It's ironical. Obese people who need fat shedding the most don't lend themselves safely to liposuction. The localised removal of isolated deposits of fat further strains their already overburdened cardio-vascular and respiratory systems.Similarly, it can't cure bulimia, beautify skin imperfections, camouflage spider veins or strengthen skin elasticity. Essentially a cosmetic exercise, liposuction should be resorted to only when exercise and weight loss don't yield the desired finer results.
A prospective candidate should be preferably under 40. He should be of normal weight, and have good skin elasticity. Recommended areas are hips, waist, chin, thighs, knees, ankles and calves.
The surgery is done under local or general anaesthesia. Large quantities of a saline solution are injected into the fatty area. It helps in diminishing pain, swelling and bruises. The next step comprises inserting an endoscope into the fatty area to extract fat cells into a collection system. The exercise takes up to threehours.
In the first 48 hours, the pain can be severe when a lot of the injected saline solution, blood and other body fluids come out of the incisions. The blood loss may be up to 750 ccs. Most people prefer to wrap around towels all the time after the surgery. Others cover their incisions with gauge or napkins. Also, support garments need to be worn for a few weeks to help the skin regain its shape. Results are visible within three months after the surgery when the operated area heals up and the swelling subsides.
Light exercises and walking may be undertaken a day after the surgery, but serious exercises like aerobics may be started only after a couple of weeks.Bruising over the area may last for three weeks, and swelling and redness up to six months. Scars take more than a year to vanish.
Liposuction isn't risk free. It's advisable to lose only three pounds at a time. Removal of more than six pounds of fat at a time may not only cause irregular heart beats, weak joints and an alarming fall inhaemoglobin, but also loss of blood sufficient to endanger one's life. A few cases are even left with permanent, dissatisfactory results. They can go in for a redo 6-12 months after the surgery.
On the other hand, a dissatisfied patient can file for compensation in a consumer disputes redressal agency. But the patient should have paid for the service, and the medical negligence should be of the nature which no reasonably competent medical practitioner would have committed. The claim is calculated by taking into consideration pecuniary as well as non-pecuniary loss that a patient and his family have suffered due to the negligence and are likely to suffer in the future.
But money hardly compensates for physical disfigurement. So, to minimise the risk element in the first place itself, it's advisable to hire a liposuction specialist recommended by a known person. Besides, ask doctors for patient referrals. Find out details about fees and other related expenses, including the redo and fine-tuning charges.Don't get tempted by computer imagery, which can be too good for the doctor to live up to. Finally, don't have unrealistic hopes. Liposuction is only a surgery, and not wizardry.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
