All surgery carries some uncertainty and risk

Liposuction is normally safe, as long as patients are carefully selected, the operating facility is properly equipped and the physician is adequately trained.

As a minimum, Board certified plastic surgeon Dr. Zevon should have basic (core) accredited surgical training with special training in body contouring. Also, even though many body contouring procedures are performed outside the hospital setting, be certain that Board certified plastic surgeon Dr. Zevon has been granted privileges to perform liposuction at an accredited hospital.

New York City plastic surgeon Dr. Zevon has advanced surgical skills to perform liposuction procedures that involve the removal of a large amount of fat (more than 5 liters or 5,000 ccs). Feel free to ask Dr. Zevon about his other patients who have had similar procedures and what their results were. Also, more extensive liposuction procedures require attentive after-care. Dr. Zevon will be monitoring your condition closely after the procedure.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that even though a well-trained surgeon like Dr. Zevon and a state-of-the art facility can improve your chance of having a good result, there are no guarantees. Though they are rare, complications can and do occur. Risks increase if a greater number of areas are treated at the same time, or if the operative sites are larger in size. Removal of a large amount of fat and fluid may require longer operating times than may be required for smaller operations.

The combination of these factors can create greater hazards for infection, delays in healing, the formation of fat clots or blood clots, which may migrate to the lungs and cause death. Excessive fluid loss are also a possible complication, which can lead to shock or fluid accumulation that must be drained. Other potential risks include friction burns or other damage to the skin or nerves or perforation injury to the vital organs as well as unfavorable drug reactions.

There are also points to consider with the newer techniques. For example, in UAL, the heat from the ultrasound device used to liquefy the fat cells may cause injury to the skin or deeper tissues. Also, you should be aware that even though UAL has been performed successfully on several thousand people worldwide, the long-term effects of ultrasound energy on the body are not yet known.

In the tumescent and super-wet techniques, the anesthetic fluid that is injected may cause lidocaine toxicity (if the solution’s lidocaine content is too high), or the collection of fluid in the lungs (if too much fluid is administered).

The scars from liposuction are small and strategically placed to be hidden from view. However, imperfections in the final appearance are not uncommon after lipoplasty. The skin surface may be irregular, asymmetric or even “baggy,” especially in older patients. Numbness and pigmentation changes may occur. Sometimes, additional surgery may be recommended.