The Basic Facts Of Liposuction

Liposuction (also known as lipoplasty and suction lipectomy) is an extremely popular

cosmetic surgery which is used to physically remove fat from specific target areas on a patient's body. The surgery was developed sometime around the 1970's, but the techniques have been honed and altered since that time.

Lipoplasty is a surgery which enjoys a fairly unique degree of popularity. In the United States alone, hundreds of thousands of lipectomies are performed every year. In the United States, this surgery has ranked as the number one most popular cosmetic surgery for twelve out of the past thirteen years.

Part of the surgery's widespread popularity is due to its high level of adaptability. Unlike many other cosmetic surgeries, which can only be performed on a specific body area such as the nose or the breasts, a lipoplasty can be performed just about anywhere there is excess fat. The surgery can furthermore typically be performed under local anesthesia, unlike the general anesthetic which many other surgeries require.

Prior to the surgery, the patient and the surgeon meet. They discuss topics such as the patient's medical history and the patient's goals, and they discuss which target areas the surgery should treat. During a liposuction, only one or a small number of areas are treated. Increasing the number of areas treated increases the amount of body trauma that the surgery causes.

Similarly, each lipoplasty also only usually removes a certain amount of fat. Most do not remove more than 10 pounds. Increasing this amount to much can be overly taxing on the patient's body. Patients who are significantly overweight sometimes have to lose weight before they can be considered for treatment.

On the day of the surgery, the patient is anesthetized, and the surgeon makes somewhere between one and several incisions in the skin around the target area. Through these incisions, the surgeon will insert a special tool called a cannula. A cannula resembles a thin hollow needle. By moving the cannula back and forth through the patient's fatty tissue, he or she can break up the unwanted fat. As it works, the cannula also removes the broken down fat by suctioning it out of the body.

After the surgery, it typically takes somewhere around a few days for a patient to be able to return to work. Some amount of bruising and swelling is normal. Typically, not too much pain is experienced, and what pain there is usually begins to dissipate after just a few days.

by: Christian Heftel

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