Liposuction Surgery Complications

There are several major complications that can occur following liposuction, but with modern liposuction methods these are now very rare.

The Most Common Liposuction Surgery Complications

The most common complications occur because the liposuction process affects the balance of fluids in the body (mostly due to bleeding beneath the skin). As liposuction procedures have evolved over the years, most of these problems have been eliminated, so they are far less common now than they were in the earlier days of liposuction surgery.

Even though the incisions in the body are very small, there is a large area of potential fluid shift and damage beneath the skin. For this reason, the physician needs to be very cautious, and the patient must be carefully monitored and receive the appropriate amount of fluids during the procedure. Modern methods of liposuction generally involve the introduction of fluids into the body prior to the liposuction procedure being performed, which also helps to resolve this problem.

Generally, the first step in the liposuction procedure is to use an infiltration cannula to introduce a mixture of salt water, anesthetic and adrenaline or epinephrine beneath the skin prior to removing the fat. In the early days of liposuction, it wasn’t usual to introduce this extra fluid and due to internal blood loss there would be a subsequent drop in blood pressure. Subsequently, as fluids started being used more extensively during liposuction procedure to combat this, the opposite problem could occur where too much fluid was used.

As liposuction procedures have evolved, the use of fluids to prevent such problems has been fine-tuned to the point where complications are extremely rare. Of course, it is extremely vital that the patient be fully monitored throughout the entire procedure to watch for problems.

Other Liposuction Surgery Complications that Can Occur

Other problems that can occur include infection, reaction against the anesthetic used, and blood clotting.

Blood clots can be an extremely dangerous complication of liposuction. Blood clots can form in the veins of the pelvis and legs after any surgery, including liposuction. They commonly form after the body has remained immobile for a long period of time (especially if there has been trauma to these parts of the body, which can occur during liposuction).

There is a greater risk of liposuction surgery complications when large amounts of fat are removed, when the liposuction is performed under general anesthesia and when multiple liposuction procedures are undertaken at the same time. It is generally safer to schedule several liposuction procedures for the different parts of the body, than attempt to get them all done during the same session. It is also safer to use local anesthesia rather than perform the surgery under general anesthesia.

Patients who are not well suited to the surgery are also more likely to experience complications. Generally, patients should be healthy before the liposuction procedure is performed. While very overweight people may consider liposuction a convenient way of removing excess weight, a good physician will not perform the surgery on extremely overweight individuals. There are also more likely to be complications if the patient is a smoker (it is recommended that patients should cease smoking at least two weeks before the procedure).

Before undergoing any liposuction procedure it is vital to know all the facts about potential risks and complications, and it’s also crucial to have a full medical check up and be completely honest about medical history. This helps avoid any problems during or after the procedure, and will generally guarantee an easier healing time.