion of surgery, a compression garment should be applied to the areas suctioned, when appropriate.

You may remove the compression garment the next day and you may shower. You should replace it and wear it continually for 2 weeks after surgery or until instructed to discontinue use.

Your first visit will probably be approximately 7 days after surgery to get your sutures removed.

You can expect moderate swelling and bruising of the area suctioned. This will resolve itself in a few weeks. The result of surgery will not be evident for several weeks.

Physical activity, exercise and sexual activity should be avoided for 2 weeks following surgery.

You will be given a prescription for pain medication and an antibiotic. Use it only as directed.

Call your doctor's office if you have any questions regarding your surgery.

Medications to Avoid - Do not take Aspirin or any NSAIDs for two weeks before and two weeks after surgery. You may take Tylenol. Inform your doctor of all medications you are taking prior to your surgery.

Do not drink an excessive amount of alcohol for 48 hours before and after surgery.

Eating - You should not eat or drink anything after midnight on the day of your surgery. You may, however brush your teeth. If you take medications on a daily basis and have discussed continued use of these medications you may take these with a small amount of water.

Hygiene - You may take a shower and wash your hair on the morning of your surgery. Go to the office without make-up and perfume.

Escort and Sedation - Arrange for an escort to accompany you. You must have someone escort you home after your surgery. This is for personal safety as well as convenience. A private duty nurse might be arranged for you if you choose.

Clothing - Wear loose comfortable clothing the day of your surgery. Wear a button down or zippered front closure shirt the day of surgery. Avoid clothing that must be pulled over your head.

Preparation for surgery - A compression garment should be provided at the time of surgery. For convenience, you may want to purchase an additional compression garment:

Contact Lenses - cannot be worn the day of surgery.