Liposuction the Fat Remover Maybe Not

Women for years have tried numerous ways to remove those unwanted bulges around the hips and men are no different in that respect. Even men have undergone the procedure to remove their unwanted bulges.

Just about every website notes about this simple procedure done under a local anesthesia and can be done in one to three hours or sometimes more depending on location and amount of fat being eliminated. Cost can start out as low as around $1,400 an area.

Each year hundreds of thousands of men and women have this procedure done to eliminate those unwanted areas of fat in places such as abdomen, thighs and hips.

Then the pondering question of will the fat come back had been examined and answered.

A new study led by Dr. Teri L. Hernandez and Dr. Robert H. Eckel, University of Colorado had answered the pondering question which just may surprise some.

In this study, at random researchers assigned women who were not obese to have liposuction on their out curved thighs and lower abdomen or not having liposuction who were the control group. To compensate the women in the control group following the study and being informed of the results, they could have the procedure if they desired at a reduced cost rate.

The findings of the study had determined that the fat comes back after being suctioned out. One year later the fat had come back. However, its reappearance was not in the thighs but redistributed to the upper body mostly in the areas of upper abdomen, shoulders and triceps of the arm.

In response to this study Dr. Felmont Eaves III, plastic surgeon in Charlotte, North Carolina and president of the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery stated that the study was "very well done". Dr. Eaves was surprised with the results of the study. He had further noted that he would inform his patients in the context of other information on liposuction.

Liposuction has been in existence for at least 34 years and yet this question had never seemed to be asked and if it had no research was conducted until just recently.

Some experts have their views on way it has taken so long. Dr. Samuel Klein, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the Washington University School of Medicine notes one possibility being that it takes a team of researchers and money. That fat must be accurately measured with scans.

Ethicist, Jonathan Moreno, at the University of Pennsylvania stated "a lot of it has to do with the culture of surgery". He then adds that surgeons most of the time feel a deep connection to their patients. This makes it hard for them to agree with clinical trails in which randomize patients. Different surgeons have different skills and techniques. It is not like taking a medication were one pill is like every pill.

In lieu of intense studies, surgeons establish their own procedures and publish narratives about patients, which could be misleading.

However, the outcome results of this study was not based upon the surgeons but on the biology of body fat. Researchers on obesity note that this was of no surprise. According to them the body "defends "its fat. Even when you lose fat by dieting it does come back. The study demonstrated that even when you suction out the fat even a pound (done in the studies participants) it does come back.

Scientists have discovered that fat live for around seven years and when a fat cell dies another takes its place.

As to why the fat cells not return to the thighs in the participants? Dr. Klein explains it is possible that liposuction intensely destroys the fishnet structure under the skin where fat cells live.

Regardless of the findings from this study the women who had the procedure were happy. As far as the control group upon finding out the results half of the women still opted for liposuction. Sources:

MSNBC

Surgical Services International

Board Certified Plastic Surgeons Resource