How soon after liposuction can I have a breast reduction? Is two months sufficient wait time?

Dear ruvimbo.dube,
you should be fully healed prior to another surgery. If you are considering surgery, I would suggest you consult a board-certified plastic surgeon. Only after a thorough examination, you will get more information and recommendations.
Daniel Barrett, MD
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

Your healing time and overall health determine how soon you can receive your second procedure. I recommend you wait 2 months between the two procedures. This is enough time for your body to heal properly and get rid of the effects of anesthesia completely. Good luck.

Thank-you for your query. I usually wait for six weeks or more between significant liposuction and another procedure like Breast reduction. Two months should be fine for you. Please discuss your concerns with your Board certified Plastic surgeon before planning both procedures. All the best!

In general, you main risk in performing these two operations close together involves the risk of deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolus, both known as venous thromboembolism (VTE) events. These events involve blood clots forming in your legs and then propagating other places in the body. It is commonly thought that your risk of VTE events is highest within one month of surgery. Therefore, I commonly recommend that any exposure to general anesthesia be separate by about one month, but preferably six weeks if possible.

Hi rivimbo.dube,
I often answer questions about combining procedures....the consideration is the balance between convenience (one recovery, one anesthetic, one downtime) and risk (due to longer OR time, increased body surface area with surgical injury).
Most breast reductions take 3-ish hours....depending on how much liposuction, and if it can be done in the face-up position (where you would be for the reduction), this might be a case to consider combining procedures. I typically try to limit elective surgery to 6 hours, and a reduction plus liposuction would be well under that.
Hope this helps.
Best,Christopher Pannucci MD MSBoard Certified Plastic SurgeonPlastic Surgery NorthwestSpokane, Washington

There is no fixed time on which you can have additional surgery. As the other physicians have stated, you have to make sure you are not anemic from the liposuction.

Best Wishes,

Gary Horndeski, M.D.

We have avoided the risks of general anesthesia by perfecting liposuction and breast reduction procedures under local anesthesia. Therefore, in our practice, these procedures can be performed within days of each other. If general anesthesia is required due to the surgeon you selected, then a wait time of 6 to 12 weeks is reasonable. You should discuss this with your surgeon and anesthesiologist.

Thanks for your question! I feel as though 2 months is more than enough time. I typically tell my patients that they should wait about 6 weeks between surgeries. I would advise to get bloodwork beforehand and if that checks out, you should be good. Best of luck!

Providing that you are in good health and your hemoglobin is fine, 2 months should be sufficient to recover from liposuction. This is best to discuss with your plastic surgeon ahead of time. Good luck.

Thank you for your question. Typically I recommend patients to wait approximately 3 months in between anesthesia procedures. Each Surgeon will have their own recommendation and protocol they wish to follow. I would suggest speaking with your Surgeon of choice and following their recommendations. Best of luck to you on your upcoming procedures.