Does Liposuction in One Body Area Make Another Get Fatter?

Question

The Mayo clinic posted the statement that 'It's possible that if you remove fat cells from one area with liposuction, you may gain less weight in that area, but you'll gain more in another area of your body.'

	Have you seen this with your patients? Please explain!!

Brent Moelleken, MD · Answer

If you have a stable weight, you should not gain weight in strange places after liposuction.
If you gain weight, that fat has to go somewhere.  If the patient gains a lot of weight, that fat will go literally everywhere, including even the areas that had liposuction.
The areas that received liposuction will be relatively protected against small weight gains; it is usually the trouble spots that get the most attention at the time of surgery.
Patients need to be just as vigilant about their weight after undergoing liposuction.

Young R. Cho, MD, PhD · Answer

Thank you for your question.  While there are definitely safety concerns with respect to weight and liposuction there are several considerations:1)  Are you goals for the surgery achievable with liposuction?  E.g. Liposuction is not a weight loss procedure, even though you will lose a few pounds. It is more to contour areas of the body.2)  Is your weight stable?  i.e. does it fluctuate upwards or downwards more than 10lbs?  Weight gain after liposuction will diminish your body contouring results as the remaining fat cells enlarge to store more energy.  In addition, you may that other parts of the body that were not liposuctioned may enlarge disproportionately compared to pre-liposuction weight gain. If your weight is stable, your results will also be stable.3)  There are increase risks with liposuction if your BMI is greater than 30.I would recommend that you visit with a board certified plastic surgeon who can work with you to discuss your goals and discuss whether liposuction is the right procedure for you.  In our practice, we offer a pre-surgical and post-surgical weight management program to balance our patient's weight and body contouring goals.

Richard H. Fryer, MD · Answer

Liposuction is permanent removal of fat cells -- but the fat cells that remain behind can increase their size by up to 16 times!

	Under normal circumstances the fat cells that are removed will never grow back.

	Your body is genetically programmed to store fat in certain areas and to absorb fat from certain areas when you need it for energy. Having liposuction may or may not change these areas of preferred storage and utilization.

	As long as you maintain your good diet and exercise habits after liposuction you should not have a problem.

Jeffrey M. Darrow, MD · Answer

Liposuction is targeted, focal, permanent loss of fat cells in the areas treated. Liposuction improves the bodys contour and most importantly it helps create proper proportions. Example: If your body is model perfect except for "saddle bags" on the sides of your thighs, these saddle bags are out of proportion to the rest of your body. Liposuction will bring your thighs into proportion and even though some fat cells have been permanently removed from the treated area, not all fat cells have been removed from that area. So in the future if you gain weight, all areas of your body will increase in size in proportion and if you lose weight the same is true. Your best results will occur if you use liposuction as a contouring procedure and not a weight loss method and maintain a healthy diet and a good excercise regiment.

Hayley Brown, MD, FACS · Answer

Liposuction improves body contour. It is not intended for weight loss or generalized fat removal. The body contour changes can be long lasting, as long as the patient does their part maintaining their weight with a healthy diet and regular exercise. Weight gain negatively influences results. If you had liposuction from a particular area that you usually noticed weight gains, well, now there are less fat cells there. So with weight gain, you may tend to notice fullness in other areas in addition to the area previously treated. So bottom line is, your results will be stable if your weight is stable.

Steven H. Williams, MD · Answer

Unlike many of the exercise infomercials you may see liposuction is targeted permanent fat loss.  We can treat specific areas and permanently remove fat cells (fat cells do not have the capacity to grow back).
The concept you are referring to has to do with the bodies distribution of stored calories into fat reserves.  The concept of the non-treated areas becoming larger or the fat cells getting larger is one that makes sense from a biological standpoint - if you have a fixed number of fat cells and you have removed cells from one region... if you gain weight the other fat cells must compensate.
In our San Francisco area practice we have not seen this in our post liposuction patients.
I hope this helps.

Ron Shelton, MD · Answer

There is always a balance of mass and energy in the universe.
If one has a stable weight, then the amount of fat on the body is supported by the number of calories consumed and the metabolic demand as well as exercise energy requirements. If the latter don't change and one loses fat via liposuction, then it is an inevitable consequence that if the calories eaten stay the same then the same amount of fat will be stored.
As the liposuction sites have less fat cells than before surgery, other body sites have more cells that can engorge the new energy stored. Some new fat can be deposited in the surgical sites but, there are less cells to hold this fat in these sites. In order to obtain a balance, or homeostasis, appetite has been shown to decrease after liposuction so less calories are needed.

Shahram Salemy, MD, FACS · Answer

In my consultations with patients, I often hear this concern; but in practice, I have never actually seen this occur. In general, if you maintain a healthy lifestyle and weight after your procedure, your results will endure; but if you gain a significant amount of weight, you will notice it has been gained proportionally throughout your body, even in the areas of liposuction.

David Shafer, MD, FACS · Answer

Jillian, During liposuction, fat cells are removed. So, in the treated there will be less fat cells. Therefore, if you gain weight, a higher proportion of the weight gain will be in other areas. Liposuction is not an end-all. After your procedure, you need to start or continue a healthy lifestyle and maintain your weight. Also, liposuction should really been viewed as a contouring procedure, NOT a weight loss procedure. I hope this is helpful. David Shafer, MD Liposuction New York City

Tom J. Pousti, MD · Answer

Thank you for the commonly asked question.

	Fat cells that are gone (for example removed with liposuction surgery) are gone forever.  However, if a patient gains weight the fat cells that remain in the area treated with liposuction and in areas that were not treated will grow.  Do your best to maintain a healthy weight  after your procedure.

	I hope this helps.

Does Liposuction in One Body Area Make Another Get Fatter?

Answers (19)

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