Question

Does surgical fat removal or reshaping have permanent effects? Provide your opinion about the surgical fat removal (liposuction)

Answer 1

Liposuction is surgical procedure deep and superficial fat removal for body contouring. It is also used in ablative and reconstructive surgery. There is removal of fat from areas of abdomen, hips, thighs, buttocks, arms or neck. However, it is less removes less fat than bariatric surgery. Removal of fat causes the skin to realign itself in new contours.

Liposuction is beneficial in treatment of multiple-lipoma syndromes, familiar multiple lipomatosis and lipedema. Lipomas are benign tumors of soft tissues while lipedema exhibits as bilaterally symmetrical subcutaneous fat deposition that can occur in buttocks and lower limbs. Liposuction for lipedema helps in ensuring better mobility. It does so by limiting painful symptoms such as lower limb articulations. Liposuction is used also in treatment of lipodystrophies observed in patients with type 2 diabetes, liver steatosis, polycystic ovaries etc. In lipodystrophies, there is selective loss of body fat along with differing amounts of body fat found. Hypertrophic insulin lipodystrophy that occurs in various sites in body of diabetics due to multiple injection of insulin can be treated by liposuction. Pneudogynecomastia and gynecomastia (fat deposition in male breast and increase in male breast volume respectively), and macromastia and gigantomastia (excess fats deposition in female breast) are also treated with liposuction therapy. Apart from these abnormalities, liposuction has been used to treat chronic lymphedema, axillary hyperhidrosis, sexual dysfunctions etc. Thus, liposuction has a great advantage in treatment of chronic fat issues in the body. Recently, liposuction is used to harvest adipose stem cells, which have numerous clinical applications.

Despite its benefits, liposuction has been associated with many complications such as seromas (fluid accumulation sin skin), hematomas, changes in skin color, skin necrosis, neurological effects, umbilical deviations, deep venous thrombosis etc. Seromas can cause fibrous tissues to break and create cavities. Edemas can persist for more than 6 months in ankles and calves. Hyperpigmentation can however be treated with tropical agents. Contour irregularities are quite common occurring in nearly 2.7% of treated patients. These effects are localized. However, there may be more severe systemic complications such as significant blood loss during and post-surgery, hypothermia, fat embolism syndrome, pulmonary edema, visceral perforation, thromboembolism etc. There can also be kidney and heart complications. Some researchers have indicated a fatality rate of nearly 19.1 per 1,00,000 surgeries. There are complications of perforation in abdomen and bowel in nearly 14.1% patients, which is a significant cause of death. Bleeding is another cause of death in liposuction patients.

Liposuction, although aids in body contouring, however does not causes tremendous weight loss. For massive far loss, bariatric surgery is preferred. Thus, liposuction is not a treatment for obesity. It has been used by women for cosmetic surgical purposes. There is loss of skin elasticity due to removal of fat cells, causing skin to look saggy. Hence, other methods have to be employed for treating effects on skin as well. Improved techniques have tried to eliminate a number of complications; it still is not full proof procedure. It also cannot treat severe obesity, which is major cause of death in the world. Hence, it is important to understand the pros and cons of this treatment before selecting it. Further, it is important to understand that new fats that form in the body can lodge itself in different areas such as liver and heart, creating permanent heath issues. Neve issues also may lead to effects on all parts of the body due to loss of sensations.