Surgery || Liposuction and Weight Loss

In my last post, I got a comment which would make me change my style of writing hencefort so we can learn and have fun at the same time. The comment emphasize on making post fun to read while writing rather than making a post that looked like I was writing a thesis. So today, I will be discussing a medical procedure called liposuction.

Ladies nowadays are interested in the removal of fat from one part of their body to another, and so many of them turn to Liposuction as a solution. The process of using liposuction which is used to remove this adipose fat is FDA approved but is it meant for weight loss. While there is a straight answer to this question, I would not say it is a yes or a no without given a proper explanation of the procedure but then it is important to bear in mind that liposuction is a medically approved procedure.

It has to do with the removal of adipose tissue from places where they are not needed or excessive using a suction device with the aim of correcting both the deep and superficial fat accumulation from that part of the body. Do not mistake Liposuction for liposculpture. Although the two sound the same, liposculpture is an artistic elimination of fat adipose tissue from a part of the body where it isn't needed into another part of the body where it is needed. Liposculpture is a more specific and artistic procedure.

A lot of people are familiar with liposuction in the abdomen, but are not familiar with the procedure being done on any other part of the body, but in actual fact, liposuction can be done in areas such as the gluteal region or around the buttocks, the waist line, the hips, the thigh, and the neck. Depending on the surgeon's experience, liposuction can be done anywhere in the body where adipose tissues are but the risk differ from one area to the other, also the pain can be more terrible in some areas of the body compared to others so surgeons wouldn't want to perform those surgeries.

It is very disturbing seeing how people condemn liposuction since they believe that it is for cosmetic purposes only. I was with a lady who had lipedema previously and had undergone liposuction. She was happy and said her loved ones were happy as well. While she is one of the few people who have had liposuction without backlash, a lot of people have undergone the procedure with lots of in my country, especially when it is done for cosmetic purposes. A celebrity in Nigeria performed liposuction, and the backlash she got was enormous. I cannot imagine how she would have felt or still be feeling currently but then, liposuction goes beyond cosmetic purposes. I haven't had any reason to remove fat, since I love my body and I am not surffering from conditions such as Lipomas which are benign tumors in the adipocytes, it can also be used to treat lipedema.

As a surgeon, if I am going to do a lyposuction, the first thing I will be doing is to mark on the patients body to identify the areas that will be suctioned and areas that will be avoided (zones of adherence). Anesthetics would be given which could be local, or general anesthetics. To let you know, only 5 liters of fat can be sucked out of a patient at a time. In the case of Tumescent Liposuction, saline, epinephrine, and lidocaine is injected into the adipose tissue of the patient causing numbness, and stiffening of the area, whils constricting blood vessels in the area to prevent blood loss during the procedure. The cannula is used to traverse to extract the fat.

Liposuction isn't for everyone and it isn't a weight loss procedure, even when fat is being extracted from the body. I guess I gave the Yes or No answer to the question I asked at the beginning already. To qualify for liposuction, you must be an adult within 30% their normal body mass index. The patient shouldn't be obesehave minimal skin looseness, also the patient should have been at a stable weight for about 6 months. . If you are looking at Liposuction as a means of losing weight, then you should check again because I have seen a lot of people who has done liposuction as a means of fat removal and they end up adding weight in disproportionate areas where there are other over few months or years. Diet and change of habit will be needed to maintain appropraite fat deposits in other places where the adipose tissues haven't been removed.

Image Reference
Image 1 || Wikimedia Commons || Abdominoplasty completely sutured

Image 2 || Wikimedia Commons || Fat removal using cannula during tumescent liposuction