By: David Stoker, MD

Many of my patients have dealt with it – the response they often get when they discuss their decision to have liposuction surgery in Los Angeles: “Why don’t you just join the gym?” Besides being hurtful, this question shows the ignorance of the person asking it. It’s easy to get upset, to be angry or sad when you encounter this. But I’d like to offer an alternative: inform them.

Your Explanation

Here’s what you say: liposuction is not intended to be an alternative to diet and exercise. Any plastic surgeon will tell you that it is specifically used for fat deposits that are diet and exercise-resistant. What this means is that you can go to the gym every day, follow a stringent diet, and still have areas of your body that don’t respond. It’s only after these other alternatives have been attempted without success that liposuction becomes an option.

If you’ve had a body contouring procedure and you’re talking to a skeptic, I encourage you to try to inform them and then share the response you get here so that others can decide for themselves if this method works.