subject: You've Heard A Lot About Liposuction, But Do You Know How It Really Works? [print this page] Most people know that liposuction makes people skinnier, but many don't know how. Generally thought of as a way to make famous people look perfect, the real changes brought about by the surgery are generally small and not as dramatic as the collective imagination tends to assume. The safest quantity of fat removed is only about fifteen pounds!
Fifteen pounds may not sound like a lot, but most surgeons will not attempt to remove more fat than this. It simply isn't safe to do so, and ethical practitioners will be upfront about this from the beginning. Meeting with a plastic surgeon can help clear up some common misconceptions about liposuction.
One such misconception is that the entire body can be affected by the surgery. In reality, fat can only be taken from small localized areas in one setting. The best candidates for the procedure are already at a healthy weight and have only one or two of such areas. (Many women want their thighs or belly to be trimmed up and men sometimes have fat removed from the neck or jowls.) There is nothing like total body liposuction.
The surgery is simple. After the affected area has been sterilized and numbed with an anesthetic, tiny incisions are made and a cannula (similar to a straw) is inserted into the fatty tissues of the body. The surgeon moves the cannula around to break the fat cells up and then sucks them out, all the while adding fluids to keep body fluid levels balanced. The patient is usually awake during the surgery.
Because the incisions are small, they generally heal very quickly. Scars will form with healing, but they should fade within a year. Everyone's body works differently, and so scars are more obvious and long-lasting on some people than on others.
Self-maintenance is important after getting liposuction. Quite the opposite of never having to worry about fat again, people who have had this surgery must be vigilant in watching their lifestyles and getting adequate exercise. (It's important for everyone to take time every day to get physical activity, and it doesn't have to be in a stuffy gym. People can get exercise taking walks around the beautiful places in their city, like Central Park in New York.)
The fat cells that have been removed will never come back, but weight can still be gained if lifestyle isn't kept in check. Fat will simply go to other areas of the body and may be unsightly.
Common thought on liposuction isn't always accurate. By having a few pounds removed from a small problem area, a person can be made to look a little better, but the overall effect is rather small. Understanding how it actually works can help to dispel some of the myths surrounding this fat-removing procedure.
