Liposuction

Liposuction is the 2nd most common cosmetic surgical procedure (behind breast augmentation). And, along with rhinoplasty and eyelid lifting, it is my most common procedure. I do enough liposuction so that I gave the liposuction lecture to the residents at Columbia and Cornell.

Women commonly have their thighs, flanks, knees, tummy, and neck suctioned. Less commonly, the arms, calves, and mons pubis can be contoured.

You may be nervous about the safety of liposuction. The truth is that liposuction is incredibly safe if it is performed by a properly trained plastic surgeon. To keep it as safe as possible, I recommend suctioning no more than 10 pounds of fat. I’ve published a scientific paper and two chapters in textbooks stressing the importance of NOT using high doses of the anesthetic lidocaine during liposuction procedures.

I perform liposuction using the tried and proven “tumescent” technique. No, I don’t use ultrasonic liposuction or laser liposuction, because there are no advantages to those techniques, but there is a higher complication rate.

Liposuction of the Neck and Jowls

Perhaps the biggest “bang for your buck” procedure in plastic surgery, this procedure can give you the appearance of significant weight loss, after just 90 minutes in the operating room. Check out my chapter on this subject in the on-line plastic surgery textbook, emedicine.com. In older people, this procedure can give some of the benefit seen in facelifts, with less risk. And, when combined with my “band-lift (TM)” procedure, the results can be truly spectacular!