Weight Gain After Liposuction

Where Will The Fat Go?

One of the most frequent questions asked by our patients before undergoing any fat reduction procedure (liposuction or cool sculpting) is where will the fat go if you gain weight. With the promise of fat reduction procedures to make the certain treated area slimmer, patients often wonder how permanent the result will be. Will that mean that your abdomen will stay flat no matter how much you eat if you treat it with liposuction? Will that mean your waist will remain small even if you gain 10lbs after you did cool sculpting?

To answer these questions, we have to look deeper into the mechanism of action for each procedure. First, for the liposuction, it is obvious that fat cells are removed (sucked out), and therefore, few fat cells will remain on the area. However, fat loss from liposuction should still be maintained with proper diet and exercise. For instance, a patient who had undergone liposuction and gain a significant amount of weight may still regain fat on the areas treated with liposuction. Question is, will it still be worth it.

According to researches, liposuction is a proven and long term means to reduce fat on treated areas, however, fat reduction, as the name clearly states, only reduces the number of fat cells on the area, it will not and can not completely remove all the fat cells. Now what happens after the fat on the area is reduced? As you gain weight after liposuction, the fat cells will grow in size until the point where they can no longer contain the fat that is accumulating; hence, new fat cells will be produced. This will take time, and a lot of weight gain, but it is possible to return to your pre-liposuction body if you gain weight.

       For the non-surgical option, cool sculpting, FDA approved it as a “spot-fat reduction” procedure, meaning, it will not promote weight loss of any sense nor will it significantly reduce your body fat percentage after a treatment, but will have a significant effect in terms of fat reduction on the treated area. What does this mean? It means that fat will only be reduced on the area treated by cool sculpting.

      Pre and post treatment ultrasound can confirm the reduction of the amount of fat cells on any given area that is treated. Again, like liposuction, fat cells are only reduced, it is not completely gone, and gaining weight will mean that the fat cells can still get bigger, and if filled to its capacity, fat cells will then be produced a new.

        There is still no treatment or procedure to totally eliminate fat and prevent it from coming back. The only way to maintain the result of a liposuction surgery or a cool sculpting treatment is to keep fit and maintain a healthy body weight.