THE
POST-OP PERIOD
A nurse will monitor
your condition during the immediate post-operative period. Your surgeon will
also drop by during the day on one or two check-up rounds. You will be given
medication to control the pain.
Possible complications
during this period include some that are common to all surgical procedures:
bleeding, infection and pulmonary embolism (a rare but life-threatening condition
in which a blood clot escapes into the circulation and travels to the lungs).
Fortunately, recent innovations in technology, such as smaller suction tubes
and special injectable chemicals, have greatly reduced these risks.
FOR MEDICAL
EDUCATION
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Depending on how
much fat has been suctioned out (and, correspondingly, how much blood loss has
occurred), and depending also on the general health status of the patient, liposuction
may be done as a daycare procedure or may require a brief hospital stay. Fat
and blood loss are greater, for instance, in the case of abdominal liposuction
than in liposuction of the thighs.
After the Surgery
Your recovery time
depends on the extent of your surgery. If you've had a lot of fat removed, you'll
be able to lie down, but you might not be able to sleep for the first night.
If you've just
had a few bulges whittled away, you may be back at work within a few days. Ambitious
re-shaping could keep you home for a week or more.
The liposuctioned
areas will be bruised for a few weeks and swollen for upto a few months. The
swelling is the result of fluid build-up in the area: your body's natural response
to the suctioning of fat is to rush blood and fluid into the newly-created spaces.
You'll need to wear a tight elastic dressing (a pressure bandage) for a few
weeks to keep swelling down and to help your skin shrink to its new contours.
(In some cases, if the fluid accumulation is excessive, a temporary drain may
be used immediately after surgery or even some time later).
Don't discount
the discomfort factor, either. You'll feel sore for up to a week after your
surgery. But the discomfort should never be as extreme as, say, getting a facial
chemical peel. If it is, or if it worsens, call your doctor. Also, call him
if you develop a fever, or have a sudden increase in the swelling or bruising:
you may have developed complications.
Even if there are
no complications, follow-up visits will enable your surgeon to monitor your
progress, advise you on how you can speed along the healing process, and also
guide you on the resumption of routine activities, commuting and physical exercise.
In the long-term...
Some surface waviness
may persist, depending chiefly on the area liposuctioned, the elasticity of
the skin and the amount of fat sucked out. It's better for a surgeon to err
on the side of conservativeness and suction out less rather than too much: it's
always possible to do a follow-up liposuction, but to put fat back is a far
more dicey proposition.
Since small nerve
fibres are always injured during liposuction, temporary numbness as well as
tingling/burning sensations in the area may be expected while they heal. Sometimes,
a limited amount of numbness may be permanent.
Most of the improvement
- in swelling, bruising, discoloration - will occur during the first six weeks.
But the "final look" may take as long as 9 months to a year to settle
in.