Liposuction is a procedure especially indicated for people with normal weight who have localized fat areas that are disproportionate to the rest of the body and do not disappear with exercise or diet. Liposuction is not a weight loss technique: Although we may lose weight secondarily, the ultimate goal is to modify the number of adipocytes in each area of the body, or in other words, to modify the location of fat deposits in the body. We will never accumulate as much fat in the previously liposuctioned areas, no matter how much weight we gain. The classic paradigm of liposuction is the slender girl who accumulates all the body's fat in the saddlebags. Once liposuctioned, when she gains weight, the fat will be distributed evenly throughout the body.
First Consultation
During the first consultation, a general evaluation of your health status will be conducted, as well as an examination of the areas you wish to liposuction. You should know that liposuction is not a treatment for obesity and is really indicated for clear fat accumulations. In this first consultation, it's not just about seeing which areas you want to liposuction, but analyzing where you accumulate body fat. Often our patients come with an idea of one or two areas they wish to liposuction, and we end up recommending liposuctioning more areas. Why? Because once the procedure is done, if we don't treat all the areas where fat accumulates, later on, when you gain weight, those untreated areas may worsen. During this first visit, we will take a series of photographs that will allow us to plan your surgery.
We will discuss the areas to be liposuctioned and explain the postoperative care you will need to take.
You should be as honest as possible, expressing any doubts you may have.
Surgery and Anesthesia
This type of surgery can be performed under different types of anesthesia, such as local anesthesia with sedation, epidural, or general anesthesia, depending on the number and volume of areas to be liposuctioned. Depending on the type of anesthesia used, the patient may stay overnight or go home the same day of the procedure.
On the morning of your admission, we will come to your room to mark the areas to be liposuctioned. This is a fundamental step because once you are lying on the operating table, anatomical references are lost.
Through small incisions (5mm), we will introduce, into the areas to be liposuctioned, fluids with different medications that allow us to obtain the desired fat without the patient experiencing pain or significant blood loss.
Through these incisions, we insert cannulas connected to a vacuum system that will allow us to perform the liposuction, controlling at all times the contour resulting from the aspiration and the symmetry with the opposite side.
Once the liposuction is completed, we proceed to close the incisions with a very fine suture.
You should bring the compression garment (girdle) previously indicated in the consultation to the operating room, and it will be placed on you once the surgery is finished.
Contrary to what most people believe, liposuction is one of the surgeries most dependent on the surgeon's technique and experience. It requires a lot of concentration to leave exactly the same amount of fat in all regions of the body and has the added difficulty of being a blind technique, where we rely solely on what we feel by touch, as we cannot open and observe what is happening in the subcutaneous plane. We recommend that this type of surgery be performed in a hospital operating room with the presence of an anesthetist, and we insist that the surgeon be a specialist in plastic, reconstructive, and aesthetic surgery. Although legally in Spain any doctor, even without
