Liposuction is the surgical method of removing fat from various areas of the body using suction techniques. The areas include the abdomen, thighs, hips, buttocks, neck, arms, and any other part a person desires to get free of fat. Chin, calves, and even the back are also eligible for the liposuction procedure many times. Apart from removing fat from these regions, liposuction also helps in shaping those regions as needed. In this article we will talk about the meaning, benefits, harmful effects as well as some liposuction alternatives.
Liposuction Meaning
Liposuction is a surgical procedure using a suction technique to remove excess fat from certain regions of the body. The regions include the chest, the back, thighs, the abdomen, calves, arms, neck, and even the chin.
As a cautionary note, it is important to know that liposuction is not your ideal weight-loss technique. It is only a way to remove excess fat from your body in certain areas. Liposuction alternatives don’t include weight loss many times because liposuction is advised mostly when your overall body weight is stable and yet some area has excess fat.
If you are overweight, then controlling your diet and exercising is second to none as the best way to lower weight and excess fat. If they do not help, then you have prescribed medications. Lastly, the doctor can recommend a bariatric process like gastric bypass surgery.
Weight gain leads to the accumulation of fat cells in certain areas. Liposuction removes those fat cells from those regions as specified. The changes in that region’s contours are generally permanent, provided your weight remains steady.
Once liposuction is over, the skin of the treated region moulds itself to a new shape. An elastic skin will make sure the area where the liposuction is done looks smooth. However, if your skin is not elastic enough, that region’s skin might appear loose.
However, not everybody can have liposuction. An eligible candidate should have a good health condition. Health complications like weak immunity, restricted blood flow, diabetes, and coronary artery disease. The presence of such issues can complicate the surgical process. Under such conditions, you should use liposuction alternatives and/or natural procedures to reduce fat.
While this cosmetic procedure definitely has the chance to give you the desired results, it carries with it some risks and likely side effects.
Liposuction Health Benefits
Liposuction is a cosmetic process. There are several cosmetic and natural liposuction alternatives that the patient should try if liposuction is said a no to by the doctor. It is important to know this because liposuction is not a fully safe procedure. It only removes excess fat from certain areas only when your body is overall stable and healthy.
Now let us see what you can gain from liposuction. First, you can, as you already know and are probably doing for, reshape certain areas of your body which are affected by the unnecessary fat assembly. It also improves your body’s mobility. Your body is otherwise stable and healthy, within appropriate weight limits.
You can also treat some conditions which are unhealthy or unnatural. Lymphedema is the first we discuss. It is a chronic, long-term situation in which a fluid gets collected in tissues causing swelling or oedema. That fluid is lymph and its collection under tissues or inside tissue cavities causes severe pain and discomfort very often. Lymphedema mainly targets the arms and legs. Liposuction helps in easing swelling and pain in the regions affected by lymphedema.
Next is gynecomastia. It is the condition wherein fat gets collected under a man’s breasts. Liposuction helps in curing this too.
Lipodystrophy syndrome, a problem of uneven fat distribution, occurs when fat gets collected in one body part while leaving another part deprived. Liposuction cures this by giving the body a more equitable fat distribution.
People who get out of obesity quickly tend to lose weight rapidly not allowing the skin and fat to readjust on the body. Those patients who lose at least 40% of their BMI after morbid obesity may need liposuction to remove excess skin and other abnormalities.
Lastly, liposuction also helps cure lipomas which are fatty, benign tumours.
Harmful Effects
No medical process is completely harmless. The same applies to liposuction if you want to have it and achieve certain benefits which you know of. It is also important to know what harm it can possibly cause. The harms can be permanent, deepening the problem you wanted to eliminate through liposuction, or temporary but very difficult to get rid of. If you think, or your doctor thinks you are at the risk of facing these, you should choose some liposuction alternatives.
The first problem that you should know about is contour irregularities. This simply means that your body can look more uneven due to liposuction than it currently is. Imagine you want an even-looking body part and you go for liposuction. However, the result is an even more uneven body part. Things can get worse if your body retains some permanent spots and marks. You don’t want that. So, before you choose liposuction, discuss this carefully with the doctor. If the doctor advises against liposuction, choose one of the several liposuction alternatives.
Another problem you can have is that some fluid gets collected in the temporary pockets under your skin. These pockets form during the surgery. The fluid can be removed by a needle.
Temporary or permanent numbness or immobility can also occur in the region where you do liposuction. Nervous irritation there is another case that you might face.
A mistake while doing the surgery can lead to an organ puncture by the needle or cannula. This requires immediate medical attention as it is an emergency.
As some liquids are being injected and drained out, they can cause a fatal impact on the lungs and kidneys.
These are the potential harms liposuction can cause. Choose liposuction alternatives if there are chances you can face any of these.
Liposuction Alternatives That Work 2023
You would be surprised to know that liposuction is not the only effective cosmetic method which removes excess fat from certain regions of the body. There are other ways too that work and are perhaps less harmful than liposuction. So without much ado, let us explore liposuction alternatives that work very well.
CoolSculpting
We start with CoolSculpting. CoolSculpting, like liposuction, is ideal for stubborn fat in certain areas of the body. Following CoolSculpting, a fat-freezing technique crystallises the fat cells of the region with excess fat. This process continues until those cells break painlessly. The excess fat cells when gone give your body a natural shape. Exercise and diet ensure the results become permanent. CoolSculpting works on the abdomen, thighs, upper arms, and back fat very effectively among other areas.
UltraShape
Next on our list is UltraShape, an ultrasound method to reduce fat. This technique vapourises fat cells from the surface of the body with waves of ultrasound energy. The removal of those cells is permanent and the look you get appears natural. This non-surgical process has very few side effects which are minor, like mild soreness, tenderness, and swelling. After 6-8 weeks, the results will look totally natural and all side effects will be gone. The areas it works well on are the thighs, buttocks, hips, and upper arms among other regions.
Thermi RF
Now we go to Thermi RF. It is a radiofrequency fat reduction treatment which is minimally invasive. It is very different from other liposuction alternatives. The approach uses radiofrequency to heat up your cell until they dissolve. At the same time, your skin gets tightened. The fat loss is quite natural, safe, and comes with the edge of a skin tightener at the same time. The technique is ideal for hard-to-treat regions like the chin, neck, and stomach.
Neck Liposuction Alternatives 2023
One of the most common issues people face with their necks is an excess fat collection. It is not a result of weight gain, but just a collection of fat there. It can cause problems with neck movement and appearance. At worst, it can cause serious problems like breathing problems. Therefore, it is best to remove excess fat from there. But it is quite hard. Since the neck is one of those areas in which we cannot exercise like other areas, we have to adopt some alternative cosmetic methods to get rid of neck fat.
Liposuction
First is liposuction. Liposuction serves as the go-to method for people who want to remove neck fat fast. The surgical method uses the suction technique to remove fat. But it comes at the cost of severe side effects. Moreover, since often a cannula is inserted by the surgeon in the region they are treating, the neck becomes more prone to serious problems. However, there are liposuction alternatives that can help you get rid of neck fat.
Kybella
First is Kybella. It is a fairly modern method which is minimally invasive. Kybella injections remove excess fat under the skin and leave a clean, even submental area. Proper administration of Kybella makes the injection target only the fat cells. It rapidly destroys excess fat and prevents future fat collection there.
The neck lift is one more process to remove excess neck fat. Following a neck lift, incisions are placed by the surgeon carefully behind the ears and/or behind the chin. Then they remove neck muscles from the skin and tighten them with sutures. The skin is then redraped and excess is cut away. The typical recovery period for normal activities is about 10 to 14 days and about 6 to 8 weeks for stressful activities.
Cheaper Liposuction Alternatives 2023
Liposuction is a quite expensive fat-removal technique. This technique is ideal only for those people who have a stable and optimal body weight but an excess fat collection in some part of the body. However, people often take it as a weight-loss process too which is wrong. It can often be a mistake too because liposuction comes at a cost; it will take a toll on both your wealth and health.
The popularity of liposuction has made it so common and go-to technique for reshaping the body. This has led to cheaper liposuction alternatives not gaining the appreciation they deserve. Moreover, these alternatives are often non-invasive and harmless compared to liposuction. If you want to lose weight, then natural methods are the best unless the doctor suggests you some cosmetic process. And if you have to take a cosmetic process, then you should choose liposuction alternatives which are far less risky and often quite cheaper than liposuction.
VelaShape
We start with VelaShape (VelaSmooth). VelaShape has made its mark in the business of body shaping. It has also become a very reliable body shaping treatment for Victoria’s Secret Models. They choose VelaShape before their shows to look their best. Many celebrities also choose VelaShape to treat their body. This method gives proven fat-reduction, body reshaping, and cellulite reduction results to patients. The treatment on average is cheaper than liposuction.
CoolSculpting
Next on our list is CoolSculpting. This approach freezes fat cells around the region you want to treat. The process continues until those cells break themselves. The process is painless, non-invasive, and cheaper than liposuction.
Venus Freeze
Finally, we have Venus Freeze which uses an external radiofrequency applicator technology. An oscillating electric current wave warms your skin and soft tissues, removes excess fat, and tightens the skin. Venus Freeze is also cheaper than liposuction.
Laser Liposuction 2023
Laser liposuction is a new way of liposuction. It uses laser lights to remove excess fat from the area of the body which has excess fat. Laser liposuction is very safe compared to normal liposuction. The laser technique is there to reduce the chances of any skin injury.
In other words, laser liposuction has the same side effects as liposuction, but the risks are less. On the other hand, you have other liposuction alternatives which do not have such side effects at all.
Laser liposuction is safe, but not the safest of all liposuction alternatives. For example, CoolSculpting is perhaps the best way to remove excess fat and it makes no cuts in the body. It just uses a freezing process to break fat cells and gives permanent results. Plus, taking CoolSculpting means you can recover very fast, maybe on the very same day.
Laser liposuction is still an expensive approach to removing excess fat. Surprisingly, safer options like CoolSculpting and Venus Freeze are very cheap in comparison.
Laser liposuction gives immediate results but other safer and totally riskless liposuction alternatives like CoolSculpting do not give such fast results. For dramatic results or if the patient needs, Laser liposuction can be combined with other techniques like CoolSculpting. But all such procedures are effective on their own also.
Liposuction Alternatives FAQs
What is the best alternative to lipo?
People believe Kybella is the best alternative to liposuction. It is because Kybella uses deoxycholic acid. Deoxycholic acid synthesises well with the body compared to other ingredients other liposuction alternatives use.
What is the newest form of liposuction?
Laser-assisted liposuction is the newest form of liposuction. This technique uses laser light to break down fat. It also minimises the chances of skin injury following liposuction. This newest form of liposuction includes approaches like SmartLipo, SlimLipo, LipoLite, and so on.
Is non-surgical liposuction painful?
Non-surgical liposuction or non-surgical liposuction alternatives are painless or at most, far less painful compared to liposuction. The process is also very safe. There are no chances that you will feel dizzy anytime during the process or after the process. You can also get back to normal life very soon compared to liposuction.
Is CoolSculpting worth the money?
CoolSculpting has emerged as one of the best liposuction alternatives in the market. It has a clearance from the FDA too. The procedure is very safe, non-surgical, and removes fat cells permanently from the body. It uses a freezing technique to freeze fat cells until they break down. CoolSculpting is also much cheaper compared to liposuction and so yes, CoolSculpting is worth your money.
Does liposuction damage your body?
Liposuction gone wrong can be very risky and often fatal. It is because it is surgical and very risky. There are several possible side effects of liposuction and that is why you will find many liposuction alternatives. Those alternatives are far safer and very often far cheaper than liposuction. You can try alternatives to liposuction like CoolSculpting, an FDA-cleared approach, Venus Freeze, VelaSmooth, and if you can, natural ways like exercising and a healthy diet.
