Liposuction: Myths and Truths
Liposuction was firstly described in the late 70’s and with it, a new era in aesthetic plastic surgery started, it was possible to sculpt the human body with minimum .
Even it has been 50 years since this important innovation in plastic surgery, today liposuction is in the top two procedures that are most commonly done in aesthetic plastic surgery worldwide.
Liposuciton was originally done for reducing fat deposits, then evolved as liposculpture for body contouring and with the help of several devices such as lasers, vaser and J plasma can even help with body definition and skin tightening.
When thinking on liposuction as an option for an aesthetic surgical procedure it is important to clarify certain myths:
1. Liposuction is for loosing weight: FALSE. With a liposuction what it is done, is reduce fat deposits and help body contouring, it is not for loosing weight. If a patient is overweight or obese it is not a good candidate for liposuction since the more overweight you are the high surgical risk you have. Liposuction is ideal for patients that want better body contour and body definition.
2. After liposuction I will not gain anymore weight OR I can gain weight more easily: FALSE. With a liposuction excess fat is taken away but if you eat too much of unhealthy foods you can get back unwanted fat deposits and gain weight. Some patients can even get more overweight after a liposuction procedure but when this happens is when the patient after the liposuction eats too much and do not take care of themselves, not because the liposuction. After a liposuction procedure you must have healthy habits such as regular exercising and eating healthy, having a more contoured body does not mean I will never get fat again, to keep on my Liposuction results it is very important that I eat well and exercise regularly after the procedure. When after a liposuction I finally feel better with my body image this usually promotes a change in my lifestyle towards healthy habits, esencial to keep my liposuction results.
3. During a liposuction I can put fat in areas I want to enhance. TRUE. Liposuction can be done to take fat away in areas where there is excess and to put it back where there is lack of it. It is important also to know that only my same fat can be used for this purpose and not from another person. And also very important to know what no other substance rather than your own must be injected to augment body areas such as the gluteal area.
4. Liposuction helps eliminate cellulite: False. Cellulite is a combination of factors such irregular fat deposits + changes in the skin + skin looseness and when talking about liposuction we can say it reduces fat deposits and shape you body contours but it cannot be promised that skin irregularities will be corrected with just a liposuction. For cellulite reductionn, including skin quality improvement, it is advisable to have other procedures, non surgicals such as massages manual and / or mechanical, carboxitherapy, radiofrequency, cavitation, lasers, focalized ultrasound and other technologies, rather than a liposuction.
It is important to know that although there have been constant innovations with new devices in liposuction, machines do not do the work for us plastic surgeons, devices such as laser, vaser and J plasma can help us to better do the procedure, but In the end remember with a liposuction we are sculpting the human body, meaning that as plastic surgeons we are sculptors of the body, there is no machine that can replace the art expressed by the surgeon when performing a liposuction, until today we can say machines just cannot do the surgery by themselves.