Liposuction in Sydney and Frequently Asked Questions

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Liposuction in Sydney and Frequently Asked
Questions

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• Liposuction can benefit both men and women. In
  men, fat often accumulates along the belt-line as
  love handles. Women, on the other hand, are
  more likely to develop excess fat on the hips,
  inner thighs, buttocks and abdomen. Other common
  sites include the neck, arms, knees, calves and
  ankles. At Silkwood Medical in Bondi Junction, in
  Sydney, we offer body contouring and liposuction
  techniques for these common problem areas.

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The Liposuction Procedure

• Liposuction varies from the removal of small,
  localised fat deposits to lipectomy of large
  areas. Your surgeon will evaluate your body and
  discuss with you the techniques available. With
  all forms of liposuction a vacuum pump sucks out
  unwanted fat via a thin metal tube from an area
  of localised body fat, leaving a flattened area.
  Suction assisted lipectomy may be performed under
  general or local anaesthesia with sedation
  depending on the extent of the body contouring
  procedure and your requests. Scars are avoided by
  working through small incisions in your natural
  skin folds.

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Recovery from Liposuction Body Contouring

• The extent of the procedure and speed of your
  recovery depends on the number of treated areas
  and the amount of fat removed. Bruising can last
  from one to three weeks and swelling can persist
  for one to two months. A compression garment is
  usually worn for two to six weeks after body
  contouring surgery.

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Frequently Asked Questions for Liposuction

• Liposuction has become the most common procedure
  performed by cosmetic plastic surgeons. It has
  helped thousands of men and women eliminate
  unwanted fat and achieve body proportions in
  harmony with their overall build. However,
  liposuction is not a substitute for weight
  reduction, but a method of removing localised fat
  that is resistant to dieting and exercise.

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What is the largest volume that can possibly be
removed by liposuction?

• It used to be considered that removing three
  litres was a large volume of liposuction.
  However, over the years with various developments
  in improving the safety of liposuction, it is now
  possible to remove up to 10 litres without any
  changes in the safety of the procedure when
  performed by a trained cosmetic plastic surgeon
  in conjunction with an experienced anaesthetist.
  In certain circumstances, with strict attention
  to safeguards, large volumes up to 15 litres can
  be removed. However, liposuction and body
  contouring is not a substitute for a healthy diet
  and exercise, so this is only done in very rare
  cases.

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What is the difference between liposuction and
liposculpture?

• Nothing, Liposculpture is a made-up word used to
  suggest attention to detail and concern with
  relative shapes and overall body proportion on
  the part of the surgeon. Every single form of
  liposuction has in common the administration of a
  wetting solution, an incision and suction of fat
  through a metal tube attached to a vacuum.

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I have read about tumescent liposuction and the
improved shape possible from this. How do I know
if I am suitable for this?

• Tumescent liposuction (where the area to be
  suctioned is filled so tight it is almost at
  bursting point) involves the administration of
  large volumes of local anaesthetic and fluid to
  pump up the areas to be suctioned. There is no
  evidence that tumescent liposuction is of any
  benefit at all in terms of improved shape.
  Tumescent liposuction is in fact very rarely used
  as there appears to be no advantage over the
  super wet or wet techniques of liposuction where
  a slightly smaller volume of fluid containing
  local anaesthetic is used to pump up the areas to
  be suctioned.

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Is it possible to remove fat from my thighs by
liposuction and re-inject it into my breasts to
increase my breast size?

• The combination of small breasts and large thighs
  is very common. It is a fond hope of many people
  that the fat removed from their thighs in
  liposuction could be used to augment their
  breasts with their own tissue instead of using
  breast implants. Over the years techniques have
  been developed which can allow fat to be reliably
  transfered to the breasts. However this procedure
  is still controversial and the many pros and cons
  need to be discussed with the individual. The
  technical reason why the fat is unable to survive
  when injected into the breast tissue is that the
  breast consists largely of fat with a very poor
  blood supply so that the injected fat is unable
  to develop a new blood supply and therefore fades
  away.

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If I have liposuction in summer, how long is it
until Im able to go to the beach?

• Usually there is some bruising after body
  contouring surgery and this varies with each
  individual. In some cases where there is hardly
  any bruising it would be possible to go swimming
  and to the beach within seven to 10 days. However
  it is more likely to be at least two to three
  weeks.

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Can people see the incisions used in liposuction?

• Incisions used by our surgeons in liposuction are
  generally less than 5mm in length and we do try
  to hide them in natural body creases. Generally
  the incisions are so small they dont even need
  stitches and are held closed with tape only. At
  first the incisions are red but within two to
  three weeks they usually resemble an old mosquito
  bite. It often takes several months for the
  colour to fade. It is highly unlikely that other
  people would notice these incisions even at the
  beach or in any close-up situation.

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What form of liposuction is best for removing
cellulite?

• Unfortunately, despite many claims, there is no
  form of liposuction known to decrease cellulite.

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Is ultrasonic liposuction better?

• Ultrasonic liposuction has a place in the
  practice of liposuction. All liposuction has as
  its core infiltration of the area to be suctioned
  with fluid containing local anaesthetic and a
  blood vessel constrictor, an incision and removal
  of fat via a thin metal tube attached to a
  vacuum. The only difference with ultrasonic
  liposuction is that the fat is initially
  emulsified by high frequency sound waves. This
  may be useful in the enlarged male breast
  (gynaecomastia), in large volume liposuction for
  the morbidly obese, in the upper back and upper
  abdomen in women and in areas of repeat
  liposuction. There appears to be no particular
  advantage and indeed several outstanding
  disadvantages to the use of ultrasonic
  liposuction in the initial routine liposuction of
  the vast majority of people.

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After liposuction, does the fat stay off? I have
heard that after liposuction the fat will go to
other areas of the body?

• As long as you maintain a normal diet and do not
  rapidly gain kilograms it is exceedingly
  difficult to put weight back onto areas that have
  had liposuction. There is no evidence if you have
  had liposuction of the thighs that if you gain
  weight, it will all go to one unusual area such
  as the neck or arms. Our surgeons have found that
  after body contouring, usually any weight gain
  will be relatively distributed throughout the
  body beneath the skin, thereby avoiding any
  bizarre contour changes.

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How long should you use compression garments
after liposuction?

• Recent studies have shown that the major benefit
  of wearing compression garments after liposuction
  is that patients feel more comfortable and
  secure. There is very little evidence that the
  garments will actually make any difference in
  either the short or long term outcome of the
  liposuction. Postoperative massage of the areas
  that have been suctioned either by yourself or by
  a trained massage therapist is far more likely to
  be effective in diminishing swelling and
  prompting the quickest return to your desired
  body contour.

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Thank You

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