Before we discuss who might be a candidate for liposuction, we must first determine why someone would not be a good candidate. First and foremost, Liposuction is not a weight loss procedure. If the patient is very overweight and/or morbidly obese, Liposuction is not for them. They will not get the desired result.
Skin is also a major factor in seeing good results from liposuction. If you have stretched out stomach skin from having children, sagging arm skin, cellulitic skin in the thighs and buttock, if you suck the fat out, the skin sags worse and will not be aesthetically pleasing.
The procedure itself takes between 30 minutes to 1 hour depending on the volume. I use the Super Wet Technique, which is a method of regional anesthesia for liposuction surgery that uses an evenly distributed, rapidly infused solution under pressure, until tissue blanching, and moderate tension are achieved. Recovery varies patient to patient, but typically the downtime is a few days to one week.
How Much Fat Can You Safely Liposuction at Once?
The guidelines for most states is no more than 5 liters (approximately 5 quarts) for an out-patient liposuction procedure. More can be removed but would usually require close 24-hour observation by a nurse with intravenous fluid replacement, urinary monitoring via catheter, and frequent checking for fluid balance. Of course, a second procedure can be done after a few weeks of healing.
Can you Have Multiple Body Areas Treated At One time?
The limiting factor for most situations is the total volume of fat and fluid that is removed in a single operation, not the number of areas treated. That said, multiple areas can be treated at a time. This would carry increased risk of significant complications due to the large surface area of your body that would be injured. Operating on multiple areas increases the area of injury regardless of whether just small amounts of fat are removed, so you will need special precautions and overnight stay in hospital to optimize safety.