By: Andrew Smith, MD

By now you probably know that liposuction is meant for body contouring, not weight loss. The issue here isn’t really “can people who are overweight get liposuction” – it’s more about how overweight you are, how much fat you want to remove, and what you’re expecting liposuction to accomplish for you.

I can tell you right now that liposuction absolutely is not a weight loss method, and if you’re still aiming for a goal that’s 20 or more pounds away from where you are now, you need to be talking to a dietician or nutritionist instead of a plastic surgeon. In fact, you shouldn’t even focus on your weight when considering if liposuction is for you. With this in mind, though, it’s completely normal for me to see patients who are on the heavier end of a “normal” body weight and want body contouring plastic surgery to help them look (and feel) a little more fit and healthy.

The key is that these patients are thinking about liposuction in terms of improving the shape of their body. People who expect liposuction to be their only weight loss method are bound to be disappointed, and they’ll do much better when they see the procedure as a way to help get them get better-looking results from the work they’ve already put in (and are still putting in) to keep their weight healthy.

Questions to Ask

Ultimately, the only person capable of deciding whether Orange County liposuction is “right” for you is your surgeon, but you can still ask yourself these questions to help figure out which type of patient you are right now, and what you might need to change if you want to be a better candidate for liposuction:

• Why do you want this procedure?
• What kind of steps are you taking now to keep your weight healthy?
• Have you kept your weight stable for the past few months, or are you still working to lose a lot more?
• Do you understand that you’re going to need to keep putting in work after your surgery to keep your weight healthy?