subject: Could Liposuction Kill You? [print this page] Liposuction (also known as lipoplasty and suction lipectomy) is a surgery that has helped a number of people. There are a lot of people who have undergone the procedure and have been happy and satisfied with the way that they have lost weight and with their new, post-surgery procedure.
However, not everybody knows that there's also a darker side to the surgery. Recently, a number of lipoplasty-related deaths have brought issues of surgical safety to the fore.
In September, a Floida woman entered a medical spa in Florida looking to get a lipopasty. The woman, who was a 37 year-old mother of three, was looking to shed a few pounds through laser lipolysis. Instead, she ended up brain dead and on life support.
During or after the treatment, the Floridan woman went into cardiac arrest and slipped into a coma. She remained in this comatose state for two weeks. Eventually, her family chose to take her off of life support, given that they did not see any chance of her surviving and pulling out.
Similarly, a Washington State woman died in May following a lipoplasty. The woman, who was planning on surprising her fiance by getting the procedure before their marriage, entered a cosmetic surgery clinic, got the surgery, and died within hours.
Although the death occurred in May, officials with the Washington Department of Health had not gotten any report on the death. Due to a gap in Washington state law, cosmetic surgeone and cosmetic surgery clinics are not required to report deaths to the state.
This and other loopholes prompted Dr. Phila Haeck, the incoming president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons to declare that "it's harder to become a cosmetologist in this state than it is a person doing liposuction. The state investigation of cosmetologists is much more advanced than the state inspection of who's doing liposuction."
This article isn't mean to add to the already impressive amount of general purpose fear experienced by the American populace. The hope of the author is that readers will take away the lesson that it is important to count costs and look before you leap, especially with cosmetic surgery. Make sure you do research on the procedure of your choice, and make sure you find out all about the likely and possible complications--before you get the surgery. Make sure you find a good doctor and a good place to get your surgery. Getting lipoplasty isn't worth dying for.
