Liposuction: The New York Cosmetic Surgery Star
If we had to name the number one most important cosmetic surgery procedure for our patients in New York, liposuction would probably be our choice. Why? For one thing, we helped pioneer the technology in this country and have been performing liposuction longer than many other surgeons have been in practice. We have confidence in our skills with the cannula, and we enjoy using it!
But there’s another reason liposuction is a star with us. Not only do we perform it as a standalone operation for people with stubborn fat deposits, it also acts as a supporting technology in several other cosmetic surgeries.
Liposuction as a One-and-Done
Lots of patients we work with in New York choose liposuction to refine areas that diet and exercise can’t touch. Most people know that the way fat is distributed throughout the body is largely controlled by genetics. That’s why, no matter how often men and women hit the gym and how careful they may be with their diet, some are frustrated by stray rolls and bulges that will only disappear through liposuction. In fact, the more toned and fit a patient is, the more those pockets of fat may stand out.
We work with dozens and dozens of liposuction patients annually. Men often come to us looking for help to banish love handles and tummy pooches. (We call this procedure a torsoplasty—read more about it here.) Women may choose liposuction for saddlebags and other areas around the lower body. No matter what a patient’s unique shape may be, we map out a liposuction strategy to achieve the desired slimmer lines without going too far.
Liposuction Supports Other Procedures
Liposuction is a critical component of many other cosmetic surgeries. For the guys we work with, man boob surgery comes to mind. We often combine light liposuction with gentle gland excision in our male breast reduction surgeries. Even when no excess fat exists, we use the cannula with the suction turned off to loosen and re-drape skin. It’s also not unusual to suction away small fat deposits near the armpits when we perform gynecomastia surgery.
For women, a leading body sculpting procedure that needs liposuction support is abdominoplasty, or tummy tuck surgery. Though we perform the operation for men too, it’s very common for women to elect a tummy tuck that combines skin removal, muscle tightening and liposuction after pregnancy stretches tissues and generates extra fat. We use liposuction in mommy makeover (combination) surgery as well.
Many other procedures we perform for patients in New York include liposuction. It’s an integral part of thigh lifts and arm lifts, for instance. And though people don’t always realize it until we work with them in consultation, we may use a small, delicate cannula for the finishing touches on a facelift and very often for a neck lift.
Uses for liposuction have grown in recent times as societal attitudes toward aesthetics and health have changed. A good example is increasing requests for “bra roll” treatment–an area that is nearly impossible to impact with exercise and diet. Another example is post-weight loss cosmetic surgery. Liposuction is nearly always needed to remove fat deposits that linger as a man or woman nears their ideal weight.
Revision Liposuction
It’s worth making a couple of additional notes. One is that with liposuction being so popular and so useful, it’s tempting to think that just about every cosmetic surgeon is competent with the cannula. Numerous patients who come to us for do-overs are testament to the fact that it isn’t so. Any doctor can remove fat, but it takes experience to sculpt smooth, natural looking contours without leaving hills and valleys behind. Though it’s a tricky procedure due to scar tissue and other factors, we perform liposuction revision in New York often for patients whose cosmetic surgeon left them disappointed.
Liposuction Alternatives
Finally, we’d like to share why we don’t offer one or more of the “liposuction alternatives” on the market today. Some can achieve a measure of fat reduction for patients, but our feeling is there are just too many cases in which the results are uneven or insufficient or both. Given that these treatments aren’t inexpensive and generally can’t be counted on like tried-and-true liposuction, we steer clear. We recently wrote a blog post detailing our views on one of these options—find it here.
If you’ve read this far you may have the feeling that we love liposuction! It’s true, we know how powerful the technology is for our practice and we employ it quite often. If you’d like us to share how liposuction might be beneficial for you, give us a call at 212-570-6080.
