Liposuction is a procedure that has consistently been shown to provide long-term results for those who are looking to make changes in their appearance. The following are the steps that take place during liposuction so that you can better understand how long it may take for you to see results from this type of surgery.
The good news is that liposuction is not a one-size-fits-all operation. Depending on the surgeon, your desired outcome and the area of your body that is being treated, you will have different recovery time frames and experience varying levels of discomfort. You may even walk out of the doctor’s office with a fully shaped body immediately after surgery, but in most cases, full results won’t appear for at least nine months.
In this guide, we find out How Long Does It Take To See Results From Liposuction, how long does it take for skin to reattach after lipo, Why is my stomach still big after liposuction, and How long will my stomach be swollen after liposuction?
How Long Does It Take To See Results From Liposuction
Liposuction is a popular procedure that can help you achieve the body that you’ve always wanted. But, how long does it take to see results from liposuction? The short answer: For those who have undergone surgery, the results of liposuction will begin to show immediately after you see the finished product. However, if your body doesn’t respond well to recovery and healing, then it may take more than a year before you notice results fully. Here’s what happens during and after liposuction surgery so that you can get a better understanding of how long it takes for your body to heal and reveal its new shape!
The short answer: For those who have undergone surgery, the results of liposuction will begin to show immediately after you see the finished product.
The short answer: For those who have undergone surgery, the results of liposuction will begin to show immediately after you see the finished product.
There are many factors that go into how much fat is removed from your body and how long it takes for that fat to be reabsorbed by your body. Those with a higher body mass index (BMI) will likely see quicker results than someone with a lower BMI. But as far as an estimate goes, Dr. Blau says it’s safe to say that most people can expect their bodies to look smaller within one month after surgery and any remaining swelling should subside within three months’ time.
“One thing I always tell my patients is that there’s no such thing as an overnight transformation,” she says. “It’s going to take some time before we really get the final result.”
The long answer: Depending on how much fat needed to be removed and how well your body responds to liposuction recovery, it may take more than a year before you notice results fully.
The long answer: Depending on how much fat needed to be removed and how well your body responds to liposuction recovery, it may take more than a year before you notice results fully. Liposuction involves the removal of excess fat from the body using a surgical instrument called a cannula. The cannula is inserted through tiny incisions in the skin, allowing surgeons to cut away unwanted fats. Liposuction can be performed on any area of the body that has excess fat deposits, including hips and thighs, abdomen or love handles (flanks), upper arms and chest areas.
While some patients have immediate results after surgery—they notice their clothes fitting better as soon as they wake up from surgery—others may need more time for their bodies to heal completely before they start seeing changes in appearance or weight loss overall.
Liposuction results are immediate, but you may still not see them for a year or more if your body responds slowly to recovery.
Liposuction results are immediate, but you may still not see them for a year or more if your body responds slowly to recovery. The body needs time to adjust to the new shape. You’ll notice that as you exercise and get fit, your body will start looking better as a result of muscle tone and fat loss—but the best way to see results is by being patient and giving your body time to heal.
how long does it take for skin to reattach after lipo
Recovering from liposuction is much easier than most people think. Many patients take a long time to make their decision to undergo cosmetic body countouring procedure. Often they are worried about their recovery. But in our years of performing thousands of liposuctions in the Nashville and Memphis areas, the most common sentiment we have heard is “You have changed my life – I wish I had done it sooner!” Most patients are surprised to realize how easy it was.
“It’s something I shouldn’t have been worried about at all. There was very minimal pain, and the downtime was almost none at all. I bounced right back.”
Recovering From a Minimally-Invasive Procedure
Liposuction is a minimally-invasive cosmetic body lift procedure which removes unwanted fat deposits . This means that it is easier – and faster – to recover from than full-fledged plastic surgery. There are several reasons for this:
Liposuction is performed under local anesthesia, which is easier to recover from than general anesthesia. You are fully awake during your cosmetic surgery procedure. Any potential patient discomfort can be minimized with light IV Sedation, but not all patients require sedation during their procedure.
In addition, a liposuction procedure does not require the placement of sutures. There are no major incisions in the skin. The small nicks to insert the cannula under the skin heal easily and do not leave any noticeable scars. This means there is no wound care afterwards that might prohibit you from pursuing your daily activities.
Your Liposuction Recovery Step by Step
1. Have your post-op instructions in place
First of all, your plastic surgeon will have given you detailed directions before and after your procedure. Make sure that you receive written directions that you can reference when you leave. These should include an emergency contact phone number for after-hours should any concerns arise. They should also include directions regarding any antibiotics you may have been given for your surgery; be sure to finish these. Be sure to also ask when it’s safe to resume any prescription medications your doctor has advised you to stop prior to your procedure.
2. Directly after the procedure
From your pre-op instructions, you will know to arrange for a friend or family member to be available to drive you home. This is to ensure your safety after the procedure. Most plastic surgery centers – as we do – will have a waiting lounge to allow such persons to pass the time comfortably during your liposuction procedure. Uber drivers or other commercial services do not qualify as designated drivers after a liposuction procedure.
You will also be given a compression garment that you are advised to wear for up to 8 or even 12 weeks during your recovery process. It is your single most important piece of your post-op liposuction care. It helps reduce swelling and also molds the skin to your new contours. The more diligently you wear this garment, the better your results are going to be. Even though you probably feel great and can already see your results after your procedure, there is still more to come. Your skin is reattaching to the muscle since the fat between the two was removed in your procedure. Keeping that area compressed assures that your skin will be as firm and taut as it can be.
Different surgeons may give different instructions for how long you should wear your compression garments. At NuBody Concepts, we encourage patients to wear it for a minimum of 6 weeks (but longer doesn’t hurt!) and to only take it off for showers and washing.
3. First 24 Hours
Your surgeon will have placed temporary drains in the small incisions beneath the skin. This will allow for any excess fluids to drain for 24-36 hours. You will also receive extra dressings should you need to replace them. It is important to start wearing your compression garment right away.
For a few days, you may experience some pain and soreness in the treatment area. Your surgeon may have prescribed pain medication to manage your discomfort and to aid the healing process. Make sure you follow your dosage schedule closely and avoid alcohol for 3-4 days while on pain medication.
You should also make sure that you hydrate well and avoid any and all strenuous activity in the first 1-2 days. This is a time to spoil yourself! It’s the perfect time to binge on Netflix and catch up on old movies or TV Shows. Don’t overdo it on the first day, or it could lead to an unwanted increase in swelling.
You will also be given post-op instructions regarding showering and icing. It is important to follow all instructions closely and to come to your follow-up appointment.
4. First 2 Weeks
Most liposuction treatment patients return to their day-to-day activities or light exercise within 1-2 days of their procedure. There may be some bruising, redness, and swelling for up to a week, but in general this doesn’t prevent you from moving around as normal. In fact, your doctor wants you to move around. Remaining in bed increases the risk of blood clots in the legs and lungs, so a modest amount of regular movement from the time you return home is important.
When can you go back to work? You might want to take an extra day or two to fully recover, but if you don’t feel any discomfort, there is no reason you can’t return to work the very next day.
Dr. Rosdeutscher and Dr. Peters, our board certified plastic surgeons advise our patients to refrain from heaving lifting, pushing, pulling, and to avoid strenuous exercise for the first two weeks after a liposuction procedure. Typically, you can begin light exercise as early as one week post-op. Listen to your body; if something is uncomfortable, give it another day before you try it again. Do not try to push through if your body is telling you to stop. Patience is very important while your body heals after liposuction, and exercising rigorously before you’re ready can affect your results.
5. After 6 Weeks
Even though you will see and feel body lift results immediately after your liposuction (you could literally take a jar full of fat home with you, if you wanted to), some post-operative swelling may temporarily reverse or obscure those results. At the 6 week mark you can expect to see 80%-90% of the results you will achieve, but individual cases vary. To see your final results, you should give it 6 months.
Each liposuction surgeon may have a different schedule for follow-up visits beyond 6 weeks. Just make sure you go to your follow-up appointments as scheduled. Most patients enjoy going for their after pictures to see the before-and-after comparison!
It’s important to remember that liposuction is not a weight loss program, but a body contour treatment. So we encourage you to not spend the weeks and months after liposuction plastic surgery stepping on the scale obsessively. Fat is lighter than water, meaning that its removal will not subtract that much body weight. It’s much more meaningful to look at the loss of volume you experience. On average, patients go down about two pant sizes after liposuction to their abdomen.
Maintaining Results After Liposuction
What’s so great about liposuction surgeries is that the fat that was removed is permanently gone. However, that doesn’t mean you can just return to the same habits which led you to have liposuction in the first place. New fat cells can grow and contribute to an expanding waistline if you’re not careful.
So how do you best maintain liposuction results? It’s not that hard. Maintaining weight is much easier than losing it, if you exercise some discipline. Here are our 7 tips to keep the fat off after liposuction:
1. Start practicing healthy habits before the procedure.
It may sound like a great idea to start a new routine after you’ve gotten the body you want, but that’s actually the worst time to start. Instead of waiting until after a drastic change, it’s best to get into a routine that you can really stick to—before and after your procedure (keeping in mind that you’ll have to give exercise a 1-2 week break immediately post-op).
2. Exercise regularly every day.
Whether it’s a daily walk, jogging, yoga, a gym membership, joining a pickle ball league, or lifting weights, you should aim to exercise 20-30 minutes a day to keep your beautiful body looking its best. You don’t have to overdo it – you simply should regularly move and elevate your heart rate. This will not only help you maintain your current weight but can also decrease certain health risks.
Why is my stomach still big after liposuction
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – A new study suggests that women who have liposuction to trim their tummies may gain some fat deeper within the abdomen — a type of fat that’s particularly unhealthy.
Brazilian researchers found that within months of abdominal liposuction, there may be an increase in the so-called “visceral” fat that surrounds the abdominal organs.
But the good news, they say, is that regular exercise may prevent that deep fat from forming.
Fat is not “inert tissue,” said study leader Fabiana Benatti, of the University of Sao Paulo.
“Removing it by surgery may have important consequences such as the compensatory growth of visceral fat, which may be deleterious in the long term,” Benatti told Reuters Health in an email.
Visceral fat is particularly undesirable because it’s more closely connected to the risks of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, versus the superficial abdominal fat just under the skin.
The current study, according to Benatti’s team, appears to be the first to give “compelling evidence” that visceral fat builds up after liposuction — at least if you don’t exercise.
EXERCISE DEEP FAT AWAY?
The findings are based on 36 normal-weight women who had liposuction to take away a small amount of superficial tummy fat. All had been sedentary before the procedure.
Benatti’s team randomly assigned half of the women to start an exercise program two months after their liposuction. Those women worked out three times a week, walking on a treadmill and doing light strength training, while the rest stuck with their usual lifestyle.
Four months later, the study found, women who’d remained sedentary still had flatter tummies, but were showing a gain in visceral fat — a 10 percent increase, on average.
In contrast, women who’d been exercising showed no such gain, the researchers report in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
It’s not really clear why visceral fat increases post-liposuction, according to Benatti.
“But we believe it may be because this particular fat depot is more metabolically active than the other fat depots,” she said.
Another reason, Benatti said, may be because liposuction destroys the “architecture” of fat cells just below the skin. So fat regain may be redirected to still-intact visceral fat cells.
LIPOSUCTION NO TREATMENT FOR OBESITY
In general, experts say that liposuction should not be seen as a substitute for a healthy diet and exercise. And it’s intended to reduce stubborn pockets of fat, not as a treatment for obesity, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
In fact, the group says the best candidates for liposuction are people who are normal weight to moderately overweight, and already regularly exercise.
Based on these latest findings, staying active post-liposuction is key, Benatti said.
“If one should choose to undergo liposuction,” she said, “it is very important, if not essential, that this person exercises after the surgery.”
In the U.S., about 204,700 people underwent liposuction in 2011, according to the ASPS. That was down 42 percent from a decade before.
The known shorter-term risks of liposuction include blood clots, skin or nerve damage, and loose or “rippling” skin where the fat was removed. But little is known about whether liposuction is related to any longer-term health problems, Benatti’s team notes.
How long will my stomach be swollen after liposuction
Are you wondering what to expect after liposuction? What is the liposuction recovery process like? Read our comprehensive guide here!
When you awake from your liposuction procedure, you will be numb from anesthetic, unable to feel the effects of the procedure. As we administer significant amounts of fluid to aid in the fat extraction process in liposuction, you will appear bloated for the first few days until the fluid begins to drain. As the anesthesia begins to wear off, you will begin to experience some level of pain and discomfort. You can ease this pain by taking Tylenol, or the pain medication prescribed by your NYBG Plastic Surgeon.
As your body continues to drain the fluids administered during your liposuction procedure, it will be necessary to have several towels available for you on which you may rest during these first few days of liposuction recovery. This will protect the bed or piece of furniture on which you’re reclining. The process of fluid draining from your body is painless and is a positive step in your initial recovery. The more fluid you drain from your body during these first days, the less that will be absorbed into your system and contribute to post-operative swelling.
Recovery from Liposuction Surgery
When you return home from your liposuction procedure, you will be wearing compression garments to help relieve post-operative swelling. Forty-eight hours following your procedure, you may temporarily remove these garments in order to bathe. Please note that you may experience a bit of light-headedness when you initially remove these undergarments. You may bathe with soap and water but be careful not to scrub your incisions. They are still delicate from your procedure and should be treated very gently. It is important to put your compression garment back on as soon as possible following bathing.
Week One to Week Three
The majority of your discomfort and swelling will occur during the first 1 to 3 weeks following liposuction surgery. Once the first week has passed, however, you will notice that you begin to feel a little bit better each day. Approximately 1 to 2 weeks following your procedure, the swelling will change to firmness that may persist for about 3 months following your procedure. This firmness indicates that the firmer areas are healing, and your new, slim physique is on its way.
Initially this firmness will soften, allowing swelling and fluid to be swept out of the body. As this happens, your new figure will begin to appear in the mirror. As your swelling will remain in your body for 1 to 3 months, the image you see in the mirror 90 days post-surgery is far from your final result. Patience is key during the healing process.
The Healing Process Requires Patience
It is not uncommon for patients to experience mild depression or anxiety when results are not immediately visible. Don’t despair. This is also a normal part of the healing process. Understanding that each body is different, and your body will respond at a different rate than any other patient’s body is important to keep your healing in perspective. While in the 2 to 3 month stage, you might have some lumps that concern you. This is normal, and these uneven areas will diminish as your body moves through the natural healing process.
Liposuction Results: It’s Worth the Wait.
Keeping in mind that we’re interested in long-term results, be prepared that there will be some residual swelling for up to six months. While you will see significant results immediately following liposuction, you won’t realize your final results for several months. You will continue to gradually see results finalize for up to one year following liposuction. It is possible that there will be some slight asymmetry (all of the most beautiful things in nature are slightly asymmetrical). Your final, smooth, slender results will definitely be worth the wait.
Results from Liposuction – Setting Realistic Expectations
Each patient who visits the office seeking liposuction in Long Island wants to know one thing: what will I look like following liposuction surgery? In all honesty, each body is different and will respond differently to the liposuction procedure. Having realistic expectations from your liposuction surgery will make you happier with the results. Remember: perfection is never the goal. What we’re all seeking is improvement in overall body shape, and the pleasure you experience living life inside your own skin. What we can promise is that we will remove a large number (volumes even) of fat cells from your body that will never return, resulting in a figure that is sleeker and more attractively contoured. Keeping all of this in mind, there are some limitations of liposuction, including:
Looseness of skin
While liposuction can remove large quantities of unwanted fat cells, it cannot remedy loose, sagging skin. If you have areas where skin has lost its elasticity before you have surgery, they will still be present when the procedure has been completed and your body is healed.
Cellulite
All bodies have cellulite: large, small, and everything in between. If you have cellulite present before liposuction, you will generally have a similar pattern of dimpling following the completion of the healing process. While many patients experience a decrease in overall cellulite, this is not guaranteed as a result.
The density of your fat cells
Patients who possess very dense fat cells usually see a bit more success when in liposuction surgery. People who have more dense fat cells tend to put on weight more quickly than those who do not and may experience more dramatic results.
The thickness of your skin
If your skin is very thin, you are more likely to see residual dimpling that results from fat cells and cellulite than your thicker-skinned peers. Furthermore, as we age our skin begins to lose volume as a part of the natural aging process.
Remember, the most important factor in determining the long-term success of your liposuction procedure is a diet and exercise plan that helps you maintain a healthy weight. Once the healing process is complete following your liposuction surgery, you can expect your results to last for many, many years if you manage your weight. If you enjoy your new body and treat it with love, it will love you in return.