Is it Worth it to Have Liposuction?

When you’re considering any elective medical procedure, you need to know the risks, and weigh them against the benefits. The choice of whether or not to have elective surgery is very personal, and every person will make their choice differently. Here, we’ll discuss the major risks and benefits of having liposuction. If you want to learn more about what the procedure and the recovery are like, please visit Liposuction: the Procedure and Recovery.

Please note that this page is for informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for qualified, individualized medical advice. You should discuss your potential elective surgery with your own doctor(s), including your primary care physician and the surgeon who will perform your surgery if you decide to proceed.

Risks

Any surgery has risks, and they should be carefully weighed before you decide to proceed. There is a chance of infection, which may require antibiotics and may also lead to a less aesthetically-pleasing result. There is also a chance of excessive bleeding during the surgery, which occasionally requires a blood transfusion. Some people react badly to anesthesia. There is a  small risk of death due to any surgery. Although it’s important to be informed, these risks are small in most healthy people; talk with your surgeon to determine your personal risk.

There is also the risk that you won’t be happy with your liposuction result. Your surgeon might remove too much or not enough fat from the target area. You can minimize this risk by choosing a surgeon who listens to you and tries to understand your goals well. Additionally, it’s neither possible nor desirable to remove every bit of fat from any area of the body; therefore, if you gain weight later, the fatty tissue in the areas that received liposuction will grow just like the rest of your body’s fat tissue. It’s important to maintain a healthy lifestyle in order to maintain the benefits of your liposuction.

Benefits

People who’ve spent years trying, unsuccessfully, to lose weight via diet and exercise may feel frustrated. There may be particular areas of the body that retain fatty tissue, even when other areas of the body are thin. They may have a loss of self-esteem and confidence. Liposuction can allow these people to achieve the thinner, better-shaped body of their desires, so that they can project the look they want and feel good about their bodies. It can relieve the frustration of having an unbalanced figure and trying, without success, to lose weight in a particular area.

Note that liposuction is not intended to remove very large amounts of fat from the whole body; rather, it removes small to moderate amounts from one or a few particular areas. If you’re very overweight and would like to become thin, liposuction is not the right procedure for you; you should consider bariatric surgery instead. This type of surgical procedure helps those who are very overweight lose large amounts of weight very quickly, and is often covered by medical insurance.

Cost

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the average surgeon’s fee for liposuction is $2,866. This varies between surgeons and in different regions, so check with the surgeon you’re considering to find out the exact price. Additional costs, including the anesthesia, operating room fees, medications, and possibly additional items, may not be included in this fee. For more detail, please see our Liposuction Costs page.