1. Is liposuction a reasonable treatment for obesity?

No, liposuction is for contouring areas of excess fat. Surgical or medical weight loss is the safer method for treating obesity.


2. What is a successful liposuction surgery?

One that safely recontours areas of concern and the patient can see the results.


3. Does liposuction cause dimpling or indentations in the skin?

It can cause indentations if you get too superficial and close to the undersurface of skin.


4. What Alternatives Are There to Liposuction?

Exercise can help with weight loss but sometimes certain areas of localized fat accumulation, like �saddle bags� are very resistant to improvement. There is something called mesotherapy that is an injectable fluid that supposedly dissolves fat. The FDA, in summary, has said that not only are they unaware of any approved injection that can help with dissolving fat for mesotherapy but additionally that they are unaware of any drug that can dissolve fat.


5. What type of liposuction is the best?

Tumescent liposuction is the safest because the technique of injecting fluid with epinephrine constricts blood vessels and leads to less blood loss during liposuction.


6. How much liposuction is excessive (Staged liposuction, Mega liposuction)?

It s difficult to say how much is excessive but the American Society of Plastic Surgeons has a consensus statement that if you remove more than 5 liters of fat in one setting, that the patient should be monitored overnight in the surgical facility to help with fluid resuscitation.


7. How is Tumescent Liposuction performed?

The tumescent solution made of IV fluids, +/- lidocaine and most importantly epinephrine are infiltrated to the areas that will undergo liposuction. After this tumescent solution is infiltrated to the point that the skin is turgid/tight and after approximately 7 minutes to allow the epinephrine to have its effect on constricting blood vessels you can commence with liposuction with a minimal amount of blood loss (approximately 1% of the liposuction aspirate will be blood).