What should you consider when choosing the right liposuction procedure for you?

First and foremost, you should think about what areas you want to have contoured. There is still no replacement for diet and exercise, but many people have done this faithfully and are still not able to make their outsides match their insides. If this is your case, you need to decide which areas are of primary importance to you. Full-body liposuction is usually a sign that one has not embarked on a serious journey to healthfully narrow down the target areas that can’t be helped by diet and exercise.

Liposuction procedures can vary, depending on which type of medical technology is best to use in breaking up the fat cells in the particular part of the body you are targeting. Almost all of them to date involve general anesthesia, and a sharp tool called a canula and some sort of suction device to take the sub dermal fat away for good.

However, there are different ways to liquefy the fat (including ultrasound) and there are various liquids used to plump the fat cells up to more easily remove. And regardless of the way the fat is removed, the incision points will have to be carefully sewn up to minimize scar tissue from the point of entry to your body. These different possible procedures will have to be discussed with your medical professional.

Another factor to consider is your lifestyle, and there are several criteria within this topic to consider as well.

If you are a woman, you might want to consider whether you might want to have children in the near or far future. Pregnancy obviously requires a certain body weight to carry a child healthfully, and the body undergoes major hormonal changes, which might negate any liposuction contouring you’ve done (though this is simply a possibility, not a necessity). Conversely, you may not want to alter the body’s natural fat stores in the event you wish to carry a child.

Also, you should consider your pain threshold, and whether this is something you can tolerate when weighing the risks versus rewards of liposuction. Every reputable doctor has a pain management program to deal with the pain of liposuction, but it can be very painful for weeks or even months after the procedure, and each person’s reaction is different.

Recovery time is another major consideration when choosing the right kind of liposuction for you. Can you afford to take several days or weeks off of work? This may not be an issue if you have vacation time coming up, don’t work, or are able to have help with family obligations or any manual labor for which you are responsible. Be sure to factor this in when considering types of liposuction procedures.

Perhaps one of the biggest questions to consider when choosing a liposuction technique that’s right for you is how familiar is your doctor of choice with each procedure? Does he or she have the right medical credentials to perform the type that’s right for you? Does he or she have a financial interest in any particular procedure over another? It might be beneficial to ask for any before and after liposuction pictures that might be available, or to ask if he or she can recommend several patients who can give a proper reference for past work? As with all medical procedures, the amount of experience a liposuction doctor has had is key.