Of course liposuction will not stop the aging process; the clock keeps ticking, and advancing age will produce the usual body changes associated with aging. Because liposuction is not a substitute for losing weight through diet and exercise, the best candidates for liposuction are those who are close to their own ideal body weight prior to liposuction, have reasonable expectations of the results of liposuction, and are prepared to exercise and maintain a diet that will maintain the beautiful, post-surgical results.
As with any surgical procedure, make sure the physician you choose to perform your liposuction is well qualified to perform your procedure with the greatest degree of success, and the lowest likelihood of complication. Always choose a plastic surgeon who is certified by The American Board of Plastic Surgery. This is the "gold standard" among plastic surgeons; it ensures that your plastic surgeon has graduated from an accredited medical school and has completed at least five years of additional residency, usually three years of general surgery and two years of plastic surgery. In addition, if your physician also has an active membership in the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, it shows that not only is your plastic surgeon certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, but he or she regularly participates in continuing medical education and adheres to a strict code of ethics.
When employed as a surgical technique to enhance the contours of the body, liposuction can be a good choice. Liposuction can indeed improve body contours, by removing excess fat deposits located between the skin and muscle. The concept of liposuction is surprisingly simple, but there are some misconceptions about what liposuction can achieve, and when it can best be used.
Liposuction involves the use of a small stainless steel tube, called a cannula. The liposuction cannula is inserted into the fat through small incisions in the skin. Excess fat is removed by suction as the cannula creates tiny tunnels through the fat. Afterwards, during the healing process, these tiny tunnels shrink and disappear, resulting in an improved body contour.
The cosmetic success of a liposuction surgery is often the result of removing an amount of fat equivalent to less than a pound or two of butter from a woman’s saddlebag area or from a man’s love handle area. While this amount of fat is relatively small compared to a person’s total body weight, it does produce a noticeable and pleasing change in the patient’s body contours. Your plastic surgeon’s goal with liposuction should be to obtain an optimal aesthetic result by reshaping the body contours, not to maximize the amount of fat removed.
Ideal liposuction patients are of average size but are concerned about one or more localized accumulations of fat. Liposuction will not necessarily eliminate pre-existing "cellulite." It does reduce the degree of cellulite to a minor degree but it is unlikely to produce a significant improvement or completely eliminate cellulite.
Liposuction can provide significant and permanent improvement in body contours, as long as you don’t gain excessive amounts of weight afterwards. If you do gain a moderate amount of weight after liposuction, you will not tend to accumulate as much fat in the liposuction-treated areas.