Ideal Candidates for Liposuction

Liposuction is used to sculpt the body by eliminating fat resistant to diet and exercise. With liposuction, patients can have various parts of their body contoured such as the abdomen, hips, flanks, buttock, inner and outer thighs, calves, ankles, upper arms, back, breasts, chin and neck. Furthermore, some patients seek liposuction to address chubby cheeks or jowls. There are several different techniques available including: tumescent liposuction, suction-assisted liposuction, power-assisted liposuction, ultrasound-assisted liposuction, laser-assisted liposuction and non-invasive liposuction. However, liposuction is not a weight loss remedy. It is simply meant to remove localized areas of fat which are not in proportion with the rest of the body. Now that the basics have been covered, what make a person a good candidate for liposuction?

The ideal candidate for liposuction is:

• A person within 30% of their ideal body weight
• A person with firm, elastic skin and good muscle tone
• A physically fit person no more than 20 pounds overweight
• A non-smoker
• A person with realistic expectations about the final results

Patients who are overweight or obese are not good candidates for liposuction and need to lose weight before undergoing the procedure. People who plan to lose additional weight or become pregnant should wait to have liposuction until after their weight has stabilized and/or after the pregnancy. Otherwise, the results might be compromised.

What other factors make a person a less than ideal candidate? Patients who are not ideal candidates for liposuction include people with:

• Heart disease
• Lung disease
• Diabetes
• Circulatory problems
• Other medical conditions or infections that can impair healing

In addition to the above conditions, liposuction cannot remove cellulite or the dimpled skin which typically appears on the hips, butt and thighs. In fact, people with cellulite might develop skin irregularities in the treated area. Therefore, patients should not have liposuction performed on an area with cellulite.

There are multiple reasons that patients decide to have liposuction performed. However, the procedure should not be used as a substitute for regular diet and exercise. In general, the results from liposuction are permanent as long as the patient’s weight remains stable. Before making the final decision to undergo liposuction, patients should weigh all the pros and cons during a consultation appointment with their doctor. The more information a person has when deciding whether or not to undergo liposuction, the easier it will be to make the final decision.