Remove fat and reshape your body with lipoplasty cosmetic surgery

Procedure Summary

An Italian Gynaecologist, Dr Giorgio Fisher, is credited with being the first to use liposuction to remove fat in 1974. Its popularity really took off in the 1980s only to receive a major setback when a number of serious complications occurred in some patients. However, in 1985 a new lipoplasty technique called tumescent anaesthesia was developed by Dr Jeffrey Klein, a Californian dermatologist, that has proved to be safe and effective. This has lead to lipoplasty procedures becoming one of the most common cosmetic surgery operations performed today.

What can liposuction achieve for you?

Undergoing cosmetic surgery to permanently remove fat cells will alter your body shape forever. Lipoplasty, therefore, can be a life-changing event for people who have struggled with otherwise immovable fat deposits for most of their adult life.

Liposuction surgery is suitable for men and women of any age who are close to the correct weight for their height with fat deposits that cannot be shifted by regular exercise and a healthy balanced diet. People should not, therefore, consider liposculpture as a way to lose weight.

After three pregnancies within five years, one woman describes how she lost all the weight she had accumulated with a regime of healthy food and daily exercise, however, “I was left with flab hanging down on my inner thighs and waist. I discussed it with my doctor who said that I was a good candidate for a lipoplasty procedure.”

The most popular requests are for liposculpture of the abdomen, face, neck, thighs and chin. It can, however, be used to treat almost any part of the body where enduring deposits of fat are present. In fact, a number of areas can be treated during a single operation and performed in conjunction with other cosmetic surgery if necessary. The suitability of liposuction for your particular requirements can be discussed during your initial consultation with the cosmetic surgeon.

Undergoing a lipoplasty procedure

Prior to your liposuction surgery, the surgeon will usually mark out the areas to be treated on your body. A majority of lipoplasties are carried out under general anaesthesia, though it is becoming more common for surgeons to perform the procedure on patients who are only lightly sedated. This has the advantage of allowing the patient to be involved in the lipoplasty, assisting the surgeon in creating the optimum result.

There are several techniques that may used before the actual liposuction to facilitate the fat removal:

• Fluid injection – A solution that causes the fat to contract is injected into the fatty areas before liposuction takes place, allowing the fat to be removed more easily.
• Tumescent liposuction – Large amounts of fluid are injected into the area to be treated to help to break up the fat before removal.
• The super-wet technique – Similar to tumescent liposuction but involving less fluid.
• Ultrasound Assisted Lipoplasty (UAL) – Utilises a special cannula combined with an ultrasonic device. The sound waves emitted by the cannula break down the fat into a liquid prior to removal.

During the liposuction, the surgeon will insert a flexible rod called a cannula through a tiny incision in the area to be treated and, with the help of a vacuum pump, suck out the fat. Once the appropriate amount of fat has been removed, the incisions will be stitched up. Throughout the procedure an amount of body fluid will be unavoidably removed along with the fat. To compensate for this, you will be given fluids intravenously during and immediately after the surgery.
 
Following the procedure, there may be temporary bruising, swelling and some pain. As one patient commented, “For the first week after surgery I was wearing an elastic bandage, which was a little uncomfortable. However, this helped to reduce the swelling and bruising, so I was soon looking and feeling great.”

You should take a few days off work to recuperate, and the sutures will be removed after 7 days. Light activity will be suggested for you as soon as possible to help reduce swelling and help prevent blood clots forming. So you might start with gentle walking everyday and slowly move onto other light activities, though you should avoid any strenuous activity for a month or so.

As with all cosmetic surgery, there is always some degree of risk associated with liposuction. However, thousands of lipoplasties are carried out each year. When performed by a qualified plastic surgeon, and when the patient complies with all pre and post operation advice, the results are typically successful.

Who should carry out your liposuction?

Lipoplasty cosmetic surgery should only performed by suitably trained doctors and surgeons with relevant skills and experience in an establishment registered with the Healthcare Commission. As plastic surgeons tend to specialise in one particular area, it is wise to seek out a surgeon who specialises in carrying out lipoplasty surgery.

Prices for a lipoplasty can range from £1500 to £5000 depending on the amount of treatment required. If liposuction is something that you are considering, you can discuss all of the issues mentioned here in greater depth during a consultation with a cosmetic surgeon.

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