By Jill Murphy, MD, plastic surgeon at UPMC Altoona Plastic Surgery
Liposuction can be a powerful tool to help remove unwanted fat that is resistant to diet and exercise.
What You Can Expect After Liposuction
Here are some of the most common questions I get asked about liposuction.
How much pain is there in liposuction recovery?
Pain varies considerably from person to person.
For most, it feels like having a giant bruise in the area that was treated. It shouldn’t be so severe that it keeps you from concentrating on other things (reading, watching TV, walking, etc.). You should have realistic expectations of pain. There usually is some pain because you just had surgery, but it shouldn’t be 10 out of 10 pain. If you don’t spend the recovery period lying in bed or on a couch for long periods of time, the pain is usually less than most people expected.
Will I see results right away?
Liposuction can cause significant swelling. In some cases, the swelling may last for a few months and your final result will not be visible until then.
The majority of swelling does improve after four weeks, however. You will wear a compression garment for the first 4 to 6 weeks after your procedure to minimize swelling and help with pain control.
How long does it take to recover from liposuction?
Liposuction recovery time can be explained in two phases: immediate and long-term.
Immediately after surgery, you will get the compression garment. Once the anesthesia wears off post-surgery, you may feel some moderate pain and soreness.
Around 3 to 5 days post-surgery, you’ll get your garment removed and a doctor will check your incision. After that, you’ll be asked to massage the area as the swelling decreases over the next few months.
Are there scars with liposuction?
The liposuction equipment is inserted into the skin through tiny incisions. Each incision is typically about as long as your pinky fingernail is wide. How many of these incisions you will have depends on the number of places you are having treated, and how easy it is to remove the fat in these areas. Whenever possible, the incisions are hidden in a natural skin crease or fold.
How much fat will be removed?
There is a limit to how much fat can be removed safely without requiring an overnight stay in the hospital. This amount is 5 liters, which is roughly equivalent to 10 pounds.
Whenever possible, this amount of fat will be removed. Sometimes, however, it is not possible to remove 5 liters. Some of the reasons to stop liposuction before removing 5 liters of fat include:
- The desired result has been achieved before reaching 5 liters.
- You don’t have five liters of fat present in the area being treated.
- The area being treated starts to bleed.
It can be hard to predict in advance how much fat will come out. Sometimes it is possible to remove a very large amount of fat from a relatively lean individual. Conversely, it can sometimes be surprisingly difficult to remove fat from an person who looks as though they have enough to reach the 5-liter limit.
How many clothing sizes will I go down?
This one is impossible to predict. You should see a reduction in fatty tissue in the area treated, but whether or not this translates into a drop in clothing size cannot be predicted in advance.
Consequently, no guarantee can be made as to what size clothing you will wear after the procedure.
Will liposuction get rid of the roll of skin I have in my abdomen, arms, thighs, or other areas?
Although you will have a reduction in the amount of fatty tissue in the treated area, the skin itself that remains will only tighten up minimally, if at all.
Liposuction does not treat excess skin. Only surgery to remove excess skin, such as a tummy tuck, arm lift, thigh lift, etc., can do that.
When fat is removed from an area of loose or hanging skin, this can sometimes make that area look worse. I tell patients to imagine removing the water from a water balloon. With the water gone, you’re left with the same amount of balloon, but now it appears deflated. Depending on the quality of your skin, the same thing can happen after liposuction.
People with firm, undamaged skin that has no stretch marks may see adequate tightening of their skin after liposuction. People with thin, sun-damaged skin or stretch marks may feel like their skin looks deflated after liposuction, as it is unlikely to tighten up completely once the fat is gone.
What can you not do after liposuction?
It’s important that you take it easy after surgery, especially in the first 3 days of recovery when the incision site is still open. While strenuous exercise and activities are to be avoided during recovery, it is important to go on walks to keep your blood flowing. You can also resume showering, desk work, household activities, and driving around 24 hours post-surgery. But be careful — as overdoing it can cause extra swelling and pain.
Will the fat grow back?
Once the fat is removed from an area, it will not grow back. However, the remaining fat cells can get bigger with weight gain. Because there are fewer fat cells in the treated area (as compared to before the procedure), other areas of your body that were not treated may appear to increase in size.
To learn more about this topic, or to schedule an appointment, contact us at UPMC Altoona Plastic Surgery or call us at (814) 947-5030.
Editor's Note: This article was originally published on , and was last reviewed on .