No Results 2 Months After Liposuction

My center performed MRIs on volunteer patients and found that about 67% of the swelling is gone at one month and 85% of the swelling is gone at 3 months.  So you may have about 25% swelling at this point.  Your result depends mainly on the skill and experience of your surgeon.  Some surgeons using very small cannulae or performing liposuction in the office under local anesthetic may not be as aggressive in removing fat.  The ideal is to sufficiently remove the fat but not to overdo it, which is worse.

You should wait at least another month before making any judgments.  If you still are unsatisfied at that time, consideration may be given to a redo liposuction.  All plastic surgeons sometimes perform redo liposuctions including me.  But we also need to allow 3-4 months after surgery, minimum, to ensure swelling has fully resolved.  Many surgeons give a price break on redos or touchups. 

As long as your weight is stable or going down since surgery you should continue to improve out to 6 to 9 months.You are still very early in your recovery.

Patients undergoing liposuction
will inevitably develop swelling following this procedure.In the immediate post-operative period,
weight gain following liposuction may be related to fluid retention.When this situation arises, the results of liposuction
can be obscured by the severe swelling that occurs.During
the procedure the liposuction cannula passes through the subcutaneous
tissue.This causes disruption of
lynthatic channels and cellular injury, which results in significant swelling.Significant
improvement in swelling can be seen in the first 3 weeks following surgery with
the majority gone in about 3 months.Small amounts of swelling may persist for up to a year following
surgery.We
generally recommend the use of compression support garments for about 3 weeks
following surgery.We also recommend a
low sodium diet before and after liposuction.Exercise is usually started early in the post-operative period and we
want patients to ambulate as soon possible following surgery.Massage
is also helpful, it decreases swelling by mobilizing retained fluid following
liposuction.All of these steps help to
minimize the duration of swelling following surgery.In your case, your swelling is normal and
should resolve with time.In some cases,
this may take up to 3 to 6 months to actually occur.Compression, massage, ambulation and low salt
intake will hopefully help you get there sooner.

At two months there may still be swelling to hide the improvement. You can ask the surgeon how much fat was removed from each of the areas and that can tell you that you probably will get some good improvement. There is continued shrinkage of the volume as more collagen is produced over six months and the skin and fat condenses more.

It is entirely possible that it is still too soon to tell.  Without photographs it is hard to tell, however it should be followed with your plastic surgeon so that the two of you can decide if more correction is needed.  Allow time for the swelling to subside. 

Dr. V- South Shore Plastic Surgery

It typically takes six months for all swelling to resolve from liposuction.  At that time, I would expect you to see the final results.  When large amounts of fat are removed with liposuction, you may notice immediate and dramatic improvements, even though the results will still improve with time.  For smaller liposuction cases, the early swelling may temporarily offset the benefits of fat removal.  You may be in this situation, since your weight is between 110 and 129 lbs.  My advice is to make sure that you achieve a weight less than your preop weight, and reassess your figure at the six month mark by comparing yourself to your preop photographs.

Hello,

Thank you for the question.  Sometimes when a patient is fairly thin swelling may mask the results.  Of course, it also depends on how much and in what areas your plastic surgeon performed liposuction.  I would continue to wear your compression garment and give it some more time.  Once the swelling has gone away your plastic surgeon can compare your before and after photos and judge the final result.

All the best,

Dr. Remus Repta

one month is too early. see your plastic surgeon. if he is a board certified plastic surgeon, trust him to give you the right answer. it may also seem to you that you see no result...the photos often will set your mind at ease.

While it is true that the swelling from liposuction can take up to 6 months to completely go away, it is not common in my experience to not see some improvement quite early on. I tell all patients to expect to see some substantial improvement the next day wheh they first take off their garments and some of that will temporarily go away as the swelling sets in. But to see not improvement at all two months after surgery is very unusual. I would wait a full 3 months and go back and discuss your concerns with the doctor who performed the procedure. The only other explanation is that not enough fat was removed during the procedure 

Liposuction results may tak 4-6 months to see. This also depends upon the individual as long as their weight ahs been stable.