SmartLipo recovery - How long before I can return to work?

You have made a good choice in selecting SmartLipo as it has a much shorter recovery-period as compared with 'traditional' tumescent liposuction combined with its ability to provide skin-tightening for an enhanced aesthetic outcome.  You should understand that as with all lipsoctions, you won't see your final/best result for a good couple of months.

My standard post-treatment protocol is to have my patients start light activities and low-impact aerobic exercise the next day.  You will most likely experience significant drainage on day one, so be prepared.  After 1 week, there are usually no limitations on activities.

Most of my patients with non-strenuous jobs can return to work the same day, although I recommend to wait for post-op day 2 due to the excessive draining and its subsequent inconvenience.

In your case (a job with heavy-lifing and/or strenuous activity), I would recommend waiting the full week before going back to work.  This may seem conservative to some, but I tend to err on the side of patient safety versus convenience.

Good luck with your procedure!

Dr. Bernstein

While many physicians try to tell patients it is all about the Smart Lipo, here is the secret:  It's about the anesthetic that is used prior to doing the procedure.  Tumescent liposuction, invented by a dermatologist, is the reason that dermatologists typically have patients up and about the day of the procedure and the reason that my patients go to work the next day or two after surgery.

If your physician tells you the recovery will take more than a day, they are not doing the tumescent method and you are going to have extra bruising and much more risk from your procedure.  Additionally, you are probably going to have a bit more lumpiness after the procedure as well.

Smart Lipo only refers to the laser portion done after the tumescent liposuction.  What we do in my clinic is to numb up the area with the tumescent formula.  This is done over a period of about 2 hours while the patient is awake and watching TV or talking with the nurse.  Then, the Smart Lipo part is done and this is followed by suctioning of the fat.  This, too, is done with the patient awake, which allows us to see how the area looks for real after the procedure.  When a patient is under strong anesthesia or, goodness forbid, general anesthesia, the look of the area is very different than when they are awake.  This is one reason that tumescent method is so much better than any other method and the reason that patients done in this way have superior results.

It takes a bit longer and patients can't be lined up like dominos to be done, but the results are well worth it.  The recovery time is so much different as well.

I can point to patients who are nurses who have pulled 12 hour night shifts the day of the surgery and guys who have baled hay that day or women who have gone on a treadmill that day.  No other method can even begin to say they can do this. 

So, what it all comes down to is NOT the laser, but the method the surgeon (preferably dermatologist) is using.  It pays to ask questions prior to your surgery or you will be bruised, tender and out of work for longer than necessary if you don't do the right method.