What You Should Know About Liposuction
Unfortunately, surgeries including liposuction do not come without their risks and complications. We care deeply about the well-being of all our clients in the Greater Atlanta area and want everyone who comes to us to be well prepared and well informed.
If you’ve decided that liposuction is something you want to do, your next step will be going over your medical history. It’s important that you share your expectations so it can be determined if those expectations are realistic or not. After expectations are discussed, you need to have a candid conversation about the risks, the complications, and what you need to do before and after the procedure to prevent complications.
Immediately following a liposuction the area is going to be swollen. Occasionally the incisions are left open to allow for more draining after the process is completed. The area worked on will be wrapped in bandages and you may be required to wear support garments to help prevent swelling and bruising.
Blood clots are a rare but serious post-operative complication and one way to help avoid this is to get up and move around as soon as you can after the surgery. Most of our Atlanta liposuction clients can resume regular activity after just a few days of rest, but strenuous activities like hard exercise will need to be avoided for up to a month or more.
Many clients can actually look larger than they did before the surgery because of the swelling but it’s important to keep in mind that the swelling will go down. It’s not uncommon for six months to go by before the final results reveal themselves.
Bruising and swelling are most often short term but they can be painful. Swelling can take a few months to completely diminish and can be uncomfortable but it will go away. Hematomas can also occur when blood collects in the incision or punctured area. Typically this goes away with just a little time, but it can be painful and unattractive. The skin will swell and a collect blood, leading to a large lump under the surface of the incision.
The amount of scarring can be dependent on the specific type of procedure that is performed. There are typically only small incisions from a liposuction procedure and often they fade quickly after the first few weeks of healing. For many of our clients in Atlanta healing scars can take up to a year’s time. However, very few people have visible liposuction scars a year after surgery if you take proper care of yourself which includes avoiding tanning and smoking.
As with practically all procedures there will be some amount of pain and this experience is different for everyone. Most often the pain levels can be managed by an over-the-counter pain reliever. For some, a stronger prescription pain reliever is needed. Occasionally there can be a loss of sensation in the area that the liposuction was done but this is a normal side effect and is most often temporary.
Schedule a consultation to learn more!