• If you are fit, but can’t shift the fat from your belly or “love handles” no matter how hard you try, liposuction is for you

• If you are happy with your weight but not your shape, liposuction is for you.

• If you are slim all over except for a wide bottom, liposuction is for you

But let’s think also about situations in which liposuction is *not* appropriate

 

If you have tiny amounts of fat to lose, you may be better off having lipodissolve or mesotherapy treatments. These only involve injections, through tiny needles, of a solution that dissolves fat cells.

 

Click over to our pages on lipodissolve for details. Lipodissolve is effective but slow, and so can be frustrating if there is more than a small amount of fat to be removed.

 

On the other hand, those who are overweight pretty much everywhere really need to lose weight through the usual approaches. Whilst liposuction can be performed anywhere from neck to ankles, we can’t do this all at once in one patient. (Then again, some patients are a bit big everywhere but are especially big in, or are especially troubled by, one particular spot. Liposuction is suitable in such a case).

 

Every patient is unique, in this respect as in any other. A consultation with Dr Mahony will help sort out the best approach for you

 

What’s it like having Liposuction?

After your consultation, on the day of your surgery, we will ask you to stand whilst markings are made on your skin to delineate the areas requiring treatment. It’s important to do this with you standing, because your tissues tend to shift when you are lying down. The result when standing is the one we want. We plan out the procedure to ensure the correct amounts of fat are removed from each site.

 

Once the markings are completed, photographs are taken. You will be offered medication to sedate you and to relieve pain and you may be offered antibiotics and antinauseants.

 

Once lying in the procedure room or operating room, local anaesthetic will be administered to several small preselected sites through which the suctioning will take place. Once anaesthetised, tiny incisions will be made at these sites, and through these incisions a fine blunt cannula will be introduced for the distribution of dilute anaesthetic fluid throughout the fat being treated.
The anaesthetic solution is introduced into the fat slowly and carefully, but thoroughly. This part of the process can be uncomfortable, but once the anaesthetic solution is widely distributed in the fat you should feel no further pain.

 

30 minutes or so is allowed to elapse to allow the anaesthetic to have its full effect. The anaesthetic fluid will make your skin look pale, as it has a little bit of adrenaline in it to cause constriction of blood vessels under the skin.  And whilst the anaesthetic fluid is very dilute, a fairly large volume is infused, so that the treated area will look quite swollen with fluid until the suctioning begins.

 

And then the suctioning begins. Systematically, methodically, one area at a time, according to the plan, a cannula around 3 or 4 mm wide is moved back and forth through the anaesthetised fat, drawing out the fat cells.

 

You will be called on to roll and reposition yourself to allow us best access to each location needing treatment. And once it is all done, we’ll help you stand again so that the results can be seen. Any further “touch-up” suctioning can be performed, and then after a clean-up dressings are applied and a compressive garment placed around the treated area to apply pressure. You’re done!

 

What results can I expect from Liposuction?

 

Of course, at first, there will be some bruising and swelling. Some of the anaesthetic fluid used to keep you pain-free during the procedure will continue to drain for a day or two afterwards. You will wear a compressive garment over the treated area; a few days in the case of a neck treatment, or a couple of weeks after abdominal liposuction. This will help to reduce the swelling and help bring about the most even result.

 

The appearance will improve week on week, then after several months you’ll have a good idea of the result. And the result will be: substantial cosmetic improvement. (Of course, individual expectations have to be discussed in consultation prior to surgery.) 

 

What does it cost?

 

Average treatments “across the board” tend around the $5-6000 mark. It depends entirely on the number of areas being treated, the volume of fat in each area, and so the time we expect to take to perform the whole procedure. Having said that, we keep our costs down and we know we are very competitive.