subject: A Free Consultation Can Really Help You Decide If Liposuction Is Right For You [print this page] Liposuction (also known as lipoplasty and suction lipectomy) is a very popular surgery. Every year, hundreds of thousands of Americans undergo this procedure, and the surgery is equally popular in many other parts of the world.
The surgery removes excess fat from specific target areas on a patient's body. These areas are chosen beforehand by the patient and the surgeon. Typically only one or a small handful of areas are treated at one time. The more areas a surgery treats, the more body trauma it will cause.
Lipoplasties are usually performed under local anesthesia. This helps to reduce some of the risks of the surgery, and it also makes it easier to recover from. The surgery typically takes somewhere between one and several hours to perform.
During the surgery, the patient is first anesthetized, and may also be given a mild sedative or anti-anxiety medication. Once the target area is numbed, the surgeon will make small incisions above the target area. The entire surgery will be performed through these small slits.
The doctor will then insert a special hollow needle called a cannula through an incision into the target area. By moving the cannula back and forth through the fatty tissue of the target area, the surgeon can break up the unwanted fat. The cannula is also hooked up to a vacuum device, so it can suction out the broken down fat as it goes.
Once the surgery is over, the patient can return home. An overnight stay at a hospital or surgical center is typically not required. However, the patient will need to be driven home, as some amount of wooziness is fairly common after the surgery.
A liposuction is typically not good at removing extremely large amounts of fat. Typically, the upper limit for how much a single surgery can remove is somewhere around ten pounds. If you need to have more fat than this removed, you will probably have to lose some weight before you can be treated.
The costs of the surgery vary greatly. Surgeries performed in some geographical areas are more expensive than others. Surgeries which target especially difficult areas or areas that require more work may also be more expensive. Even your gender will affect the price of the surgery.
If you'd like to know more about the procedure, the cost, or whether a lipoplasty would be right for you, you should speak with a cosmetic surgeon in your area. Many liposuction surgeons offer free consultations to potentially interested clients. Your doctor should be able to help answer your questions about this surgery.
