Liposuction

Welcome to Orange County’s best information resource for plastic surgery and, in particular, liposuction surgery. Dr. Cruise, board certified plastic surgeon, Newport Beach, CA, has filled every inch of this site with the most comprehensive liposuction information available. Patient education is a priority. With this in mind, Dr. Cruise is adamant that the information be highly relevant and easy to understand.

To give you a brief overview, here are some of the important topics that will be discussed. This is in addition to the many liposuction before and after pictures available for your review.

• What are the different types of liposuction?
  Outline in detail are the differences between
  - Power assisted liposuction (PAL)
  - Ultrasonic assisted liposuction (UAL)
  - Tumescent liposuction (Wet liposuction)
  - Laser Assisted Liposuction (SmartLipo™)
• Are you a good candidate for liposuction?
  This section describes liposuction areas and how they respond to liposuction, i.e. flanks/love handles respond very well but the arms may not respond so well.
• Liposuction compression garments.
  What works
• Complications, risks, recovery and safety for liposuctio
• Liposuction cost
  Is financing available?

Overview of Liposuction Surgery

Liposuction has become one of the most sought after plastic surgery procedures. It effectively removes fat that cannot be lost by diet or exercise. In addition, the fat cells that are removed are gone forever. Most people have at least some areas of fat on their bodies that just will not to go away no matter how hard they diet and exercise. This is a common complaint. The fact is, both men and women have inherent fat areas that do not seem to go away. In men, these areas tend to be around the abdomen and the “love handles”. In women, fat accumulation tends to occur on the hips, flanks, thighs, and, to a lesser extent, abdomen. The good news is, these are the areas where liposuction works best.

Even though liposuction removes fat, it is best performed on people who are not markedly overweight. The ideal candidates are the people who are within 30 to 40 pounds of their ideal body weight and have localized areas of fat. Liposuction can, and often is, used to treat multiple areas. It is not uncommon to do the abdomen, hips, flanks, and thighs all at one time.

Liposuction works best on people who have skin that is healthy and able to stretch back when the fat is removed. People who have poor skin, which usually includes the elderly, or have a lot of fat to be removed from one area will not receive an outstanding result. They will certainly benefit, but because their skin is incapable of stretching back exactly where it should, it may not resume the ideal contour of the body. In these cases, it is sometimes necessary for some skin to be removed. This is often the case when there is a significant amount of loose skin within the abdomen. Often, liposuction alone is inadequate and an abdominoplasty might be necessary.

Other areas that can benefit from liposuction include: the arms, breasts, calves, knees, and area under the chin. These areas, however, do not respond quite as well as those mentioned above. Liposuction, especially ultrasonic liposuction, may help cellulite somewhat but do not expect dramatic improvements as cellulite remains a difficult problem to treat.

Liposuction is performed by first infiltrating the desired fat to be removed with a special fluid. Then, a small suction cannula is inserted through tiny incisions to remove the fat.

Dr. Cruise has extensive experience with liposuction and body contouring. Safety is the number one concern. This is why he limits the amount of fat to be removed to 5000cc’s, which is the guideline recommended by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. If more fat needs to be removed, it can be done more safely as a second procedure. Removing greater volume subjects the patient to risks that can not be justified for a cosmetic procedure.

Many people wonder if the fat that is removed during liposuction will return. The answer to this is NO. Fat that is removed is gone forever. The fat is removed permanently because after adolescence, humans lose the ability to make new fat cells. Obviously, the fat cells that remain after liposuction can significantly expand, which means you can still gain weight if you were to eat unhealthy or not exercise. But, fat removal from liposuction is a permanent solution to the areas operated on. There is a problem, however, when a person who has had liposuction in one area gains a significant amount of weight. This additional weight accumulates in the areas other than where liposuction was performed. This can create contour irregularities. This can be corrected by either weight reduction or liposuction in those areas that have gained fat.