FAQs
Here are some questions and answers about Liposuction. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask us through the website or the phone. Thank you.
1. Isn't the Liposuction dangerous?
Liposuction’s dangerousness depends on methods of Liposuction.
With general anesthesia,(Grazer FM, de Jong RH. Fatal outcomes from liposuction: census survey of cosmetic surgeons. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 105:436-446, 2000.) 95 patients were died through Liposuctions from 1994 to 1998.
With tumescent solution, (Housman TS, Lawrence N, Mellen BG, George MN, Filippo JS, Cerveny KA, DeMarco M, Feldman SR, Fleischer AB. The safety of liposuction: results of a national survey. Dermatol Surg. 2002 Nov;28(11):971-8. ) No patient died out of 65,000 Liposuction from 1994 to 2000.
Venus Clinic do the Liposuction using local anesthesia that infiltrates tumescent solution. Tumescent liposuctions is already confirmed its safety, and it has eliminated he greatest dangers associated with older forms of liposuction.
2. Isn’t it painful?
If the operation undergoes under general anesthesia, it can cause dangers. This is why our operation undergoes under conscious sedation with tumescent local anesthesia which is almost painless. If it undergoes only with tumescent local anesthetic, it can cause some discomfort while injecting the anesthetic.
Since the local anesthetic with tumescent fluid remains in the adipose tissue after the operation up to 12 hours, there follows little pain right after the operation.
3. When can I be back to normal life?
Since the local anesthetic with tumescent fluid remains in the adipose tissue after the operation, there follows little pain right after the operation. Therefore, normal activities are possible except extreme physical activities. Also, 24 hours after the operation when the fluid in the adipose tissue has somewhat drained, you may go back to work.
Right after the operation, you had better take a rest in bed. After a while, you may walk around. 1 day after the operation, you may maintain normal life including driving or walking around. 3~4 days after the operation, you may do mild exercise but you are not allowed to do such as jogging or playing tennis till 2~3 weeks after the operation. You may increase the exercise intensity gradually. It depends on the operation, however, it takes 1~3 days to go back to work.
3 days after the operation, you may take a shower, however, you should avoid taking a bath or swimming till 3~4 weeks after the operation. 1 month after the operation, you may do normal activities and exercises.
It takes about 5~6 months to have a complete recovery from Liposuction and stabilized adipose tissue.
4. Does the skin keep its smoothness after the operation?
If you undergo the tumescent technique Liposuction, you may notice the effective correction of your body shape right after the operation. However, there follows some rugged regions as the adipose layer becomes harder, which is formed by the adipose layer, but it will disappear within 2~3 months.
We, Venus Clinic, do Liposuction by hand using a microcannula, so there is almost no risk of roughness.
In case of unfavorable outcomes, it is possible to correct with a simple procedure 5 months after the operation, therefore, there is no need to worry.
5. How much weight can I lose after the operation?
The purpose of Liposuction is not the weight loss but the correction of body shape, but it effects to the weight loss somewhat. Right after the operation, due to tumescent anesthetic and edema, there could be an increase of weight. 2~4 weeks after the operation when the edema is alleviated, you may notice weight loss of 1/2 or 2/3 of removed fat.
According to the report on patient’s satisfaction after Liposuction, patient who keeps one’s weight after the surgery has higher satisfaction with more confidence with one’s body.
6. Don’t I gain fat after the operation?
Liposuction is the operation which removes the thick adipose layer so there will be no yoyo phenomenon on that site.
However, if you do not manage your weight after the Liposuction, the remaining adipose layer can gain fat again.
For example, let’s say that thickness of non-liposuction area is 4 cm, thickness of liposuction area is 2 cm, when you gain weight all areas will gain weight evenly. So, non-liposuction area will become 8 cm, liposuction area will become 4 cm.
But if you manage your body weight well, there will be no yoyo phenomenon; hence, we can say that you would not gain fat after the Liposuction. Therefore, it is necessary to be cautious controlling weight for the long-term operation effects.
7. How much Liposuction can I undergo in a day?
We do not recommend removing over 5,000cc supranatant fat. More fat removal gives higher dangerousness of complications. If the patient need more liposuction, it is good to do after 3-4 weeks. Also it is not good to do liposuction with other plastic surgery.
With Tumescent liposuction, we should follow the conservative estimate of maximal safe dose of Lidocaine. Conservative estimate of maximal safe dose of Lidocaine is 35mg/kg, and according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery recommend using not over 55mg/kg.
As the result, we usually use 35mg/kg of Lidocaine for lower limb, thoracoabdomen, or upper limb which is the maximum possible liposuction area.
With general anesthesia, there is no conservative estimate of maximal safe dose so it is possible to do liposuction on more areas, but it results complications.
The reasons that general anesthesia increases rate of fatal,
- Multiple Surgery
- Prolonged surgery time
- Removal excessive amount of fat during single session
- Iv fluid overload
- Toxic dose of lidocaine
Venus Clinic undergoes large volume liposuction, 5000cc or over of pure fat removal, within 1 and half hours to 2 and half hours using the two-doctor system. Using the two-doctor system, this operation is shorter and safer than the conventional Liposuction operation time. large volume liposuction is believed that it has risk of complications. It requires delicate attention and postoperative management. Venus Clinic has great know-how on large volume liposuction.
The picture above shows how well the liposuction went. Yellow liquid is the fat and bottom part is tumescent solution. This picture shows that the surgery went well without hemorrhage. In this case, subranatant fat is 3000ml so the weight will decrease about 2kg.
Venus Clinic do Tumescent liposuction to decrease hemorrhage and complications, and at the same time, we remove about 5000ml or more of fat and gives good aesthetic result.
8. Do I have to wear Elastic Compression Garment after the operation?
Elastic compression garments (specially designed girdles) were intended 1) to reduce bleeding immediately after surgery and 2) to reduce swelling the time that the body is healing. Tumescent liposuction has eliminated surgical bleeding. Most surgeons require that patients wear an elastic compression garment for a certain length of time after liposuction.
Liposuction removes fat between the skin and the muscle. So it is better to wear Elastic compression garment after the operation. It was intended to reduce bleeding immediately after surgery and to reduce swelling the time that the body is healing. Tumescent liposuction has eliminated surgical bleeding. So we require that patient wear an elastic compression garment for 2 weeks for 24 hours up to 1 month.
9. Doesn’t skin get less elastic after liposuction?
People usually think skin will become less elastic after liposuction, but skin actually shrinks and gives natural and smooth shape.
Right after liposuction, skin has less elastic, but skin shrinks and gathers back with noninfective inflammation.
The elasticity of skin is proportional to original skin elasticity (before the operation), so patient who has good elasticity of skin has better result. This is why I tell patients to not lose weights before the operation.
10. What is the difference between going on a diet and doing liposuction?Both are the ways to solve obesity, but here are the differences?
First, purpose of going on a diet is losing weight which needs an exercise, but purpose of liposuction is reshaping body which gives a beautiful body line. Medical science can be divided into internal medicine and surgery. There are diseases that can be treated by internal medicine or surgery. Liposuction is effective to those who has normal degree of obesity but has Local Fat tissue Deposition. It can also treated by mini-liposuction. Liposuction is a kind of plastic surgery. It is one of the most operated plastic surgery in Europe, US, and South America.
Second, going on a diet with an exercise decreases the size of fat tissue which gives a weight loss, but liposuction actually removes fat and it does not give yoyo phenomenon. If the patient does not control one’s weight, size of fat tissue can increase, but compare to non-operated area, operated area gains less fat due to smaller fat tissues. Due to this, after the abdomen liposuction, breasts look bigger and it can give disharmonious obesity.
Third, liposuction solves obesity faster than going on a diet. A week after the operation, patients can see the difference with their bodies through the pictures. Through the liposuction, patient can go on a diet more easily and keep good body shape especially people who is diagnosed as extremely obese.
Usually people who are diagnosed as extremely obese give up on their bodies, but after the liposuction, they get to love their bodies and have better health condition. They also get confident socially and become more positive and active.
Fourth, liposuction can help people who are obese and need to lose weight but cannot work out due to jobs or bad body condition. Liposuction safely removes fat and helps people to have better and healthier body.
The above picture is the patient who worries about abdomen after childbirth. Liposuction can contract skin and helps with stretchmarks.
11. Which Liposuction option does Venus use?
Many various Liposuction methods have been introduced such as laser assisted Liposuction, water jet Liposuction and ultrasound assisted Liposuction in the internet, magazines and newspaper. These surgical techniques are mostly named after the equipments of Liposuction, and these equipments are focused on how well they extract the fat.
The father of liposuction, Dr. Fournier does liposuction with only using Syringe.
Distribution of fat determines the satisfaction after the Liposuction, so it cannot be said these techniques guarantee favorable outcomes. The results of operation ultimately depend on ‘skill, ability and experience’ of the surgeon. So you should check surgeon’s reputation for good liposuction results, happy patients, and ethical standards.