Does Bending During Liposuction Recovery Cause Bad Results?

WE have all of our patients wear a comfortable, custom fitted compression garment for 4 weeks after liposuction. I encourage patients to return to their activity schedule ASAP, because I believe it accelerates healing and recovery. Your body position will not affect your liposuction results. Make sure your compressive garment is not too tight- it should not hurt. Tight compressive garments can cause skin problems after liposuction.

Occasionally excessive bending can cause flexion creases that impede lymphatic drainage and cause increased swelling in the area superior to the crease. It may also mean that you would benefit more from a tummy tuck.

Unless you are wearing a very tight compression garment that is not fitted appropriately, you should not create problems by sitting after liposuction. If there is a very tight crease that is digging in for many hours per day into the same area, day after day, there might be a possibility of greater solidification of the dermal collagen in that area. This is unproven, though.

Bending, sitting, or any other temporary and normal body position will not affect liposuction results. There is swelling in the treated area for at least 6 weeks and potentially much longer so you need to be patient. I don't even begin to assess any type of result before 6 weeks. You should wear a compression garment, and adjust it throughout the day to keep it smooth and comfortable.

I must say I have never heard this one.  I encourage my patients to be out exercising after the girdle is removed.  They can be in the gym usually by day 4 or 5 but not in the sun.  I believe that exercise will actually help swelling and the release of endorphins will make you feel better.  Good luck with your surgery and it normally takes 3 months to see the final result.  What you are seeing is just swelling.

Regarding: "Does Bending During Liposuction Recovery Cause Bad Results?
Hi! I was wondering if bending over for a set period of time can detract from the overall outcome of my liposuction. I don't have hanging skin (im actually really lightweight and young), but it's been 2 weeks and my stomach still looks the same as it was before the lipo. When I say bend over, i mean like siting with legs folded and bending a bit to play a card a game or something like that."

Your questions comes up a lot and is not easy to answer to the satisfaction of all people. People naturally want easy, black and white answers. Such answers may not always exist in Surgery.

Let's review for a moment what Liposuction really is. After filling the fat under the skin with a large volume of selling (Tumescent) Solution intended to minimize blood loss and make fat extraction easier, we pass sterile steel tubes tens to hundreds of times through the fat, each time literally pulling out small tunnels of fat. This process causes significant inflammation and swelling (explaining your "my stomach still looks the same as it was before the lipo" comment). As the swelling recedes, like a tide it WILL unveil the new you created at the time of surgery.

Compression garments are a double edges sword. By applying constant pressure, they help keep the swelling down. BUT, if they are too tight or, worse yet, they crease DUE TO FOLDING OR LEANING FORWARD, you may be lift with permanent depressions in those areas. There is also the issue of creating worse swelling because the pathway of swelling fluid being removed through the groin lymphatic vessels may be blocked off by the creasing and folding.

So - What does all of this mean for you? A little bending / folding over when playing cards will not hurt you (especially if you are cleaning out your friends in a good Poker game...) but make sure NOT to stay hunched over for more than 30 minutes or so at a time.

Dr. Peter Aldea

Bending over should not affect your final result from liposuction.  Sometimes a compression garment crease can affect final contours, though, so you might double-check that your compression garment or binder isn't creasing into your skin as you bend.  Massage, low-salt diet, normal exercise, and time all help to resolve swelling after liposuction.  Good luck!

Hi.

You are probably just swollen, but see your surgeon.  Lymphatic drainage massage of the stomach can really improve results.