How Long Until Tumescent Fluid Leaves the Body After Liposuction?

Question

After vaser liposuction with PAL, how long does it take for all the tumescent fluid to leave the body?

Richard J. Bruneteau, MD · Answer

The Tumescent liposuction technique
involves infusing fluid into the subcutaneous tissue before proceeding with
liposuction.  This fluid contains
epinephrine and local anesthesia. 
This helps alleviate post-operative pain and minimizes bleeding during
the procedure.  In addition, the
fluid improves the pressure gradient and allows greater amounts of fat to be
removed.

In
most cases the tumescent fluid is resorbed and excreted by the kidneys in 24 to
45 hours.  Despite this, patients
may continue to be swollen for 3-4 weeks following this procedure because the
body responds to any type of injury by retaining fluid.  This phenomena
can be minimized with massage, compression, exercise and low salt diets.

Jeffrey A. Klein, MD · Answer

If you have open drainage (incision sites are 2mm round holes left open to encourage drainage), 90% of the drainage is over in 24 hours. The drainage can persist for up to 3-5 days on average.  If it is closed drainage (all of the incisions are sutured), the fluid is trapped under the skin and can persist for 7-14 days.

Gary Lawton, MD, FACS · Answer

Some of the fluid is removed at the liposuction.  The remaining fluid is absorbed over 24 hours and the excess is excreted in the urine.  There is some swelling in the tissues from the surgery which remains for months until complete resolution.

Vivek Bansal, MD · Answer

When the area heals after tumescent lipo, there can be irregular tissue for months. In 6-8 months, thing should be back to normal, minus the fat. Although some irregularity is expected after lipo if an aggressive procedure is performed. Micro-tumescent needs to be defined by the one advertising the procedure as the tumescent name is general at best. Thank you for your question and good luck with everything.

Otto Joseph Placik, MD · Answer

The tumescent solution is a combination of fluid plus local anesthetics and epineprhine. Studies have shown that most of the local anesthetics are absorbed by 18-24 hours.
However, at the same time the injjury of liposuction causes your own body fluids to pool in the area. Similar to the reasons why your lip swells when you get punched.
So, as the tumescent fluid is being absorbed, your bodies inflammatory process causes swelling which contributes to the drainage observed. This reaches a maximum at 48-72 hours.

Nicolas M. Hynes, MD · Answer

Quite a lot of it is removed during the power-assisted liposuction (PAL).  The remainder is slowly absorbed and leaves the body within 24-48 hours. However, this does not mean that all swelling is gone in 24-48 hours! Most swelling is gone in the first couple of weeks and minor swelling can persist for up to 3 months or longer.Hope this helps!Dr. Nicolas Hynes, MSc, MD, FRCS(C)

Connie Hiers, MD, FACS · Answer

Some of the tumescent fluid is removed during the liposuction.  Some will drain out of the incisions over 1 to 2 days.  The rest will slowly absorbed over the next few days.  Most of the Lidocaine is gone in about 48 hours.  However, your body will make additional fluid in the areas treated.  Most of the swelling is gone in the first 6 weeks.

Francesco Campanile, MD · Answer

Like
so many questions about plastic surgery, this is an answer that will vary
depending on a number of factors such as where liposuction was performed, the
amount of tumescent fluid that was used and so on. For the majority of
patients, most of the fluid is expelled in the first 24 to 48 hours after
surgery. Wearing a compression garment helps to promote drainage while the
body’s natural elimination processes take care of the rest. While post-surgical
swelling may lead some patients to believe that the fluid is still present
longer than those first few days, this is really a separate part of the healing
process and doesn’t necessarily indicate a collection of tumescent fluid.

Melanie D. Palm, MD · Answer

Tumescent fluid used during liposuction has a numbing effect for around 24 hours. I leave adit sites, the entrance sites to the cannulas, open to speed up drainage of the tumescent fluid. The fluid will drain out of these sites for usually 1-2 days, depending on the amount that was used. Additionally, patients often note that they urinate more in the first 24 hours, as your kidneys also help to eliminate some of the excess fluid.

Peter E. Johnson, MD · Answer

The tumescent fluid used in liposuction serves two purposes. The first is that the solution expands the fatty layer and makes the suction cannula more effective at removing and contouring the fat. The second reason is the the solution contains medication, lidocaine which numbs the area being treated, and epinephrine which shrinks the blood vessels to reduce bleeding and swelling, and prolong the time the lidocaine is around. Suctioning may remove up to one half of the fluid, the rest is slowly absorbed over  the next 24 hours smoothing the transition into recovery. Swelling will start within that time and replace the tumescent fluid to compression is a must for comfort.
	Best of luck,
	peterejohnsonmd

How Long Until Tumescent Fluid Leaves the Body After Liposuction?

Answers (16)

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