What Is Liposuction?
Maybe you’ve recently lost a lot of weight but some fat remains, or maybe that extra fat is just one more bad thing that comes along with aging. Liposuction is a quick and easy solution.
To begin with, you should know that liposuction isn’t for patients who have a lot of weight to lose, and it isn’t used to get rid of cellulite. It is meant to remove small amounts of fat, to add contour, and to give patients a more proportionate appearance.
At your initial consultation, your doctor will determine if you are a good candidate for lipo and will ask about the results you are hoping for from this procedure. Your doctor might suggest that you have liposuction combined with another procedure so that you can achieve the look you want.
Liposuction can be performed just about anywhere on the body. On the day of your appointment, you will be given general anesthesia or intravenous sedation. A combination of sterile saline, epinephrine, and lidocaine will be injected into the treatment area to help break up the fat cells, to act as an anesthetic, and to help reduce bruising and blood loss. Small incisions are made, a thin tube (a cannula) is inserted into the skin, and the fat is suctioned out of the body. Your recovery from liposuction should not be painful, although you might be swollen, bruised, and uncomfortable. Patients typically take 3 days to a week off of work to recover.
Have you been going to the gym faithfully three times a week for the past 2 years? Have you been substituting celery for cookies for just as long? If you’ve tried everything but you have some fat that you just can’t get rid of, liposuction may be the answer for you. Contact the office of Jeffrey C. Dawes, MD, FRCSC Plastic and Dermatologic Surgery in Calgary for a liposuction consultation, at (403) 571-3141.
