Weight gain in other areas after lipo?

We are all born with a fixed number of fat cells, distributed
all over the body in a distribution determined by gender and genetics.
Each individual fat cell, or adipocyte, can and does get larger or smaller with
weight gain and loss. Laser Liposuction will decrease the number of fat
cells present in the targeted area. It will not eliminate the ability to
gain or lose weight overall and therefore should never be used as a substitute
for diet and exercise. But, what typically happens is that since the
number of fat cells is now much less in the area of concern, the weight that
the patient gains with normal fluctuation will go preferentially to other
untreated areas with a greater number of fat cells (although some can come back
to the treated areas since the fat cells are decreased but not completely eliminated
from one area). Therefore, liposuction works well for removing and
reshaping stubborn areas of the body, but not as a substitute for proper diet,
exercise, and weight maintenance regimen.

Your question is a very common one and I think that there is a big misconception about it. Even amongst surgeons, let alone patients. It is true that your body does not create new fat cells. Therefore, when fat cells are removed from the body with liposuction, the treatment is permanent......sort of. When liposuction is performed (if done properly), there is a normal layer of fatty tissue that is left behind. Liposuction does not remove all of the fat from a area when treated. These fat cells left behind do have the capacity to get bigger. And they can get bigger and they will get bigger if one gains weight. If you gain weight after liposuction, you will not all of a sudden start ballooning out in non-treated areas while the areas of treatment remain thin. That just doesn't not happen. You will gain weight in all areas of the body in a similar fashion as you did before the procedure. And there will be hormonally driven areas that will be more likely to accumulate fat based on your gender and genetics. The only time that this "myth" holds true about unusual fat deposition after liposuction is when you have gained so much weight that you have maximized the size capacity of your fat cells that were left behind after the liposuction. If you get to this point in your weight gain, it really will be a mute point.

If you gain weight after liposuction that volume of fat has to go somewhere. However if your weight remain stable this will not be a problem.

Hi. Liposuction is best performed when you are at a stable weight, which you seem to be if you have maintained it for 2 years. If you maintain this weight then you will not develop bulges in other areas. Liposuction permanent reduces the number of fat cells in the area that is operated on, and if your weight goes up significantly after liposuction, then you will put weight on more in other areas than in the area that has had liposuction.

If your weight is stable, you can expect long term improvement from liposuction.Try to research this to find the surgeon who consistently produces the
results you would expect. Look at reviews on this site and see who gets the surgery right every time. Find

a board certified plastic surgeon who performs hundreds of liposuction
procedures each year. Then look at the plastic surgeon's
website before and after photo galleries to get a sense of who can
deliver the results. Kenneth Hughes, MDLos Angeles, CA

The number of fat cells in your body does not change after about 18 y/o.  At that point, you have made all of the fat cells you are going to make. Your genetic code told your body where distribute those fat cells and your body style is the result of those directions. If your genetic code said to put a lot of fat cells in your hips, you will gain weight in your hips and so on.  The value of liposuction is that it provides the ability to remove some of those fat cells that you made when you were an adolescent.  The total number of fat cells in your body will decrease by removing them from the treated areas.  As a result, however, when your body is told to make and store more fat, like with poor diet or with age, your body has fewer fat cells to store that fat in. It will have less of a preponderance to going towards those areas that were treated as there are fewer cells there and, as a result, may end up being stored in other areas. So. . . it is true that if you gain weight after liposuction, you have the ability to gain weight in different areas. But it is not true that those areas will get bigger if you do not gain weight.Best,Dr. Pyle