Despite good health and a reasonable level of fitness, some people may still have a body with disproportionate contours due to localized fat deposits. These areas may be due to family traits rather than a lack of weight control or fitness. Liposuction slims and reshapes specific areas of the body by removing excess fat deposits, improving your body contours and proportion, and ultimately, enhancing your self-image.

Areas that can be addressed by liposuction are: abdomen and waist, hips and buttocks, back, upper arms, thighs, cheeks, chin, neck, calves and ankles.

Liposuction, also known as Liposculpture, Lipoplasty, or Suction-Assisted Lipectomy is a surgical technique that improves the body's contour by removing excess fat from deposits located between the skin and muscle. Liposuction involves the use of a small stainless steel tubes, called cannulas. The cannula is connected to a powerful suction pump and inserted into the fat through small incisions in the skin. Fat removal is accomplished as the suction cannula creates tiny tunnels through the fatty layers. After surgery, these tiny tunnels collapse resulting in an improved body contour.

After liposuction, the new body’s shape is more or less permanent. If a patient does gain a moderate amount of weight after liposuction, then the figure will simply be a larger version of the new body shape. Contrary to popular belief, fat cells that are removed by liposuction do not grow back. Liposuction removes fat cells permanently. With a small weight gain, existing fat cells simply get bigger by accumulating more fat within the existing cell. If the patient does not gain excessive amounts of weight, then the new more pleasing silhouette is permanent. Of course after liposuction, the clock keeps ticking, and advancing age will produce the usual changes in the shape of the body associated with the aging process. Nevertheless, the benefits of liposuction will always be apparent.

Patients should not expect to lose a dramatic amount of weight with liposuction. However, because fat is removed from cosmetically important areas, liposuction should produce significant improvements in aesthetic appearance. Although liposuction should not be regarded as a method for weight loss, in appropriate patients it can produce significant cosmetic improvements. Most patients will see 90% of their ultimate liposuction results with in one to three months after surgery. For the first few weeks after surgery there is postoperative swelling. The rate at which this swelling subsides is highly variable from patient to patient.

The procedure can be done on an out-patient basis or as a hospital admission depending on the amount of fat to be removed. This is usually done under sedation or general anesthesia depending on the extent of surgery. Bruising and swelling are expected post-operatively. This usually subsides after several weeks.

For more information on Philippine Plastic Surgery, you may visit http://plasticsurgery.unson.com or send an email to plasticsurgery@unson.com.

SUMMARY One of the more popular plastic surgery procedures, Liposuction, also known as Liposculpture, Lipoplasty, or Suction-Assisted Lipectomy is a surgical technique that improves the body's contour by removing excess fat from deposits located between the skin and muscle. Liposuction slims and reshapes specific areas of the body by removing excess fat deposits, improving your body contours and proportion, and ultimately, enhancing your self-image.

KEY WORDS liposuction, body contouring, plastic surgery

RESOURCE Article by JOEL UNSON MD, a fully trained Filipino Plastic Surgeon. For more information on liposuction and other plastic surgery procedures in the Philippines, you may visit his website at http://plasticsurgery.unson.com