Liposuction of the Abdomen
Liposuction of the abdomen is one of the most frequently requested area of suctioning both for men and women. The abdomen is the principal source of fat storage, and therefore, along with the suctioning of the waist is the most sought after area for liposuction.
It has been very successful and rewarding when performed in conjunction with an abdominoplasty. There has been however instances where I have refused suctioning of the abdomen, both in men and in women, because I did not feel that Liposuction will be able to provide an acceptable result for the patient.
The reason for excluding these patients from this procedure is where the fat is stored in their body.
Fat storage occurs in the skin and inside the abdomen. Inside the abdomen means behind the abdominal muscles with the organs like the liver the stomach, the intestine, and there is a specialized organ for fat storage called the omentum. Liposuction only address is the fat in the skin and so pinching the skin allows you to estimate how much fat can be removed. While pinching the skin if the bulge remains unchanged then one has to assume that there is extra fat, stored in the abdomen. This is very frequent in men, because men seem to store most of the fat in the abdomen itself.
There are exciting news in the horizon for people who has excess fat inside the abdomen, and in the rest of the body. There are now medications that were primarily designed for treating diabetes that are being used for weight loss. If the safety studies are conclusive they will be available to the public for weight loss. It is also reasonable to expect that insurance companies would in certain instances cover the cost because from a business standpoint, it might make more sense to pay for the medication, rather than the complications of obesity.
I have always told my patient that Liposuction is all in all a very incomplete answer to fat accumulation and down the road we would be addressing these issues differently.
