Liposuction today remains one of the most popular plastic surgery procedures out there. In some cities like San Francisco, New York, and Miami, it claims the top spot! (And this is likely because liposuction can be easily included in more extensive procedures like the tummy tuck, BBL, or mommy makeover.) Simply put, liposuction is fat extraction using a tube-like implement called a cannula. The results can be drastic, and people are often surprised at seeing the procedure remove stubborn fat that diet and exercise simply could not address.
Nevertheless, if you are considering liposuction, you should maintain realistic expectations. Following liposuction, your body will be swollen due to fluid build-up, and this may make it seem as if your liposuction had no effect. As your body recovers and your body finishes draining the excess fluids, you will begin to see the final results of the procedure.
Recovery after Liposuction
The first few days following a surgical procedure, you should expect some discomfort. The anesthetic effects will have worn out, and you might experience bruising and swollenness. Your surgeon will prescribe medication that makes the pain more than manageable, but you will be homebound and largely sedentary.
Your liposuction surgeon will recommend that you wear a compression garment. This is a type of clothing that will fit tight on your body and promote the speed of your recovery. Besides helping to reduce swelling, the compression garment will also help your skin retract back to the body.
Otherwise, the skin may end up hanging loosely, increasing the need for another surgical procedure like a lift or tummy tuck. Your surgeon is likely to recommend wearing the compression garment daily for as long as four weeks, after which he may recommend easing out of wearing it since some patients have experienced swelling as late as six weeks after the procedure.
Nevertheless, you should expect swelling to diminish after the first week, and your surgeon will give you a more personalized schedule that keeps the particularities of your body in mind.
How bad is liposuction scarring?
One of the reasons that liposuction remains a very popular procedure has to do with the fact that, as far as plastic surgery goes, liposuction is minimally invasive. In most procedures, liposuction involves incisions big enough to allow the insertion of the cannula and no more. This means an incision of about a centimeter or half an inch. Some liposuction technologies like VASER may use even smaller cannulas for more precise results. Smaller incisions thus mean far less noticeable scarring, if any, and for fine liposuction techniques, the incisions are almost invisible.
Maintaining Results
You should also be ready to maintain healthy dietary habits. Remember, in liposuction, what is extracted are fat cells whose role in the body is to store excess energy you derive from food as fat. Because fat cells do not return to the body after they have been extracted, if you keep to a diet high in fat and sugar, the excess energy is likely to be stored in other body parts that still have fat cells with which to store the energy. An unhealthy diet may thus lead your body to gain fat in other regions like the arms and neck.
It's easy to avoid this, however. Keep a healthy diet. Drink plenty of water. Exercise regularly. Most importantly, maintain your body weight, as increases in body weight might mean fat accumulation (given, of course, that the increase in body weight is not due to muscle gain!).
When will I see the results?
Liposuction results can be quite drastic, with the potential removal of up to ten pounds of fat during the process. You should not, however, expect liposuction to be a weight-loss procedure. Liposuction should be undergone to contour and shape your body. In fact, as we mentioned above, the first few days after the procedure are likely to be characterized by swelling. You will retain water, and you should not expect that you will see your new slimmed-down waist immediately.
You will perhaps notice more contour or the fact that you do not have the same bulges you had before the procedure, but you should not expect final results for 1 to 3 months after the surgery.
If you follow your Avana surgeon's instructions and keep to a disciplined recovery and aftercare routine, you will have the body you desire. As with any fat extraction procedure, your success will require commitment. Don't hesitate to ask your surgeon for further advice and call for a free consultation.
