Risks With Liposuction
Sunday, May 31st, 2009Due to the seriousness of any cosmetic surgery procedure, liposuction treatment should not be taken lightly. Health experts have made it clear that liposuction is not a solution for weight loss and even as technological advancements have made liposuction a very safe procedure, surgery must be preceded carefully. The patient must be aware of the risks involved, precautionary practices, and the possible complications that come with liposuction.
Most common complications are minor and usually are related to adverse reactions in the skin. These include skin irregularities, hematomas and seromas, and hyper-pigmentation. It’s important to be aware of these possible maladies effects of liposuction surgery.
Skin irregularities are the resulting loss of smoothness in the skin due to excessive amounts of fat cells removed. The body naturally has fat stores that help give the area its form and removing too many fat cells from one area leaves visible dimples and grooves in the skin. It’s always better for the surgeon to remove too few fat cells and do follow up sessions to remove more since the removal is permanent.
Hematomas and seromas is the visible discoloration of the skin caused by pooling of red blood cells near the surface. When blood vessels get damaged by the surgery and the area is inadequately drained, the blood will pool or the patient may experience hyper-pigmentation around the area of incision. For severe cases it can last for several years, but milder cases will last less than four to six months.
More serious but temporary complications also include swelling of the legs and ankles when major areas are treated as well as bruising of genitals after major liposuction procedures to the abdomen. Blood tinged drainage is a common occurrence and should not be of concern to the patient although it is scary to some. Proper ‘clean up’ procedures such as adequate drainage will help to speed recovery.
The use of epinephrine in local anesthetic solutions sometimes causes the heart rate to elevate during or after surgery and patients are encouraged to avoid caffeine or pinephrine-like drugs such as cold medications before liposuction procedure.
There are very real possibilities of major complications although rare. Some of the more serious surgical risks are excessive blood loss, injury to internal organs, and risk of blood clots. Drug related complications comes from the use of anesthesia and can be anything from allergic reactions to cardiac arrhythmias to brain damage from the lack of oxygen.
It’s important for anyone considering liposuction, or any surgeries for that matter, to learn the risks involved and find a surgeon through recommendations. Your health and safety should be the surgeon’s top priority, never put your life in the hands of a discount surgeon.
