Common Complications in Liposuction: What can you do if you have them?

CEBU, Philippines - Suction assisted lipectomy no doubt is one of the most sought after cosmetic plastic surgery procedure being done today. The demand is so great that the country’s plastic surgeons could not accommodate everyone, so prospective patients go to other doctors who also perform liposuction with dismal results. Complications abound as these doctors are not trained to do the suction right and most important, also not trained to recognized and treat complications properly.

The following are the more common complications of liposuction and their remedy:

1. Waviness or uneven skin surface.

This perhaps is the most common complaint of patients who had liposuction. This happens when the skin surface over the abdomen is not smooth and flat with multiple lumps and bumps. This is also common when the arms, thighs and legs are suctioned by an inexperienced doctor. These areas are what plastic surgeons call ‘unforgiving’ areas because a minor mistake will show as a very obvious deformity.

What happened?

If there is waviness in a particular area this means that the surgeon removed too much fat in the depressed area or that the surgeon left behind a significant amount of fat in the elevated areas producing a net result of an irregular skin surface. Another cause of irregularities is dimpling of the skin brought about by a less skillful doctor who traumatizes the undersurface of the skin with his cannula producing scars that would pull on the surface of the skin thus creating a depression. This problem often occurs when the instrumentation of the surgeon is outdated. If the surgeon does not use laser assist then destruction of fat is uneven. If the doctor still uses the large caliber cannulas and not the smaller caliber power assisted ones then he has a higher chance of producing this deformity.

What to do?

Choose a more skillful and experienced surgeon who has the latest hardware that is proven to be effective. Fat is now best melted externally by the Erchonia Laser and the melted fat should be extracted using Power Assisted thin cannulas Ask about his techniques. Review his track record and results. Better still let a plastic surgeon do the lipo. This complication is best prevented but if you have them already, we correct them by ‘harvesting’ fat from some part of your body and then inject this as a graft in the depressed areas. Lumps are best treated by breaking them down with a repeat suction using the Erchonia Laser and power assisted cannula.

2. Significant amount of fat left behind:

Due to this complication, the public now erroneously think that the body replaces or grows back fat that has been removed by liposuction. Numerous stories abound about patients who have liposuction and were happy for a few months only to regain the fat back with vengeance.

What happened?

The surgeon is too cautious and scared of causing waviness and leaves behind a good amount of fat that could become thicker when the patient eats more than they need. Other surgeons have adopted a technique wherein they intentionally perform the suction in several stages, maybe they earn more if they do this. Still some other doctors are just too novice to perform an aggressive liposuction.

What to do?

Again you really have to choose your surgeon very well. He should be somebody who does suction aggressively and is not fearful of complications because he is aware of them and is experienced enough to deal with them properly.

3.Increased laxity and wrinkles of the skin:

After liposuction the skin would sag some more and wrinkling is increased.

What happened?

The surgeon failed to do a correct evaluation of the patient’s skin. If the elasticity is poor or the flabbiness of the skin severe then the patient might have improved more with a tummy tuck rather than liposuction. The other possible cause is that the surgeon did not perform the superficial technique of liposuction wherein the skin would contract and re-drape properly after a certain period of time.

What to do?

Again if you choose a plastic surgeon, he knows when to perform a liposuction and when to perform a tummy tuck. If your doctor knows how to do lipo only then he or she would be more likely to insist on doing the lipo when in fact you would benefit more from a tummy tuck.   If you have mild laxity of your tummy then a plastic surgeon would do a superficial technique lipo and correct the problem obviating the need for a tummy tuck and save you money at the same time.