Liposuction - if large amounts of subcutaneous fat is removed, weight increases mostly in fat, how much becomes visceral?

Patients will commonly wonder what the effects of liposuction will be on their weight and more specifically their ability to gain or lose weight in treated and untreated areas. 
After puberty, an individual will have the same population of fat cells for the remainder of their lives (barring an intervention). Any changes in weight will manifest not as more or less fat cells but rather swelling or shrinking of those very same fat cells.
Liposuction destroys or reduces the population of fat cells in a treated area. These cells once gone are gone for good. The treated areas now harbor a reduced population of cells and consequentially have a reduced potential for weight gain or weight loss. However, a reduced potential does not make changes in these areas absolutely impossible. The remaining cells can still swell with weight gain potentially compromising a cosmetic result.
The final component is the least understood. This is that of weight/fat distribution. It remains unclear how the body directs particular populations to change. Patients will often lament that attempts at weight loss are frustrated by losses in areas not targeted and weight gain by contrast goes directly to perceived problem areas. It is impossible to predict how a patient will respond to weight gain. While we know that treated areas must theoretically have a lower potential for growth by virtue of reduced adipocyte populations, this does not necessarily always hold true with some patients always demonstrating the effects of weight gain in the same predictable areas. Similarly, post operative weight gain is not always manifested in untreated areas (i.e. your stated concerns of ballooning in the face/upper back/calves).
The best advice one can give is to reach a stable healthy weight pre-operatively and try to maintain post-operatively.
As always, discuss your concerns with a board certified plastic surgeon (ABPS).
Donovan Rosas MD
Board Certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member: American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, American Society of Plastic Surgeons
RealSelf Top 100
RealSelf Hall of Fame

everyone has some degree of fat. if its significant I can't be removed with liposuction.
You need a formal evaluation by an expert in body shaping and contouring to determine what is best.  Traditional liposuction awake and smart liposuction are old methods and do very poorly for tightening skin or significant skin tightening or contouring.  Small problem areas can be improved slightly by these methods.  The best in body contouring not only removes fat with energy devices like VASER ultrasound but also internally heat the skin with radio-frequency devices such as J PLASMA/RENUVION, InMode BodyTite, ThermiRF to heat the under surface of the skin and tighten it at the same time as fat removal. These combinations are called 4D HIDEF VASER contouring and can only be done by a well . trained body contouring specialist. At the same time fat should be harvested, PRP and stem cells added and injected into muscles or indentations/cellulite to get body shaping and contouring.  This is known as a Brazilian butt lift when you inject the fat to the buttock for contouring and lifting, but fat can also be used in areas such as the chest/breast, arms/shoulders, calves and face.  Cellulite should also be treated with cellfina, sculptra, subcision and/or fillers such as bellafill, renuva synthetic fat, or sculptra.  If skin is very loose before surgery then it will need to be removed such as lower abdominal skin (tummy tuck/abdominoplasty), breast skin (breast lift), arm skin (brachioplasty).  Overall you need a full assessment, but simple liposuction alone will not tighten skin and needs a combination of various methods -- fat removal, skin tightening, defining, fat grafting, skin removal -- to get the best in body contouring and body sculpting.  Dr. Emer.

Hello and thank you for your question. There is no specific answer to this question. Ideal candidates for liposuction have a normal or
close to normal BMI,  they have stubborn areas of adiposity
that they can't get rid of despite adequate diet and exercise, and have a good
skin tone with no significant stretch marks. It is important to keep in mind
that liposuction is not a weight loss surgery, and is more of a tool to
re-shape the body. After liposuction, you should continue to have a healthy
life style with balanced diet and exercise to maintain your body
weight.  I would seek consultation with a board-certified plastic
surgeon for a full evaluation and advice. Best,
Pejman
Aflaki, M.D.
Johns
Hopkins-trained double board-certified plastic surgeon

The body has a fixed distribution of fat.  Liposuction only removes extra abdominal fat and intra-abdominal fat will not increase to compensate.  However, if you do gain weight, fat can be increased throughout the body, including both intra-abdominal fat and extra abdominal fat.  In men, the amount of intra-abdominal fat is approximately 25% and in women, the intra-abdominal fat is approximately 20%.  This is based on CT scan studies done in the 1980’s, which describes the difference in fat distribution between men and women.Best Wishes,Gary Horndeski, M.D.

Visceral fat, and the way it deposits in a given person in response to excess calorie intake is highly variable, and a lot of it is genetic.  If you gain weight after lipo, it mainly goes elsewhere...whether it goes to visceral or other external and in what proportion areas nobody knows.The best plan is to forget looking at the scale when judging or planning your lipo result. If you are having a  lot of lipo to make the scale go lower, and are worried about regain and fat accumulation elsewhere lipo is not for you. A diet and exercise program that gets you to a stable and maintainable weight is needed.

Dear porterj89,
liposuction is not a weight loss surgery. It will only remove excess fat tissue from some body area. If you gain weight, it will go mostly into areas which are not treated. If you have any concerns or questions, I suggest you to consult your plastic surgeon. 
Daniel Barrett, MD

porterj89I appreciate your concerns, however liposuction is not a weight-loss tool. Ideal candidates are those individuals with well defined troublesome areas of fat non-responsive to diet and exercise. Since liposuction removes fat and fat cells, if weight is gained after the procedure, that weight is more likely to show up in areas that were not treated, as treated areas have less fat cells. Consult with a board-certified plastic surgeon in your area for a full evaluation. Good luck.

Visceral fat is just that. Liposuction of subcutaneous fat areas will not cause a change in the viscera. Generally, visceral fat is associated with obesity. It is not a good target for liposuction and its presence suggests the need for weight loss.

I don’t think anyone has an answer to your question nor do I think your question is particularly useful.there is a large genetic and gender component.you’re either a candidate for liposuction or you’re not.Perhaps you could express if there’s a reason for trying to understand this.honestly I don’t think any other provider is going to attempt to answer your question.Best, Mats Hagstrom MD

When the subcutaneous fat is decreased through any type of liposuction, there is NO increase in the visceral fat. There is no change in the visceral fat (which is the fat behind the muscle layer of the abdomen  ie belly fat etc. Visceral fat will only decrease if you modify your diet (and to a lesser degree exercise). if you keep your diet the same and do not put on weight, the results from liposuction so continue to last.david berman md