HOW MUCH FAT CAN BE REMOVED IN LIPOSUCTION?
Liposuction is the second most performed plastic surgery after breast prosthesis surgery in the world. The main purpose of the surgery is to remove localized fat, so the larger the aspirated volume, the better the outcome of the surgery. However, the greater the liposuction, the greater the incidence of complications.
Fat is not removed when liposuction is performed, there is blood and solution used for infiltration in liposuction. This is one of the main factors that, if not the only one, limits the volume to be extracted.
Initially, liposuction was performed without infiltrating a solution into the areas to be treated. This technique is known as “dry” liposuction and it is known that approximately 25% of the liposuction volume is blood in this method. Thus, 250 ml blood in 1000 ml liposuction volume, which represents very proportionally.
In order to reduce bleeding during surgery, a solution is infiltrated to the area to be liposuctioned before liposuction itself. This solution contains mainly adrenaline, which has a vasoconstrictor effect, that is, it reduces the caliber of blood vessels and reduces bleeding. With this technique (wet liposuction), the blood volume of liposuction decreased from 25% to 8%, allowing major surgeries. In wet liposuction, 1 ml of solution is infiltrated for every 1 ml of liposuction.
Currently, inflated (super humid) liposuction is being performed; This consists of infiltrating 2 ml of solution for every 1 ml of oil extracted. In this method, the percentage of blood in the lipoaspirate fell further, reaching 3%.
Although the super wet technique has reduced bleeding, liposuction has a well-defined limit:
Liposuction volume should be 5-7% of the patient’s weight. For example, a 70 kg patient has a safety margin between 3500 ml and 4900 ml. It should not be forgotten that liposuction should be done up to 40% of the body surface, that is, there is a limit for both the volume to be liposuctioned and the areas that can be treated with a single operation.
Liposuction, like all surgical procedures, has risks, but it is a safe procedure with great results when done properly and its limits are respected.
