Liposuction Treatment and Recovery
By Gregory Herbich MD | Published on November 7, 2011 | 0 Comments
As we age, it is not uncommon to become unhappy with the changes we see happening in our faces and on our bodies. We start to wonder what we can do to improve our physical appearance, and sometimes that means turning to a Honolulu cosmetic surgeon to evaluate our surgical and non-surgical options. At the Cosmetic & Laser Surgery Center Dr. Gregory Herbich offers a variety of treatment options, depending on which problem areas you are looking to correct, including a number of procedures for improving everything from wrinkles to excess fat. Liposuction is a popular choice for removing fat and improving a patient’s overall appearance.
Candidates for Liposuction
As a Honolulu liposuction provider, Dr. Herbich says that if patients are under the age of 40 they can get away with doing liposuction on their necks, but after 40 it’s probably not a great idea and for those older patients he would recommend face lifting if there is a lot of lax skin. Almost everyone is a candidate for liposuction in Honolulu, says Dr. Herbich, as long as they’re healthy and there’s not excessive skin or any medical contraindications to surgery. Skin quality is the most important aspect to evaluate prior to performing liposuction because if the skin looks bad before, the liposuction procedure will not improve the skin.
Treatment Methods
Once a person has been determined to be a candidate, there are many areas of the body that can be treated with liposuction. In Honolulu, Dr. Herbich has actually liposuctioned every area of the body that can be liposuctioned on one patient, in one session. That includes the neck, the arms, upper chest, the abdomen, flanks, buttocks, inner and outer thighs, the calves, and the ankles. Dr. Herbich says that’s not commonly done, but it can be done. He uses traditional tumescent liposuction and cautions that if one uses additional devices, the bottom line is the doctor doing it has to be good at liposuction. “The devices don’t add much,” says Dr. Herbich, “I don’t use them and I’ve had good results, and I don’t use them typically because they’re expensive and can add risk to the procedure.”
Results and Recovery
Liposuction results are generally good and permanent; however, Dr. Herbich warns that if someone gains a lot of weight after the procedure, other areas of the body will still get large. For example, he had one patient who had abdominal liposuction but then gained 40 pounds, and his neck was fat and he looked fat overall, but his abdomen was still quite flat. Recovery generally takes several weeks because the swelling has to subside before a patient is back to normal, which is part of why Dr. Herbich recommends a low-salt diet immediately following liposuction in Honolulu. However, patients can return to doing light exercise in three days and heavy exercise in two weeks—although Dr. Herbich says that if they return to heavy exercise in two weeks, they can get more swelling.
Honolulu, HI 96813
Phone: 808-538-0123
*Disclaimer: The information on this website is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your healthcare provider. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care with an appropriate healthcare provider.