Liposuction may be an acceptable and affordable surgery to remove excess fat from problem areas, but can it help you lose weight?
Various types of liposuction are available to reduce excess fat from problem areas or remove large volumes of fat on moderately overweight people. Surgery, however, is a last resort for overweight people who can't reduce fat through honest efforts of dieting and working out.
Liposuction is a common surgery used to remove small amounts of fat from the body. Surgeons use a steel tube to suck the fat from between the muscle and the skin. Most procedures are outpatient and cause minimal scarring.
Liposuction is effective for people who consistently work out and are careful about their diet, but still can’t trim fat from certain areas. Common body parts for liposuction include the stomach, thighs and underarms.
Liposuction works by removing excess fat in problem areas. Spot-reducing fat is not the equivalent of weight loss, though, and it can’t replace diet and exercise. Once you have tried dieting and the fat won’t budge from specific areas, it may be hereditary and you may need surgery to correct it.
Though removing large amounts of excess fat has long been considered a dangerous surgery because the patient risks losing too many fluids, new liposuction procedures have made large-volume liposuction possible.
Large-volume liposuction refers to treatment that removes six pounds of fat from various areas of the body. While large volume liposuction does not provide the same drastic weight loss results as bariatric surgery, it is an option for people who are moderately overweight anmd wish to create a more slender frame and lose up to 30 pounds. This surgical option does require a brief hospital stay.