Risk of Death from Liposuction?

Many procedures that require anesthesia have some risk of death. The risk may be very rare or less rare. The particular figure you are quoting probably never existed even at the height of the rash of deaths associated with liposuction in the 90's. These coincided with a trend to do liposuction with ultrasonic suction aspirators that required significant infiltration of wetting solution into the fat to avoid a tissue burn and higher volumes of liposuction. The wetting solution contained... more

As all liposuction procedures performed are not reported, the true mortality rate from this procedure is possibly much lower than the early reports. Pure tumescent liposuction, (large amounts of dilute local anesthetic injected into the fat) with an awake patient (no general anesthesia) and avoidance of doing other surgical procedures at the same time, limiting the amount of fat removed to less than 5 liters, limiting the dose of lidocaine (anesthetic) to 35 - 45 mg/kg of body weight, and... more

 I have been doing liposuction for more than 30 years. We have never had any serious complication. No deaths, embolus,infection, bleeding. As long as the total amount remove is under 5 liters.

Liposuction, indeed, in one study had a mortality of 1 in 5000. This caused a moratorium on liposuction in Florida several years ago. After significant studies confirming the safety of Liposuction when done properly, it was again allowed with certain restrictions. These restrictions included careful patient monitoring during the procedure and limitation of how much fat is suctioned and what other procedures are done at the same time as an outpatient. With these precautions, Liposuction has... more

Liposuction is a very safe procedure.  A study from the early 90's reported this number but it was based on all volumes of liposuction and multiple procedures as well.  If liposuction is done in a controlled setting with less than 5 liters in the appropriate patient, then it is very safe. 

Any procedure has risks. However, plastic surgery procedures in general are very safe when done by board certified plastic surgeons in appropriately accredited facilities. Liposuction is one of the most safe procedures as long as not more than 5 liters is removed, done by the right surgeon in the right location. However, liposuction is performed by many physicians who do not have the same knowledge and training as a plastic surgeon and who perform the procedures in facilities that don't... more

A lttle history: when lipo was first introduced about 30 years ago, it was done without any tumescent type of infusion and so only small volumes could be done without too much blood loss. By adding infusion (whether wide awake, with sedation, or under general) the blood loss is much less and so larger volumes of fat could be removed. In the 1990's there was a report citing the figure you mentioned. As a result of what appeared to be an escalating incidence of serious complications, a... more

Hi! Nothing is 100% safe. One can get killed crossing the street. But, if 3 requirements are met, liposuction is probably the safest cosmetic surgery operation. The 3 requirements are: 1) experienced plastic surgeon. 2) healthy patient. 3) Not removing more than 5000 cc's (that's about 10 pounds). In our typical patient, we remove 2000 cc's to 3000 cc's. So, very safe.

That number is from a review article in plastic surgery from liposuctioning in the 1990's. I have to assume that the number is even smaller now. Liposuctioning is one of the most common procedures performed by plastic surgeons and they are not the only ones performing liposuctiong. You can even find family doctors, dentists and eye doctors doing liposuctioning. You should understand the main risk factors associated with liposuctioning. The higher the volume the greater the risk.... more

We have no hard and fixed numbers on this because all cases of liposuction are not recorded. Liposuction is performed by many specialties including family practitioners, general surgeons, otolaryngologists, gynecologists, dermatologists, and plastic surgeons. It is very difficult to gather data from this diverse set of practitioners. Typcially, the most common cause of death from liposuction is attributed to deep venous thrombosis with pulmonary embolus. Other causes include fat embolism,... more