I'm 40lbs over my ideal weight and have severe lordosis. Am I a candidate for liposuction? What would my end results be? (Photo)

    Liposuction may be appropriate to help with the appearance, but I would have to examine you.Kenneth Hughes, MDLos Angeles, CA

You probably are not a great candidate for liposuction being that you are 40lbs overweight, but some patients might have liposuction to deflate some areas to help them along.

Dear Savo,

As a general rule it is advisable
always to try a committed course of diet and exercise to get within a
reasonable target weight of your ideal body mass index. Forty pounds overweight does not make you the
best candidate for liposuction, but it does not eliminate you either from
candidacy. In addition to weight is the
elasticity and skin tone of the region to be contoured. From the photos provided, it appears that you
do have some significant laxity of the posterior flank and hip with reasonably
taut skin of the intra abdomen. It is
imperative that if you are a candidate for liposuction that you seek the advice
of an experienced liposuction surgeon that has access to the technologies that
can provide significant soft tissue contraction and retraction, specifically
SmartLipo™, BodyTite™ and possible VASERlipo™.

These types of thermal contraction
liposuction systems would be a very important part of your flank and hip
contouring. There is good evidence that
thermal-based lipoplasty and liposuction techniques – that is, techniques that
provide internal thermal stimulation at the time of removal of fat – can result
in between 17% and 35% soft tissue contraction over the course of the 12 months
following the procedure. In selected
patients, this may eliminate the need for excisional surgery.

Although it is difficult to tell
from the photos provided, the front of your abdomen appears to have more taut
skin and there may, in fact, be a lot of the excess body weight in the intra
abdominal cavity, which is not subject to improvement with liposuction. If this is the case, then abdominal
protuberance would require weight loss in order to get significant
improvement. The only improvement that
you achieve in the front of the abdomen would be that fat which you can grab
with your hands and pinch between your fingers and the surface of the skin.

Your next most important step would
certainly be to seek out the advice and consultation of one or more plastic
surgeons with 15 to 20 years’ experience with a busy liposuction practice, who
have access to lipo contouring equipment that will enhance the soft tissue
contraction. Fortunately, you live in a
province and a city with excellent plastic surgeons. Ensure you interview two or three prior to
selecting one. Most plastic surgeons
will rightfully advise that you make some commitment towards a more ideal body
weight, but you can gather information regarding lipocontouring in the process.

In my own personal practice, I have
been performing energy-assisted liposuction for over 15 years, with extensive
experience using radiofrequency-assisted energy (BodyTite™), laser lipolysis (SmartLipo™) and
ultrasound-assisted energy (VASERlipo™).

To find out more about these
interesting technologies and how they may be helpful in one day helping you
achieve non-excisional contour improvements, please check out the reference link.

I hope this helps.

Sincerely,

R. Stephen Mulholland, M.D.,
Certified Plastic Surgeon, Yorkville, Toronto