Liposuction
in Novi, Michigan

BMI is the height weight ratio which determines if you are underweight <18.5, normal weight 18.5-24.9, overweight 25-29.9, obese 30-39.9, or morbidly obese >40.  The average BMI of our liposuction patients is 29. However, to be a candidate for liposuction, you should have a BMIs that is under 42, and ideally your weight should be at or near your ideal body weight (within 30%).

Liposuction permanently removes fat cells, but your body can generate new ones. If you want to keep your liposuction results as long as possible, you’ll need to take some specific steps. First, commit to maintaining a healthy body weight and understand what your ideal weight should be. Stay in good health supported by the right diet and good exercise habits, as well. 

You’ll find many different options when it comes to liposuction! That includes traditional liposuction, as well as tumescent liposuction, which uses tumescent injections to improve the results. Power-assisted liposuction, suction-assisted liposuction, laser-assisted liposuction, ultrasound-assisted liposuction, and Vaser liposuction are also popular options. Not sure which is right for you? Contact us to schedule a consultation and we’ll discuss your body contouring goals and help you decide which of the many liposuction options is best suited to helping you achieve them.

Yes, liposuction is performed as an outpatient procedure in our surgical center. Depending on the scope of your procedure, it may take as little as one hour or as long as four hours. It may be performed either awake under local anesthesia or asleep under general anesthesia. Either way, you will need to have someone drive you home afterward.

We can remove up to 5 liters of fat in the state of Michigan during each liposuction session. This is more than in some other states where you can only have 4 liters of fat removed per state regulations. Five liters of fat is equivalent to 11 pounds. If we remove skin as well during the procedure with a mini tummy tuck, you may lose even more weight.

Yes, you can have liposuction in the same area of the body multiple times to help you achieve the look you want. However, the goal of these plastic surgery procedures is to prevent you from having another surgery. Usually, the excess fat is removed from one area and should not return if you are following a healthy diet and exercise. It would be best to wait at least six months between treatments if needed.

Patients should expect some moderate discomfort, bruising, and swelling for a few days after the procedure. After abdominal liposuction it may feel like you did a crunches workout. Pain medications prescribed should help alleviate the discomfort after your procedure. You may still experience some mild pain up to 2-4 weeks postop. By 1 month postop you should not have pain and can resume all activities including heavy lifting and strenuous exercises. We will be in contact with you throughout your recovery to address any of your pain concerns.

Please make sure you are massaged by yourself, friends, family, or professionals daily for about 30 minutes during the first month after surgery. Most patients get their massages done at home by themselves, friends, or family.  However, if you choose to get a professional lymphatic massage, please seek out a licensed massage therapist in your area for approximately 3 half-hour massages weekly for 4 weeks. These can be cost prohibitive, and do not expect everyone to get them done professionally. As such, most patients end up doing lymphatic massages at home. We can instruct you on the basics of how to perform the lymphatic massage. Gentle motions towards your lymph nodes in the groin or axilla are all that are necessary to mobilize the fluid into your system. Your body will end up peeing out the excess fluid. The massages do not need to be done all day. They can last about 30 minutes a day. We recommend performing three ten-minute massages or one 30-minute massage daily over all of the areas treated.  Most patients do their massage during the 1 hour time that their compression garment is off during the day, either during or after their time in the shower. Massage devices and rolling devices are fine as long as the massage is gently performed.

Abdominal liposuction procedures look the most natural when patients have no skin laxity. Depending on the amount of skin laxity, we may recommend you undergo either a mini or a full tummy tuck. The timing of your skin excision procedure and whether we can combine it at the same time as your abdominal liposuction procedure will depend on the amount of liposuction you are requesting and whether you are planning a full or mini tummy tuck. Patients undergoing a mini tummy tuck can combine abdominal liposuction at the same time. However, we recommend doing a full tummy tuck 3-6 months prior to the abdominal liposuction procedure because elevating the skin flap of a full tummy tuck because would temporarily disrupt the blood supply for healing the incision.

Please wait 1 month to resume strenuous activities and heavy lifting. You can walk 10 minutes/hour for the first month, but please do not walk 1 mile or longer at a time and please do not walk on the treadmill. Any cardio activity or light exercises even if not in the area where we operated should be avoided. Raising your heart rate and blood pressure as a result of working out can lead to swelling. Swelling can lead to unfavorable results because it prevents your skin from retracting to its new position. The skin needs to retract to its new position otherwise it will remain loose, spongy, and puffy and give the appearance that we did not do any liposuction. When you return to working out, please resume your activities gradually to avoid any sudden development of swelling. If you notice any extra swelling after resumption of activities, please dial back the intensity or frequency of your workouts. Weight training builds muscle, and cardio helps lose weight. The best type of exercises are cardio workouts to help burn calories such as running, fast walking, swimming, biking, and elliptical. Weight training and sit-ups will help build your muscles to accentuate the high definition liposuction results. A combination of both cardio and weight training will lead to maintenance of a thin figure while at the same time building muscle under and around the areas where we did the liposuction.

Liposuction completely and permanently removed fat through an awake or asleep minimally invasive procedure in a single session. In comparison, Coolsculpting is an awake non-invasive treatment to freeze the fat which is absorbed over time leading to less than 30% improvement in select patients after multiple treatments.

Liposuction is charged based on your body mass index (BMI), number of areas treated, and location of treatment. Having your procedure done at our surgery center is more affordable than at a hospital where we cannot control expenses related to anesthesia and facility fees. We try to combine as many areas as possible during a liposuction session, but may need to stage your procedure on a separate visit if it looks like you may go over the 5 liters of fat removal limit or go over the maximum weight-based dose of numbing medicine. Please contact us for a consultation to discuss the several choices for payment we offer. Liposuction is not covered by health insurance because it is considered an elective cosmetic procedure.

Yes, liposuction is considered to be a minimally invasive safe procedure. The safety of the procedure is also dependent on your overall health so please be transparent with your surgeon when discussing your past medical history. Furthermore, having surgery with a board-certified plastic surgeon experienced with liposuction will increase the likelihood that the procedure will be done safely. We have experience having performed thousands of liposuction procedures safely so you are in good hands.

The optimum candidates for a liposuction procedure are patients who are in good overall health, are at or close to their ideal body weight, and have areas of stubborn fat that are resistant to diet and exercise. Liposuction is a body contouring procedure and not intended to be a weight loss procedure. Generally speaking, most healthy patients are candidates for liposuction. The only patients who are not candidates are the following: body mass index (BMI) greater than 42, want weight loss surgery, pregnant or nursing, uncontrolled diabetes, uncontrolled high blood pressure, severe heart disease such as a heart attack in the past 5 years, being treated for cancer, kidney or liver disease, taking blood thinners that cannot be stopped, on dialysis, severe lung disorders requiring supplemental oxygen, or on an organ transplant list.