Liposuction is one of the most common procedures performed by plastic surgeons these days. At DFW Aesthetics and Cosmetic Surgery in Southlake, TX, our team knows just how important it is to help our patients prepare for their procedures and the following recovery period. Let’s discuss some of the most important steps you can take to make your experience as simple as possible.
How Do You Prepare for Liposuction?
As body sculpting procedures have become more common, and the technology used to perform them has gotten more advanced, these procedures have become far less invasive than they once were. Nevertheless, patients need to understand that any medical procedure of this type still requires careful preparation and planning.
Speak With Your Doctor About Your Care Plan
In general, your doctor will create a detailed care plan for you to put into place months before your procedure takes place. This is because it takes time to get your body ready by eliminating certain prescription medications, excess vitamins, and other things from your system. In addition, your doctor may recommend dietary changes to help you prepare for lipo.
Make Sure Your Doctor Has the Vital Information
Your doctor should have requested your complete medical history during the consultation phase. However, they may request additional blood tests or other updated medical information in the weeks before your procedure. This is done to ensure that your body is in good shape and ready to handle the demands of the recovery period.
Stop Smoking at Least 2 Weeks Before Your Procedure
Quitting smoking is hard, but it is absolutely essential to making a timely recovery. Smoking reduces the oxygen flow through your body, which means that your cells cannot rebuild themselves quickly. By quitting smoking several weeks in advance, your body will begin to increase the oxygen flow to all of your cells for a faster recovery window.
Avoid Anti-Inflammatories and Over-the-Counter Supplements
Anti-inflammatory drugs and many supplements increase bleeding and prevent your blood from clotting properly after your procedure is done. Your doctor will help you to adjust any prescription medications or regular treatments that you are taking to ensure that the offending chemicals are out of your body in plenty of time for your body to recover.
Get Plenty of Rest
While lipo is fairly non-invasive these days, it can still be quite taxing on your body. It is important to make sure you get plenty of rest in the days leading up to your procedure so that you won’t be exhausted when the procedure is done.
Get House and Office Work Done in Advance
Even with a perfect procedure, your body will still require some rest in the days that follow your procedure. You should plan on taking a few days of downtime without any strenuous activity. If possible, make sure that you have any housework or office work completed in advance and have a few meals already prepared so you won’t have to cook.
Stock Up on Everything You Need While You’re Down
You don’t want to wait until after the operation to discover that you’re bored at home. Instead, make sure you have entertainment, healthy snacks, and any medication prescribed by your doctor to get you through the first few days. The less running around you do, the faster you will make your recovery.
Arrange for Transportation
Since liposuction is a minimally invasive procedure, you will only receive local anesthesia at the site of the liposuction treatment. However, it is still a good idea to have someone available to drive you to and from your treatment because you will be sore and you don’t want to strain yourself trying to drive. Most treatments take less than 3 hours to complete, so you can plan ahead.
Talk to Your Doctor About What Comes Next
Fat removal is extremely effective at helping patients reclaim their bodies and feel better. However, it is not a permanent solution on its own. In order to maintain your newly sculpted body, your doctor should provide you with a detailed diet and exercise plan that you can stick to. Ideally, your doctor will have already gotten you started on some of these changes before your surgery takes place to help you ease into the changes.
On the Day of the Procedure
Avoid Lotions and Other Chemicals on Your Skin
While most of the steps to prepare you for body sculpting are done weeks or days in advance, but there are still a few things you need to do the morning of your procedure. For instance, make sure that you don’t apply any lotions or other skin care products to the treatment areas as this will cause complications with the lipo equipment and could cause skin irritation post-treatment.
Don’t Shave
You might be embarrassed to show up for your appointment with a little bit of stubble, but it is best not to shave up to two days before your procedure. This is because shaving can irritate the skin and cause ingrown hairs, which become possible sites for infection during recovery.
Wear Loose-Fitting Clothing
Depending on which areas of your body are receiving treatment, you may find that regular clothes rub against the treatment site. To prevent this, plan on wearing loose-fitting clothes that can be easily adjusted to avoid irritation.
Schedule Your Follow-Up
Most doctors conduct a follow-up exam of the treatment area a few days after the procedure to monitor healing. It is usually best to schedule this appointment before the procedure because you may be too tired or distracted afterward to remember. Your doctor will also give you detailed information about any signs that you should watch out for in the first few days at home.
What to Expect
Knowing what to expect from your fat removal procedure will help you plan accordingly and make adjustments for proper healing. Here are a few things that you should expect from your procedure and in the days that follow:
The Day of Your Appointment
As mentioned above, most procedures are completed in less than three hours. However, you will need to plan for an extra hour or so to get checked in, changed into surgical clothes, and complete the requisite bloodwork and any other medical tests before the procedure begins. Your doctor will also ask you a few questions about how you are feeling and if you have any concerns before you begin.
During the Procedure
You will be awake during the liposuction procedure. Since this liposuction procedure does not require large incisions or needles, you will receive only localized anesthesia at the site of the treatment to reduce soreness. If you are having multiple areas treated, or if you are combining lipo with other treatments, your doctor will walk you through the steps as each area is treated.
Your doctor will use a specialized tool to suction fat cells out of the affected area. There will be no cutting or stitching to worry about at all.
After the Procedure
Your doctor may prescribe you some pain medication to help with soreness, but many patients find that it is not necessary. In fact, most patients are able to return to non-strenuous activity within 48 hours and have completely recovered within 2 weeks.
What Not to Do
By the day of your surgery, your doctor should have given you all the information you need to reach your ideal body. However, many patients believe that they can assist the process by trying to lose weight in the days before the procedure. This is not necessary and could cause complications or delays in your treatment plan.
At the time that your Liposuction procedure is scheduled your doctor will make notes about your current body weight and how he expects the treatment to proceed. Crash dieting or excessive weight loss could affect his plans. Also, sudden dieting is likely to leave your body fatigued and undernourished on the day of your procedure, meaning that your recovery could be stalled.
Before you make any major lifestyle changes, always make sure to consult with your surgeon to verify that it is safe.
Is Body Sculpting Right for You?
Ultimately, body sculpting procedures like lipo are a great option for many people, but they are not an instant cure to all your weight loss problems. If you are struggling to lose weight, this treatment is only one step in a longer care plan that you will work out with your doctor. In order to maintain the results of the procedure, you will need to plan ahead for healthy eating and exercise that fits your goals and needs.
Your doctor will also review the quality of your skin and any previous treatments you have undergone to determine whether or not lipo is the best option for you. In many cases, your doctor may recommend fat removal as well as one or more skin treatments to help improve the appearance of the treated area and reduce excess skin after a treatment. This will all depend on your end goals and the look you are trying to achieve.
The appropriateness of this Liposuction treatment will also depend on where your problem areas are located. Some fat deposits are easier to work off with regular dieting and exercise than others. For areas that are hard to treat, like the lower belly and hips, this treatment method is highly effective. Your doctor can discuss your problem areas with you and create a detailed plan using the most effective treatment methods available for each area.
What Treatments are Usually Combined With Lipo?
Since lipo is predominantly a fat removal technique, it relies on your body’s natural collagen stores to help restore loose skin around the treatment area. If your doctor has determined that your skin is lacking in collagen, he may recommend other treatment options that will stimulate natural collagen production and help jumpstart your skin’s recovery.
Some of the common aesthetic treatments that occur alongside lipo are PelleFirm, Cellfina, and EMSCULPT. Each of these procedures uses different technology to stimulate your skin cells and bring back the natural elasticity of your skin over time. Your doctor will make a recommendation based on the current condition of your skin and how much loose skin you have after lipo.
One thing that is important to remember is that lipo provides immediate results with fat removal, but it will still take some time for your skin to return to its normal state. This process is normal, and your doctor can guide you through the steps you can take to ensure that your skin is healing and tightening properly.
Schedule a Consultation Today
Now that you understand what to expect from liposuction and how you can prepare for this procedure, it is time to contact DFW Aesthetics and Cosmetic Surgery in Southlake, TX today! Call now to schedule your consultation and speak with one of our body sculpting experts!
