Liposuction ...to Stitch or Not to Stitch?

Tumescent liposuction under local anesthesia with the micro canulas is the gold standard for the very best results. Holes are tiny and need to allow drainage. They are never stitched anymore so if your doc does that then he/she is probably using larger more brutal canulas which have a lot of problems associated with them and also probably putting you under general anesthesia which again is a red flag.  We all did it that way 28 yrs ago but those of us you keep up on the advances in lipo have moved on. Sincerely,

David Hansen,MD

There is no advantage to swelling by leaving an incision in sutured. However, the small poke holes are so small there is no aesthetic advantage in closing the wound.

       There are benefits to either method, and I would recommend that you decide the surgeon based upon experience and results.  Find a plastic surgeon with ELITE credentials who performs hundreds of liposuction procedures each year.  Then look at the plastic surgeon's website before and after photo galleries to get a sense of who can deliver the results.  Kenneth Hughes, MD Los Angeles, CA

As you can get some unsightly scarring from leaving these open in my experience, I've gone to where I usually close them in any potentially visible area. Some of the smaller port site (2-3 mm) are less problematic in this regard.

There is no relation to swelling either way. Stitching is a decision made by your surgeon for this procedure.