Is 1,700cc a lot to remove from abdomen and waist for a 37 yo woman with BMI of 28?

Liposuction is a procedural art form performed with the goal of improving a patient's contour. The amount of fat aspirated is far less important than the amount and location of the fat that is not aspirated. However, I believe your surgeon deserves kudos for removing 1.7 liters of fat from a relatively petite patient AND treating your back not for payment but with the pure motivation of optimizing your aesthetics. Awesome physician! Hope you will provide an update of your progress in 6 weeks.

Thanks for your question. I'm asked a lot if the amount of fat aspirated at the end of a liposuction case is a "normal" amount. There is not an answer to that question. Neither height, weight, BMI, nor gender have accurate predictive value on the "usual" amount of fat removed from any one person in any area of the body. The only way to predict the correct amount of fat removed would be to measure the thickness and volume of the subcutaneous fat in the area of interest in each particular patient. But, at best, it is still a guess because the amount of fat left behind can be variable and you can still have an excellent result. In fact, we leave fat on purpose to create the best result for you. The common false belief in many liposuction patients is that the best results occur if ALL the fat is removed from an area, or more fat removed equals a better outcome. Not true. The best liposuction surgeons are the ones that know how much fat to leave in the patient and when to stop sculpting. More is not always better. I'll bet your result will turn out great. Give it some time. Hope this helps!

Hello,Don't worry about the cc's. Its about the contour and shape of your body after the procedure. Everyone is different and carries fat differently. You will have 4-6 months of healing to truly assess your results.

BMI can be high or low depending upon muscle mass and is totally inaccurate as a determinant of the quality of a lipo procedure. Obviously, the more fat you have, the more fat that is usually removed to improve contours. Before and after photos have more meaning than how many ccs are removed from people of different shapes and sizes.

Hi there,
I always tell my patients that its not the amount of fat that comes out but what is left behind.  A lot of different factors go into your equation.  Being 164 lbs, is most of your fat intra abdominal vs underneath the skin/dermis which can be removed easily.  It also will depend on how much fat you carry in the areas being treated.  I have some patients who are 160 pounds but carry relatively little fat in the abdomen but have disproportionately larger legs and vice versa.  A lot of different factors go into it.  1700 cc of fat is a good amount of fat which equates to about 3.5lbs of pure fat!  You should notice a difference.  Dieting after the procedure is extremely important to get the final results that you desire.

Despite what you may read online about what's "normal" or even average, the amount of fat that's removed during Smartlipo™ is going to vary quite a bit for each patient. This is because every person's body stores fat differently, so one person may see significant improvement from a lesser volume of removed fat, while another person may need more fat removed to reach their appearance goals. I wouldn't worry about numbers so much. Instead, focus on how you feel as you see your final results develop.